it appeared, a law in Wargla forbidding any male to
mount on to the roof of even his own house during
the daytime, for fear that he should look down upon
his neighbour’s wives!
Here at Wargla, as at Tougourt, we were disappointed
at not finding the Tawareks. The winter
before they had been in the neighbourhood in plenty;
but, for some reason known only to themselves, they
had entirely deserted the place ever since. They had
moved off to some other part of the desert. ‘ Here
to-day, gone to-morrow ’ seems to be the motto of
these confirmed wanderers.
Vague rumours, however, were in the air to the
effect that they had recently been seen near El Wad,
and it was there that we were recommended to
search for them. With an uncomfortable feeling
that we were getting the worst of this game of hide-
and-seek, I decided, after resting one day in the
oasis, to retrace our steps to Tougourt, and from
thence to take the road to El Wad to see if there
was any truth in the rumours which we had heard.
We spent our day at Wargla in doing the sights
of the town. We ascended the minaret of one of
the mosques—the regulation as to housetops evidently
did not extend to these sacred precincts—and
obtained from the summit a splendid view over the
town to the palm-groves and desert beyond. We
then came down and, leaving the city by the gate
through which we had entered, made the circuit of
the walls.
The fortified gates of Wargla are of peculiar
construction. After passing through the door in the