We made our way to the minaret of the mosque
situated on the summit of the mound. This mosque,
like almost every other building in the place, was
falling into ruins. The top of the minaret had
fallen off, and the door at its base which gave
entrance to the tower was almost choked by the
debris. We crawled in as the serpent goes, and
made our way up a narrow, broken, and ill-lighted
stair to the top, bumping our heads and barking our
shins as we went.
We were rewarded for our exertions by a splendid
view of the oasis and surrounding desert. To the
north lay the great forest of palms which represented
Tougourt. At some little distance to the south
could be seen the oasis of Tamelath with the domes
of its Zawia, or monastery, sparkling in the sun and
the oases of El Goug and Bled et Ahma lying
behind it. The jumbled, billowy, sand-dunes of the
Souf, among which, though invisible to us, lay the
great city of El Wad, closed in the eastern horizon,
while to the west the great level expanse of
the desert stretched away further than the eye
could see.
There was little to be seen in Temasin itself,
so after we had descended from the minaret and
made a circuit of the walls we started back for
Tougourt.
Before reaching our destination we were overtaken
by a man riding a splendid white mehari. He
regarded my beast, which was a wretchedly underbred
brute hardly better than a baggage camel, with
the utmost disdain. The beast which he rode had