for on the final stroke being given which tapped the
water-bearing stratum the water rose with a rush
to the month of the well, and unless the unfortunate
workman could be hauled with sufficient rapidity up
the two hundred feet or so of shaft to the surface he
was inevitably drowned. The shafts, owing to the
roughness of their construction and the largeness of
their diameter, were continually falling in and becoming
choked, and they could only be cleared out
by lowering again a man to the bottom and tapping
afresh the water-field.
The French * Compagnie de l’Oued Eirh ’ have,
with their modem appliances, sunk a number of
excellent wells, and are rapidly developing the resources
of the district, for they have not only
supplemented the supply of water in the existing
oases, but have created several new oases of their
own. .. .
By them the cultivation of the palms is carried
on in a scientific manner. The trees which they
plant are selected varieties—the Arabs recognise
over seventy different kinds of date palms. They
are systematically planted in rows, instead of in the
haphazard manner adopted by the Arabs, and are
pruned, watered, manured, and cared for in accordance
with the most modem scientific principles.
But in spite of all the care, labour, and capital
expended upon their plantations, the company only
estimate their profit at three and a half francs per
palm.
The inhabitants of the forty oases which constitute
the Wad Birh district are of M type which is
A ROUARA WOMAN.