The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-06-06


 These dances form the one wild excite
 ment of the monotonous desert life. The
 Ouled Nail women come from a distant
 part of Sahara, and at Bskra they dance
 for their livelihood, until they have made
 sufficient money to return to their desert
 homes and marry some camel-owner of their tribe.
 Some Some of these women are young and of exceeding beauty. They wear cos tunes of many colors and decorate them selves with barbaric sewelry-silver ear rings and bangles and anklets, and an ornament peculiar to their tribe made of numerous gold coins, the gifts of their patrons. which they wear on their bosoms They are gay, light-hearted. vivacious women, and during the day are to be seen idly sitting on the balconies or the fiat roofs of their houses, or arrayed in all their finery, promenading In groups | about the street. smoking cigarettes and
 laughing and testing with the Arabs and native soldiers.
 The music for the dance is supplied by
 three musicians, one a big Soudanese ne- gro. who beats tom-tom, an Arab who pipes away on flute. and third who bangs noisily on a rude tambourine They
 make a hideous and manotonous sound. A weird barbaric air repeated over and over again, the music of savage Africa. Oil tut OCCdSipH we ilSlteu In6 OaIt Mature, the principal dancer was girl of not more than 15 years of age tall and 1.-the of figure. She had the chocolate complexion of the south, dark, lustrous eyes, sensitive lips, a low forehead. and a face of bewitching beauty. Her cheeks and chin were tattooed. She wore large circlets of silver suspended from her ears.
 broad, massive, spiked bangles and silver anklets, and over her raven hair sprays of silver and gold thread. She was fav- orite, a premiere danseuse. but recently come to Biskra. Her dance was raptur- ously received, but it was not dancing as we understand it. It was rather a rhythmic swaying of the body quiver- ing of the shoulders. a serpent-like mo- tion of the arms and hands. Those who have seen the representation of eastern dances introduced intot this country by Maud Allan, Sahary and others. and mo- tably the dances in the Arabian plays of "Kismet" and "Sumurun" can form some idea of the character of these perform | ances at Biskra, only the dancing of the Ouled Nail women is more abandoned, and this Is emphasized by the weird na- tive music. and the fascination and glam- our of barbaric surroundings.
 But the paramount attitude of Bskra l is the desert. the Garden of Allah" as I the Arabs have poetically described it. 1 European and American visitors in in- | creasing numbers are annually crowding l to this new pleasure and health resort, some to enjoy tlfe novel experience of the desert, with its glorious and wonderful
 sunset effects, others to breathe the life giving and exhilarating air As yet, the uttermost point reached by the rail is
 Biskra From the flat roof of the cara
 vanserai one looks out across the lonely and lmitless sea of sand, which extends southwords for hundreds of miles to the | <,fn mi I And profoundly impressive is the spec l tacle It is as if one had reached the I edge of the world, where all is void-a vast endless sterile plain, stretching away | to nothingness. And when night falls the ! scene is even more impressive. An im- l penetrable darkness and mysterious sil- ence reigns-not gleam of light is per- i ceptible is in the whole of the uninhabit- l ed waste-ony overhead, is the lofty Af-
 rican sky. the brilliant stars look down. | To understand the wonder of the desert. | to feel the spirit of the spot, one must | visit Sidi-Okba, an oasis some 15 miles l away It is a three hours ride across the burning plain.
 On our journey we met several caravans | laden with psoduce coming up from the | south They were accompanied by mount | ed Arabs in white hurnouses and followed by camels carrying palanquins. in which l the women wore elaborately concealed. We also had the unusual experience of
 a sand storm. About an hours ride from | Biskra, we described on the horizon a | cloud-like object. At first we supposed l 1t to be the gloom of an oasis. Our guides l knew better and bade us hasten on. The l cloud rapidly travelled towards us. the l wind came out of 1t. the sand began to beat against our faces like fine rain. We l were forced to halt. and 80. grouping the animals together. we huddled close under | the shelter of the beasts and waited until l the storm had passed. Our clothes were
 soon thickly covered with grey dust. our l teeth were filled with gritty particles, our lips parched and our eyes smarting 1 with pain. Fortunately it was of short 1 duration and we were soon able to pro- ceed, but 1t was an experience to be re- l membered.
 1 No discription of Bskra would be com plete without some reference being made
 to the great work of our civilization which the French have accomplished in these regions of North Africa. They nave overcome enormous difficulties in the building of bridges and magnificent | roads, which cross the mountains and | valleys of Kabylie. They have encour- aged by subsidies the various native in- dustries. planted extensive vineyards in Algeria, and extended the railways througnout the greater part of the count ry. all of which will bear comparison With anything of a similar nature ac- nieved by the English in upper Egypt and the 6oudan. and itis not too much to say that in few years they will have carried the railways into the barren wild- orness. far beyond the oasis of Blsixra, and have as fully developed the irraga- tion of the land that tho time may not be distant whom fertility will bless tfose arid plaina and the desert be made to blossom as the rose.
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