THE OASES OF THE DESERT.
This desolation of the Sahara would be of such a nature that nothing,
either in the animal or vegetable world, could survive, were it not for
the fertile tracts, or oases, found at intervals throughout its whole
extent.
These oases, or roadies, as they are sometimes called, are caused by
subterranean, or underground, springs. Oases are more common in the
eastern part of the Sahara than in the other sections.
[Illustration: OASIS IN THE SAHARA.]
Oases differ in character. Sometimes they are mere patches, covered with
bushes and coarse grass, usually surrounding a spring. More often they
are tracts of rare beauty and of great fertility, with a good supply of
water.
In traveling through the Great Desert, the easiest route is from
Tripoli, through the kingdoms of Fezzan, to Lake Tchad. The kingdom of
Fezzan is favored as to climate. It has periodical rains, on account of
the moist winds which blow from the Mediterranean Sea. These seem to
extend farther inland here than in any other part of the continent.
East of this route across the Sahara there is a portion of the desert
called the Libyan Desert. Oases are, in this section, very easily
cultivated. In the western section of the Sahara the land of the oases
is fit only for pasturing goats and sheep.
In some of these more fertile oases of the eastern sections, thousands
of inhabitants may be found living in comfortable villages. There may be
found the date palm in cultivation, together with other fruits and some
grains. Gum arabic is also a product of this region. It is obtained from
the sap which exudes from the trunk of the acacia tree.
Commerce across the Great Desert is not carried on without difficulty
and danger. There are various routes over which caravans of from five
hundred to two thousand camels and their drivers travel.
The distance between the springs, or wells, is frequently more than a
ten-days' journey. Often such a spring is reached only to be found dry,
and then both the men and the animals are in danger of perishing for
lack of water.
We, who are so accustomed to an abundance of fresh water, can scarcely
realize how it would seem to travel with one of these caravans, and to
be able to quench our thirst only from the supply of water carried in
leather bags slung from the sides of the patient camels. A glass of
water that has stood over night does not seem very palatable to us; yet,
doubtless, it would seem refreshing compared with water that had been
carried in a leather bag for ten days, exposed to the burning heat of
the desert's sands and sun.
A wise Providence has fitted the camel with a special paunch, or
stomach, the cells of which it fills with water before starting out on
one of these journeys. This supply has to suffice for its needs until
more water can be obtained from some distant spring. It has been stated
that the cells of the camel's stomach can absorb and hold upwards of a
gallon of water when the animal is preparing to start out upon one of
its long journeys across the desert.
Should a caravan, in crossing the desert, reach a spring or well, the
waters of which had run dry, perhaps the life of one of the camels would
have to be sacrificed, in the hope of getting a supply of water from its
stomach. This water would be all that the drivers would have with which
to sustain life until another spring could be reached.
Nature has fitted the camel most admirably for its desert home. In
addition to its true stomach, with its peculiar cell-like lining, it has
a second stomach, or honeycombed paunch. These are both capable of
holding a large supply of water.
The hump of the camel is another wise provision to enable the animal to
endure the hardships of its long journeys, often on a very short supply
of food. A few beans, dates, or carob pods are all the camel receives
after a long day's march, when there is no herbage on which it can
browse.
Shrubby plants, such as the camel's thorn, of which the animal is very
fond, are all that the sterile sands of the desert can produce for its
needs.
The drivers and owners of the camels look very carefully to the
condition of the hump of each animal before starting out on a march
across the desert.
The hump is really a storehouse for fat. When plump and well rounded, it
indicates that the animal is in perfect health. If, after a long march,
this hump becomes wasted, whether because the animal has become
exhausted, or because he has had insufficient food, it is often
necessary to prescribe complete rest. Even with an abundance of food,
and no work to do, it may take three or four months before the camel is
restored to perfect health and full powers of endurance, as indicated by
its firm, plump hump.
The foot of the camel is formed to keep it from sinking in the sand. It
is furnished with an extended pad, or cushion. This pad is protected
from the heat of the burning sands by means of a thick sole.
The skin on the chest and kneejoints is thickened into what are called
callosities. It is upon these that the camel rests when it lies down, or
when it kneels to receive a load.
The camel has been called the ship of the desert. It can carry twice the
load of a mule. It travels slowly, yet it moves at a steady, uniform
pace. It can thus travel for hundreds and hundreds of miles at the rate
of two miles and a half an hour.
The motion of the camel is most peculiar. It is a swaying from side to
side, not at all agreeable to one unaccustomed to riding upon its back.
This motion is caused by the camel moving both feet on a side at once.
In this way, first one side of its body is thrown forward, then the
other.
To protect the camel against the shifting sands and the burning heat of
the sun, nature has further fitted it for its peculiar home and life. It
has the power to close its nostrils at will to keep out the sand. Long
lashes protect its eyes, not only from the storms of wind and sand, but
also from the glare and the heat.
From time immemorial the camel has been known as the beast of burden in
India, Arabia, and Africa. This species, the one-humped camel, or
dromedary, differs somewhat from that having two humps. The latter has
been found in Central Asia, Persia, and the south of Russia.
Recently a report has been received from St. Petersburg that wild camels
have been discovered in large quantities in a district of Asia; but
nowhere in history do we read of camels that are not domesticated.
The sculptures of Assyria depict both species. The patient animal is
mentioned in the oldest books of the Bible. Many of our pleasantest
associations in connection with our earliest Bible lessons center about
this animal, in connection with "the wise men of the East," and other
scenes connected with the birth and early life of our Saviour.