Woodville Republican. (Woodville, Miss.) 185?-current, 1902-03-29
RECORDS IN THE SAND.
Prints Made by Various Agencies
Convey News to DwelIers
in the Desert.

In the Sahara little gusts of rain
sometimes occur. On these unusual
occasions each drop leaves its impress
on the sand, these thousands of tiny
indentations being proof positive that
rain has fallen. If it happens that a
calm in the air follows so that the sand
is not disturbed for a number of days
the marks of the raindrops remain as
clear as when they were first made,
says London journal.
The sand is the record of all that
happens on its surface. just as the
waves obliterate the markings on the
beach, so the winds of the desert,
blowing the sands here and there,
sooner or later wipe out the records
stamped on the surface, but they often
remain for quite awhile, and as the
desert residents know how to read
them they derive information that is
useful to them.
When they see a sinuous, unbroken
groove along the sand they know that
serpent has passed that way and by
following up the track they often
catch the "varmint" before he finds
hole into which to crawl They can tell
how many feet an insect has by the
marks on the sand. In fact, they are
as thoroughly versed in the lore of
sand marks as our wild Indians were
in the mysteries of wooderaft before
they were gathered upon'reservation
and lost much of the cunning of their
fathers,
The desert people know the track of
every species Of animal that travels on
the sand. They become wonderfully.
quick in detecting differences in the
sand prints As long as man keeps
afoot the story of his doings during
the day is written for all to read. The
natives can tell the footprints of every
person of their acquaintance. They
know every one of their camels or
horses by the marks they make.
When they see tracks that passing
caravan has made they detect peculiar
tiles indiscernible to all but the desert
dweller, which reveal to them the tribe
to which the travellers belong. When
they turn their animals loose to Craze
where grass has sprung up among the
wells they will perhaps pay no atten-
ton to them for days, but when the
animals are wanted they will surely be
traced by indications so slight that
they would escape the notice of an
g...k ~. 20
variety of information is impaired to
the natives by sand markings that
others would not observe.
Among the cases near the northern
edge of the desert there is no such
thing as property in land. The sands
are everywhere and a man may use
any part of the surface just as long as
he chooses to occupy or cultivate it;
but his claim upon it ceases when he
stops using it. There is no individual
property in water. In many places
water underlies the surface at depth
of ten to 30 feet and he who chooses
to dig for it and bring it to the surface
to nourish the date palm is at liberty to
do so. But he does not own the water
Any one is at liberty to use it for his
palm trees, but he must not plant a
tree within about 30 feet of those
owned by his neighbor.
There is, in fact, individual owner
ship only in the tree itself. If the tree
dies and the owner does not replace it
with another, any one is free to plant
one in its place. The result is that
mans date palms may be scattered
around in number of groves. He
may sell his trees If he desires, but he
cannot sell the ground in which they
are planted, nor the water that vivfes
them.