from the north. We never overtook anything
ourselves. This was not because our camel was
unusually slow, but because when walking alone a
camel always goes much slower and requires more
driving than when in the company of others of his
kind. When, as we usually did, we joined forces
for a while with those caravans which overtook us
the increase in the pace of our camel was very
noticeable, and for a time El Haj and his stick
would have a rest.
The ease with which Alssa could recognise a
caravan from a distance was extraordinary.
‘That caravan,’ he would say, indicating one
approaching us, but still more than half a mile
away, j has been to Tougourt to buy dried dates.
Both the men and the camels come from Biskra.
And then he would proceed to point out their peculiarities.
The camels from Biskra were broader,
thicker, and on a shorter leg, than those of Tougourt,
which were somewhat * leggy.’ He could tell by
the loose bulging way in which the kerratas hung
down that the dates which they contained were
dried or fresh, as in the latter case the sacks would
have had a flatter and more solid appearance. He
identified the men as belonging to Biskra by the
pattern of the sacks which they used, for the kerratas
used by the Biskris are striped in black and grey,
instead of the brown and black of those of Tou-
gourt.
Each Arab tribe has its own peculiar stripes and
colour for its kerratas, just as each Highland clan
has its own peculiar tartan. Some of the tribes
appear to have a rather ‘loud’ taste in kerratas.
Those, for instance, in use at Bou Saada are of a
flaring red, others are red and black, others again
are red and grey, and so on, each tribe having
different colours and widths of stripe. Aissa knew
them all, and besides was able as a rule to tell,
either by his shape or ear-marks, where any camel
came from that he saw.
The men who travel with these caravans are a
queer moody set; one will sometimes sit huddled up
in a * brown study ’ on the top of his camel, thinking
of the beautiful Fatma which he—or, more probably,
some other Arab—has left behind at the last
joasis, for an hour at a stretch, silent, absent, dreamy,
and in a state of utter oblivion to all things mundane.
His brother Arabs, following on foot with the strong
dogged trudge of the camel-driver, will often be
obliged to speak to him several times, or even to give
a tug to his burnous, before he will awake with a
start from his dream and realise the fact that he is
¡still on earth.
; It is easy, when in an oasis, to recognise the
Bedentary inhabitants from those wandering camel-
drivers who are merely passing through with a
Icaravan. The latter stride along with the ‘ desert
¡swing ’ which is unmistakable.
These clean-limbed Arabs are wonderful walkers,
they move with a long tireless stride and a jaunty
’swing of their shoulders, which does much to carry
them along over heavy or uneven ground.
Like most races who live a natural open-air life,
phey are wonderful long-distance runners. When