The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-04-28

clay under IT. The water may sink
down through hundred or more feet
of gravel and rock. but when 1T comes
to this clay bed 1T flows on until 1t
strikes hollow, and If this hollow be
high enough and deep enough. the re-
suit is an oasis. In the district known
as Ell Erg depressions of this kind
furnish wells which can irrigate eight
millions of date palms. and where
am now is the Wady Saoora. great
underground stream which flows far
below the surface for several hundred
miles, and then rises and supplies the
GASES of Tuat, which are among the
largest of the western Sahara.
The River Oasis of Tarla.
/ have already described the extern
sive date plantations of Figuig, lying
northeast of here, near Beni Ounif. in
Morocco. on the other side of the noun
tains. They are watered by hot springs
some of which have temperature
above 100 degrees Fahrenheit Those
springs come out of plateau in the
middle of the GASES, and their waters
are conducted by underground drains
over a solid date forest. covering an
area greater than that of eighty 100
acre farms. | rode miles with my SOL
diers in going in and out among the
plantations, and / am told that their
number is close to million.
The oasis of Figuig is not at all
like the oasis of Tarla, which / also
visited during n thirty-mle horse
back ride over the desert from Benz
Ounif. Tarla is of many GASES
which spot here and there the branches
of the Wady Saoora. 1t Is found on the
Sousfane River. which unites With the
Wady Cir. near 1geli to form the
Saoora, the latter flowing from there
on southwark and finally feeding the
GASES of Tuat. From here to IgeM a
distance of more than hundred miles,
the river flows SO far below the sur
face that there is no vegetation what
ever.
Just east of t'iguig the Sousfane
comes to the surface in trickling
stream. and the result is scottered
GASES covering a distance of several
miles. These GASES are SO narrow in
places that one could throw a stone
over them. They are often not more
than one hundred feet wide, broaden
ing out to three hundred feet or moro
in some places. Even there the river
bed is often dry. but little pools of
water now and then come to the sur
face, and near them are date trees
growing out of the dry sand, most of
which are loaded with fruit
i
down the river bed for eight or ten
| miles. rode at least six miles through
them and that under punches of ripe
dates all the way. l stopped near a
, mud village, which was inhabited lot
long ago, but which is now deserted
except at times of harvest. Its people
have moved across the desert to F'iguie
in order that they may be better pro-
tected from the brigands of the desert
although they still own and cultivate
their little date farms and when the
crop is ripe come back to their mud
huts and mud towers to watch them.
The Vegetation of the Sahara.
The Arabs say that YOU will thrust
Il stick into the desert and water II
YOU will soon have a tree. can easily
believe this to be so. The sands OF
| the Sahara are wonderfully fertile
and if they could all be watered this
| would be the garden spot of the globe
| AS it is, the rainfall the whole region
over does not average more than five
| inches per year. There are certain
| places on the highlands, however
! which have occasional rains, and al
| certain seasons the water falls there
| for several days off and on. When
| this occurs vegetation springs up as
| though by magic. The ground Is car
! peted with grass, and there are wild
| flowers of many kinds. The Arabs
know of these regions, and they &c
! there with their flocks of sheep nnf
| goats to PASTURE coming away whcr
| the grass disappears
On my way to Tarla | rode through
patches of thorn bushes scattered nj
| wide distances apart Such vegetation
lis found all along this part of the
1 Sousfane, the moisture not being