scorpion-eating marabout stands, at any rate in my
experience, unrivalled.
There was probably little danger in the performance,
for an Arab, when he catches a scorpion which
he wishes to keep alive, usually renders it innocuous
by breaking off the thorny point of its sting against
his thumb-nail ; but the absence of danger did
nothing to detract from the repulsive nature of the
performance.
Scorpions and tarantulas abound during the
summer months in Tougourt. In order to save
themselves from being stung during their sleep,
the inhabitants, who during the hot weather mostly
sleep upon the house-tops, spread their mattresses
upon a curiously formed bedstead of jereeds (palm
stems), up whose hard smooth sides these poisonous
creatures cannot crawl.
Round a great part of the market of Tougourt
runs a roughly constructed colonnade which, on
account of the shade which it affords, is a favourite
resort at all times of the day. Mud-built seats like
those in the streets of the old town, and an occasional
little-used stove for making coffee, line its
sides, while innumerable little cupboard-like shops
open into it all along its length.
It is under this colonnade that the Jews of
Tougourt have their stalls. Bullied by Arabs and
Frenchmen alike, these Jews seem to have lost the
whole of their manliness and self-respect. What
earthly entertainment the Arabs can find in badgering
these men it is impossible to imagine, for more