The Desert gateway, Biskra and thereabouts

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THE LIBRARY
OF

THE UNIVERSITY

OF CALIFORNIA

LOS ANGELES

THE GALIGNJNl UBF.ARV j
Engl & Americ. Books
PARIS, 224, r. de Rivolt jf

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THE DESERT GATEWAY

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THE

DESERT GATEWAY

BISKRA AND THEREABOUTS

BY

S. H. LEEDER

Illustrated with 16 Plates from Photographs
by the Author and by A. Bougault

CASSELL AND COMPANY, LTD.

London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne

1910

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

B52.H1

TO

MY WIFE

WITHOUT WHOSE UNFAILING HELP THIS BOOK
COULD NOT HAVE BEHN WRITTEN

pQPQQoq

PREFACE

This book is an attempt to supply a need I was
keenly conscious of during a long visit to North
Africa last winter. Falling at once under the fas-
cinating spell of the Arab people, whose life and
religion excited in me the greatest interest and
curiosity, I, with many other visitors to Biskra,
sought almost in vain for answers to the many
questions which daily presented themselves. And
if books fail, what resource is there ? The ordinary
tourist, who is making a short visit, finds the Arab
himself, when questioned, blank. Indeed, I doubt
if there are any people under the sun who can, while
preserving a charming courtesy, oppose to the
curious such an impenetrable reticence as the Arab
is capable of.

I have tried to write the book I should have been
glad to find already in existence at the beginning
of my stay. My only claims to attempt it are the
unusual length of my visit; my extreme good
fortune in winning a measure of friendly con-
fidence, by which I got past — if ever so short a
distance— the barrier the Arab sets up ; and the fact
that since my return home I have been able to
follow up these advantages by a study of such
works as throw light on some of the mysterious
problems one could not otherwise have solved.

I trust no one, especially of those who know any-
thing of the depth and subtlety of the Arab mind

viii PREFACE

and character, will imagine for a moment that I am
claiming to have found all, or nearly all, the keys
to those secret recesses which have never before
yielded to European hands. Of all the keys I did
not find more than one — the key of sympathy and
respect. And if with that I opened certain chambers
of deep human interest, even then I am aware that
the light I had was scarcely enough to explore by ;
and I came away, with the spell unbroken, it is true,
but with curiosity only partially abated and inter-
est only partly satisfied. Like Cleopatra, the East
makes hungry where most it satisfies. It is this
insatiable hunger, I believe, that constitutes its ever-
lasting fascination, and that draws so irresistibly
those who have once entertained the illusion that the
hunger could ever be appeased.

As to the two chapters on the religion of Islam
and the life of its Prophet, I cannot, of course, claim
to have added anything to the knowledge of that
subject; but I shall count my book to have failed
if in the earlier chapters I have not excited in my
readers enough interest in the Arab people to carry
them on quite naturally to a brief consideration of
the religion of the race. This I have written in the
light of my own affection for them, and with my own
desire to understand the origin of their marvellous
history and the forces which have made them what
they are. The Arab religion is the Arab life. It
is in the example and teaching of their Prophet
that the inspiration which makes them so different
from other men is to be found. Unfortunately,
most English writers on this subject have brought
to it a strong prejudice. Often, from the point of
view of the ardent Christian advocate, it has been
sought to demolish the teaching of the Koran ; or a

PREFACE ix

writer like Prof. Margoliouth has written of Moham-
met as pretty much of a charlatan, distinguished
chiefly by his success in hoodwinking mankind; while
at the other extreme we have the glowing rhapsody of
Carlyle, as he places him for hero-worship on one
of the rare pinnacles he erects for his "great men."
It is between these opinions that I seem to find the
truth ; and my natural Christian bias leads me to
believe that to help the millions of Islam no man
should contemplate the destruction of the Koran,
but should seek rather to supplement it with the
Gospel.

I gratefully acknowledge the help of Mr. Percy
Hasluck, of Southgate, on many points where a
knowledge of Arabic was invaluable. To Dr. Lang-
don Brown, F.R.C.P., of Harley Street, London, I
am indebted for his opinion of the dervish perform-
ances, especially valuable as being the outcome of
the close observation of an eminent physician. To
my numerous Arab friends I owe more than I can
say. As the opinions of a cultured Moslem on his
religion, the various utterances of Syed Ahmed are
deeply interesting.

As Algeria is held by France, it was always in-
teresting to hear the opinion of Frenchmen who,
from their official positions, had great opportunities
of observing the country and its native people. In
very many ways M. Francois Sicot, of Oran, gave
me the advantage of his experience.

I gladly acknowledge indebtedness to Lieut.-Col.
Villot's "Moeurs, Coutumes et Institutions des In-
digenes de I'Alg^rie"; to Sale's translation of the
Koran and Notes; to the Rev. J. M. Rodwell's trans-
lation of the Koran ; and to the " Dictionary of Islam,"
by T. P. Hughes (out of print). Prof. Margoliouth's

X PREFACE

"Mohammed and the Rise of Islam " is an invaluable
storehouse of facts, antagonistic to what may be called
the Carlyle theory of the Prophet.

I have used both the translations of the Koran
mentioned, in every case comparing them, and some-
times transplanting a word from one to the other,
as the better translation of the Arabic seems some-
times to lie between the two versions. Rodwell's
translation is by far the better for the casual reader;
the Suras, for one thing, appear in proper historical
order, and the poetic form is better preserved by the
versification.

In the footnotes "Sura" always means a chapter
of the Koran.

S. H. L.

Inverldne, Lancaster,
October, 1910.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

1. First Impressions of Biskra

2. A Little Pageant of Eastern Life

3. Fast, Feast, and a Great Prayer

4. We Visit our Arab Friends, and See the

Famous Jardin Landon

5. A Day at Sidi Okba .

6. About Mortality and Immortality in the

Mohammedan Faith

7. About Islam and its Prophet

8. What is the Religion of Islam ?

q. Arab Betrothal and Marriage, and the
Position of the Women of Islam. The
Ouled NAiL Question

10. The Dancing Dervish and the Marabout .

11. Many Smaller Matters. Last Days, and a

Sad Farewell ....

Appendix .....

Index ......

I

21
44

67
94

117
141
179

196
220

236
265
269

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

The Vast Ocean of the Sahara Desert : The

Hour of Prayer Frontispiece

FACING PAGE

A Nomad Tent in the Desert. Dominoes Outside
A Biskra Cafe . .

A Corner of the Market at Biskra
One Side of the Market at Biskra
" Un Sou, M'sieur ? " A Beautiful

Little

Second Attitude . .
Third Attitude . .
Sermon and Collection
FROM Biskra to Ras-el-

Beggar Girl

Bendriss, the Schoolboy, Son of a Rich Arab
An Arab Friend in Gala Attire . .

The Great Prayer : First Attitude

The Great Prayer :

The Great Prayer :

The Great Prayer :

The Pretty Road
Guerria

Beni-Mora, near Biskra, the Fragrant Mimosa
Grove. Taib, our Guide, Breakfasting in
his Sister's House

Minaret of a Village Mosque. An Arab
Funeral . .

OuLED Nail Dancing Girls

Arriving at the Dervish Fete in the River-
Bed, with Native Soldier Carrying the
Sacred Flag. Preparing Coffee at the
Dervish Fete

The Falconer . .

6

8

10
24

42

48

50
52

54

68

92

122
214

222
356

THE DESERT GATEWAY

CHAPTER I

FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF BISKRA

It was on a day brilliant with sunshine that we
arrived at Biskra in early November, 1909. I
suppose the arrival at that little railway station after
the long journey from Algiers is always memorable
to the "tourist" from the ardour with which he is
welcomed by the medley of Arabs, who crowd round
the station eager to see if any familiar European face
will reappear, or to press their offices, as servant,
guide, or porter, upon new-comers ; whom they greet
with smiles, and cling to with a persistency which
to those who do not yet know how to deal with
Arab importunities is a little embarrassing, if not
vexatious.

It is at the beginning of the winter season,
however, that the visitor has a welcome of double
enthusiasm. After the long and sweltering summer
in the oasis, when work has been almost impossible,
and food very scarce, it can be imagined how hope
revives in October when the climate becomes agree-
able, and the memory of past seasons has taught the
Arab lads how much there is to hope for from the
daily unloading of the one train, in the early after-
noon, which connects the gateway of the great desert

THE DESERT GATEWAY

with that wonderful world from which come so many
rich and pleasant people.

The station is situated about half a mile from
the village, and although it is an attractive idea that
one will scorn the 'bus and walk to the hotel, I do
not advise this, for whether you elect to take the
main road, or to seek the shade of the mimosa avenue
through the beautiful public gardens, you cannot
escape, in walking, the insistent attentions of the
numerous boys and men, each one of whom hopes
to become attached to you by reason of much asking.
I do not suggest that you will escape altogether by
gaining the fastness of the hotel 'bus, but at any
rate you will have a breathing time, and will reach
your hotel in peace, and can then take the advice of
those in authority there as to the necessary services
of "guides " or boys.

There is a regular corps of guides licensed by
the municipality, who empower them to claim five
francs a day for their services ; but there are
numerous boys of good character (who may not call
themselves "guides" for fear of imprisonment) who
will work for visitors, carrying photographic appara-
tus, acting as interpreter, or, if one takes a small
apartment — as many do in preference to staying at
an hotel — working as domestic servants, expecting
from two to three francs a day.

One thing we soon learned — that the hotel pro-
prietors do not allow the Arab boys to work for
visitors inside the hotels as personal servants; but
each hotel has its own guides, to whom more liberty
is allowed than to those who are unattached.

We had decided to stay at the Sahara Hotel,
for the reasons that friends of ours had been com-
fortable there in previous years, and that we wanted

UNDER CLOSE OBSERVATION

to place ourselves under the care of Madame Jean-
Jean, the energetic proprietress, described to us as a
typical Frenchwoman, who, with her husband, con-
ducted her hotel in the old-fashioned and personal
way, taking a friendly interest in every one of her
guests, and herself working incessantly for their com-
fort and welfare, a course which has the effect of
turning an hotel into a home.

At the Sahara we were soon established on terms
made more reasonable from the fact that it was our
intention to stay till the spring. In Madame, as
we expected, we instinctively felt that we had a
friend; and if her pointed and vivacious French
became a little perplexing to our unaccustomed ears,
there was Jules, the excellent head-waiter, who spoke
colloquial English, and justly prided himself on
having been for some time a butler in an English
family, from which experience he had gained a full
knowledge of the peculiar needs of English people.

I said the omnibus was only a temporary refuge
from the importunate Arabs, and the fact was imme-
diately forced upon us as, from time to time, while
we were arranging preliminaries in the hotel, and
having tea, we caught sight of a number of keen
faces peering through the doors and windows,
taking note of our every movement, and anxiously
awaiting our appearance in the street.

From what we afterwards learnt of the Arab
character, I now know that nothing about us had
escaped their sharp eyes, and that already they had
formed a fairly correct judgment about our means,
our status, and our capacity for being turned to
profit by those of them who should be fortunate
enough to "bag" us.

As early as this in the season the hunger lor

THE DESERT GATEWAY

"patrons" is very acute, and to go out of the hotel
for the first time is to run the gauntlet in a way
which is much modified later on when the hotels
are full.

I was anxious not to be on bad terms with the
Arab population of Biskra, for I was already deeply
interested in the people of Algeria, and had conceived
something like a kindly admiration of many of their
characteristics.

By the same train as ourselves an Englishman
had arrived in Biskra in quite another frame of mind,
and as he appeared at the door of the hotel we
heard him address the crowd of expectant Arabs in
loud tones (as he spoke no French, he seemed to
imagine they would have no difficulty in understand-
ing his English if he yelled at them): "Go away!
I don't want any of you ! Go away ! " looking A^ery
fierce and determined.

And although he was successful in ridding him-
self, both then and afterwards, as long as he stayed,
of all Arab society, we felt that his methods were
not for us.

For one thing, the Arab good humour disarmed
us, and when we found that they were quick to see
a joke, and positively enjoyed being teased so long
as one's good nature was not in question, we felt
sure that we had discovered both how to enjoy their
good will and rid ourselves of their importunities.

We had, moreover, no desire to engage for so
long a period a regular guide, as it was our inten-
tion to live in Biskra for a considerable time rather
than to regard the place as a centre for excursions,
as the ordinary tourist does who stays for a few
days.

Our way was made clearer, too, by the fact that

WE ARE CLAIMED BY TAIB 5

when we at last appeared in the street we were
claimed by a boy who told us his name was Taib
ben Ahmed. He already knew our name; we were
friends, he declared, of his patron of last year, and
therefore we were his friends.

How he obtained this information we never knew;
and, when we afterwards found the marvellous
capacity of the Arab for knowing things by a sort of
divination, we gave up wondering.

Gradually, for it took quite a week, we shook off
every man and boy who followed and tried to claim
us, without causing any ill-feeling; excepting Taib,
of course, who established his claim to our interest,
proving himself a charming companion and an
excellent guide and interpreter, who joined us only
when we wished for his services.

I quickly realised the power of the cigarette with
the Arab, and, although I could not smoke with
them, I discovered what was their favourite "smoke,"
and always carried in one pocket a supply of
cigarettes for the lads and men, and in another
pocket a handful of the small nuts, "cocoette " (which
a dozen boys sell in the streets), and which all the
Arab children delight in.

As the cigarettes were only fifteen sous for a
packet of twenty, and the nuts about ten sous for
half a pint, it cost little to establish a general feel-
ing of good will, for which I was well rewarded by
many pleasant acts of courtesy on the part of the
men and much merry chatter from the small fry.

And where will one find such joyous greetings,
such pleasant smiles, such light-hearted fun, such
an unruffled capacity to make themselves entertain-
ing, as in the Arab boys?

In the early days of our visit I was puzzled to

THE DESERT GATEWAY

notice that my cigarettes were not smoked when
offered, but put into what answers to the Arab
pocket, and the cocoette was stored in the hood of
many a small burnous (cloak), the reason being that
the great Fast of Ramadhan had begun, and no good
Moslem must eat, drink, or smoke from sunrise to
sunset during the month. Of this Fast we learned
many interesting facts later on.

We can never forget our first ramble through the
native village, in and out of the narrow streets, and
round the market crowded with Arabs, where during
those first days we were often the only Europeans
in sight.

We first visited the streets of the caf^s, which
in the daytime overflowed into the roadway, the
customers sitting on the straw mats provided, and
revelling in the sunshine, which was no longer (as
in the summer) a thing to avoid, but to court, the
while they played dominoes and sipped their coffee
and peacefully chatted together, as though life had
no cares, and such things as work and duty did not
exist.

Already at the caf^s there was little about us
that was not known, and many a friendly smile and
greeting met us, with cordial invitation to coffee and
play. Here, for instance, was an acquaintance who
had seen our arrival at the station, and although he
had given up hoping for us as a patron, was quite
willing to regard us as a special friend — Ahmed by
name, a clever lad, who, although poor, was proud
to make us understand that he was "ch^rif," or
noble, being the only person in Biskra who could
claim descent from Mohammet.

Here, too, was another Ahmed, "guide to
Monsieur Hichens," author of "The Garden of

A NOMAD TENT IN THE DESERT

|J|)\II.N(»IS ot ISIDE A RISKRA CAFE

THE ARAB MARKET

Allah." To the end of our stay he never failed to
join us when we met, always with a suggestion of
some charming excursion which he wished to arrange
for us, interspersed with many reminiscences of the
novelist, whose book has made Biskra (which is its
Beni-Mora in every detail) famous with many people
who, as travellers, would never have heard of it.
We were to meet many Arabs who claimed to be
immortalised in that work ; especially Batouch, the
poet, who, since the book was written, had, as we
were told, "taken to religion," given up all com-
munication with his many European friends, and
retired to a life of contemplation and prayer in his
native village some miles away. On his rare appear-
ances in Biskra the rumour quickly spread that he
was with his friends in his favourite Arab caf^. And
there one evening we saw him, grown into a mystic,
and now a writer of religious poetry only, and quali-
fying doubtless for the position of a marabout
amongst his own people.

The fascination of the Arab market at Biskra is
indescribable, for here the teeming life of this gate-
way of the Sahara, this port of the illimitable ocean
of the desert, is centred. Here everything needed by
these people is bought and sold, and all the native
industries are carried on. The covered market-house
is in the centre, and round its four sides is a wide,
uneven road, on which is spread every sort of
merchandise — from the piles of dates to a collection
of second-hand bottles. Round the outer side of the
square are arches covering an arcade, and in the
depths of these arches are numbers of dark, window-
less little shops, in which shoes and other leather
goods, silver ornaments, wearing apparel, and other
things are made and sold by the squatting natives.

8 THE DESERT GATEWAY

The scene is all purely Eastern — the rich colours
of the piles of fruit and vegetables, the brilliant
whiteness of the Arab dress, relieved now and then
by the bright colours of the burnous of the Arab
grandee, or by the blue and red of the uniform of a
soldier of the native regiments from the neighbour-
ing barracks, everything aglow in the sunshine,
making a picture which never loses its charm.

There is only one thing to remind us that we
have not entirely lost touch with the West : under
the arcades, on the bit of pavement in front of the
shops in which wearing apparel is made and sold,
several Arab men are working Singer's sewing-
machines, treadling with their bare feet; but even
the sight of this modern instrument does not succeed
altogether in detaching us from our strange surround-
ings, for in front of each machine is hung a white
cloth on which a large outspread hand in red flannel
is sewn, obviously as a charm from evil.

This, Taib told us, was the hand of Fatima, with
which bare statement we had to be content, for we
soon discovered that wonderful reticence about native
customs and beliefs which keeps the secrets of Arab
life sealed to all but the most patient of Europeans,
who must stay long enough in this country to win
the regard and confidence of the natives before they
will return any other answer to one's eager question-
ing than the gentle "I do not know." Fatima, we
knew, was the much-loved daughter of Mohammet,
who declared her to be one of the four perfect women ;
but we had yet to learn why the hand of Fatima was
everywhere regarded as a charm, used in every con-
ceivable w^ay, from its impress on the door of the
humblest house to the jewelled charm worn round
the neck of the rich bride.

RESPECT FOR THE BLIND 9

To one corner of the market square we were
attracted by sounds of music, and there we found a
group of live poor men, four of whom were blind,
chanting, in the weird minor key which the Arabs
love, passages from the Koran, the flutes and the
drums (played with the fingers) answering each verse
with a sort of refrain. Surrounding the players was a
crowd of men, who looked like shepherds from the
desert, with many of the small boys of Biskra, all
sitting on the ground, of course, as the musicians also
were. Many of these boys were already known to
us, and they smiled up at us in a friendly way when
we dropped a small contribution into the drum of
one of the blind men.

Amongst the Arabs, of course, the art of chant-
ing and recitation has always been highly esteemed,
and it was most interesting to see the rapt faces of
this little audience. We had arrived just as the
recitation was ending, and as the chapter from the
Koran was finished one of the blind men began a
prayer. Instantly all hands were joined as a cup
upon the breast, to receive the answer, and as the
prayer ended the hands were drawn down the face
so that the benefit of the prayer might penetrate the
whole being. The crowd then separated.

The meaning of these attitudes at prayer was
explained by a courteous Arab standing by, who
thanked us for giving a coin to the blind men as
though we had given to him.

"We must pay great respect and kindness to the
blind," he said, "for our Prophet teaches us to do
this in the Holy Koran." And, seeing our deep
interest, he went on: "Once Mohammet, whilst in
serious discourse with rich and important people,
was interrupted by a blind man, Abdallah, who did

10 THE DESERT GATEWAY

not know that he was engaged, and, getting no
answer, asked loudly, ' Oh, apostle of God, teach
me some part of what God hath taught thee ! ' But
Mohammet, vexed at the interruption, frowned and
turned away from him. For this," said our Arab
friend solemnly, "the Prophet was admonished by
Allah in the Koran, and ever after he showed not
only Abdallah, but all blind men, great respect; and
all good Moslems must do the same."

This explanation, given with such perfect courtesy
and received by us with ready gratitude, led to the
beginning of a friendship which w-as a source of great
pleasure and profit all through out stay in the oasis.
Ali ben Messoud from that day became our frequent
companion, and as he was a gentleman of education
and leisure, a pious Moslem, deeply learned in the
Koran, the religious traditions, and other Arab litera-
ture, and in many ways more ready to make clear to
us anything in which we were interested than a less
cultured and enlightened Moslem would have been,
our intercourse came to be one of our greatest
pleasures.

We remembered how travellers in Arabia had
said that no one who had not studied Islam in its
own lands could realise the minuteness and the
multiplicity of the rules which are continually
observed in all the common acts of daily life. "The
position of the thumbs at prayer may convict a man
of flagrant heresy."

We have said that Taib, our guide, was an
excellent companion ; but it is to Ali, so deeply
versed in everything connected with his religion, that
we came to be indebted for whatever insight we
gained into the life of the Arabs.

And if we were curious about the native life of

i^^JIJ-^TjLJIj

f^. ■Of'''!

NOT A WOMAN TO BE SEEN n

Africa, Ali was in no way behind us in his desire
to understand something of the conditions under
which we lived in England, and finding us frank
about our own habits, and in no way disposed to
treat the strange customs and superstitions of his
people with anything short of respect, while he saw
that we regarded the observances of his religion with
something of reverence, he became unreserved in the
information he gave us.

But let us continue our first walk round the
market, jostled as we still are by the crowd of Arab
men and boys (not a woman is to be seen), who are
attracted here by all the many motives which, in
every part of the world, draw men to a general mart.
This is mostly a retail market, and while some big
transactions are going on in the sale of dates and
grain, nearly every other vendor of food stuff has
arranged his produce in little piles which sell for a
sou. Onions, potatoes, red-pepper pods, even small
oranges, are ranged in this way ; and the butchers,
not to be outdone, will sell you a sou's worth of
dreadful looking bones.

In one corner we come across the scribes,
spectacles on nose, solemnly writing letters for their
illiterate clients, and looking very wise as they turn
into classical Arabic the sentences dictated to them
in the vulgar tongue.

Here at another corner is the Arab book-shop,
where we realise how few books are available for the
natives. But if books are scarce, so are men who can
read them. Those who can enjoy a good story, or
who have a taste for history, indulge themselves by
assembling in the evening in one of the cafes, where
a professional reader regularly sits at his desk and
reads the thrilling stories of the Thousand Nights,

12 THE DESERT GATEWAY

or of the great heroes of national history, whose
marvellous exploits against their country's enemies
rouse the humble hearers to the greatest enthusiasm.
The man who can read the Arabic of the classic
books is a great person — great in the eyes of his
neighbours, for whom he must translate it into the
vernacular, which alone they can understand, and
particularly great in his own eyes, and anxious that
no one should imagine that he belongs to the un-
educated, whom he will naively describe to you as
"the dirt of the road."

The owner of this Biskra book-shop possesses
even more patience than those amiable gentlemen
who in England are in charge of the railway
bookstalls, in the way he submits to the encroach-
ments of the pretended customer — with the difference
that here the Arab sits down to read the books and
papers which he has not purchased, and has time
enough at his disposal to consume the contents of the
whole shop. Fortunately for the bookstall owners.
Englishmen cannot comfortably sit upon the floor of
our railway stations, and I do not imagine there is
any suggestion at present to supply them with chairs.

In the second-hand clothes quarter of the market
is a busy scene, and here w'e meet the first European
we have seen in this part of the town — a kindly
Englishman who has become greatly interested in
one of the merry Arab boys, and is showing his
good will towards him by rigging him in a second-
hand outfit to take the place of the rags which are
scarcely decent.

Knowing this man, we are interested in his
philanthropic enterprise, and venture to question him
on the subject.

"Ah," he answers to our raised brows, which

LOVE OF SCENT 13

speak in such plain English sentiments about the
judiciousness of his act, repeating the precious
wheeze about "pauperising the poor," "Ah, wait
until you know these folk a little better, and you will
agree with me that nowhere are there a people who
so make you feel that you ^nnst do something for
them."

How true this proved to be we often realised
later, as we found ourselves — and encountered our
compatriots — in this quarter of the market, keenly
driving a bargain so that some young Arab scamp
might discard his rags and be more warmly and
decently clad.

Tucked away in another corner of the market
is a little scent shop, to which we were attracted.
Here we were invited to enter its cool shade and have
a leisurely chat with the owner, who proved himself
to be an intelligent man, and regarded our curiosity
with good nature and was willing to satisfy it.

It seems that both Arab women and men are
very fond of scents, which many of them use after the
ablutions preceding their special prayers. In the
traditions it is written that the Prophet said, "Oh,
men, bathe ye on Fridays, and put some scent on
your clothes."

The popular scent is musk, for this was highly
esteemed by Mohammet, who believed it to be pleas-
ing to Allah — so much so that Moses, after a long
fast in preparation for the high honour of speaking to
God, not liking the savour of his own breath, cleaned
his teeth with a dentifrice; upon which the angels
told him that he had spoiled the scent of musk in
his breath, and to restore this he must fast ten days
more. Solomon also used the scent of musk on great
occasions. The letter mentioned in the Koran, which

14 THE DESERT GATEWAY

he sent to the Queen of Sheba, and which was
dropped into her bosom by the lapwing charged with
its delivery, was scented by the king with musk.

And amongst the valuable presents sent by the
Queen to Solomon was a large quantity of the same
scent. In the Koran, too (continued the shopkeeper),
among the delights of the righteous, "they shall be
given to drink of pure wine sealed, the seal whereof
shall be musk," instead of the ordinary seal of clay.*

Our friend Ali, seeing us in the scent shop, joined
us, and finding we were discussing scents, told us
that the Prophet abhorred any food which gave an
offensive odour to the breath, and even the honey of
Medina, where he lived, he gave up because it smelt
of the strong herbs of the country.

"Just now," Ali continued, "we do not use any
scent, as this is Ramadhan. The good Moslem does
not eat onions, leeks, or garlic, or such like vege-
tables, when entering a mosque or joining in public
prayers, although they are not forbidden ordinarily "
— we had seen a great many onions on sale in the
market — "but the Prophet would not allow anyone
to enter his presence who had recently eaten such
things."

After buying a small bottle of musk, which we
asked Ali to accept for use when the month's fast
was over, we came out again into the sunny market-
place.

Passing us at the moment was a strange figure of
a man clad in a single old brown-striped garment,
slipping away from his bare shoulders ; most notice-
able from the fact that his head was uncovered — for
to see an Arab man's head bare is the rarest of all

* This we found, on reference to our translation of the Koran,
was in Sura Ixxxiii.

"ALLAHU AKBAR!" i5

sights. His naked feet were very dirty, and alto-
gether he was a repulsive figure, for smeared over
the crown of his head, which was shaved but for the
sort of "pigtail " (dyed red with henna) which many
Mohammedans retain, was a patch of filthy mud,
some of which had trickled down his bare back.

We turned inquiringly to AH, whose comment
was that the man was a marabout, of a somewhat low
type, given (so far as his rather weak intellect
allowed) entirely to religion, and that during
Ramadhan he abased himself in this way. He
carried a tin mug, and his only means of subsistence
were the small coins occasionally dropped into it.

We gathered that this term " marabout " was a
wide one, applying to the highly educated religious
leader on the one hand, and on the other to the
wandering idiot whom the Arabs believe to be
favoured by Allah, who has withdrawn the poor
creature's intelligence to himself, his mind therefore
being in heaven, while his grosser part mingles
among ordinary mortals. "But," said AH, "if the
man becomes dangerous as a lunatic he is confined,
though he is still treated as a special favourite of
Heaven."

At this moment there rang out clear and sweet,
above the noises of the market, the cry of the
muezzin, calling, from the minaret of the mosque
close by, the faithful to prayer.* At the first sound
our friend AH stood still, listening with reverence;
all the Arabs in the market-place who were walking
did the same, and those who were reclining stood up.

"AUahu Akbar!" (God is most great!) This
is the moving cry which arrests the attention of all

• Shortly after this the picturesque minaret was pulled down as
being unsafe. I hope by this time it has been rebuilt.

i6 THE DESERT GATEWAY

men five times every day; this was the sound which
I had heard with a thrill as I lay in bed in the dark-
ness of that early morning just before sunrise.

What was the Arab call ?

Before Ali left us to enter the mosque he kindly
put it into French, which I translate.

"Allah is most great! (repeated four times). I
testify that there is no God but God! (twice). I
testify that Mohammet is the apostle of God I (twice).
Come to prayer ! (twice). Come to salvation ! (twice).
God is most great ! (twice). There is no God but
God ! "

The cry that I had heard in the early morning
was slightly varied by the extra words being given,
after "Come to salvation," — "Prayer is better than
sleep ! "

When Ali rejoined us later on he told us that in
the old days Biskra was a rudely fortified town, for
the caravans journeying thither across the Sahara
were often the prey of those barbarous mountaineers
of the Kabyle race who demanded toll, and some-
times robbed the whole caravan ; and, when strong
enough, would even make a raid upon the inhabit-
ants of the oasis itself.

Since the French occupation these men no longer
dare to interfere with the transit of commerce across
the Sahara, and Biskra has ceased to fear the incur-
sion of roving bands of robbers from the desert, which
at one time kept its inhabitants for ever on the alert,
and forced them to make such ramparts as were
within their means.

The famous race of Touaregs, who tracked down
their prey on the wonderful running camels, and were
once such a terror to the traders of Biskra, are not
yet quite extinct in the remote parts of the vast

THE TERRIBLE TOUAREGS 17

desert. They get over enormous distances in one
day, and rush like leaping tigers upon the caravan
which they have tracked, perhaps for weeks, with
wonderful subtlety.

These caravans, going in quest of gold dust,
buffalo skins, ostrich feathers, ivory, and at one time
slaves, were rich prey to their enemies.

An Arab proverb says "Poverty has its remedy
in the Soudan."

In one of the famous stories in Arab history it
is related how Kreddache, who was chief of the
Touaregs, was killed in combat by Ben Mansour,
leaving a wife, tall and handsome, who promised to
marry any one of the tribe who would bring her the
head of Mansour. Ould-Biskra, in a terrible ex-
pedition which he directed against the tribe of Man-
sour, killed the murderer. The widow gave herself
to Ould-Biskra, but demanded that he should tear
the heart out of the enemy and give it to the dogs !

Is it not possible that it is from this Ould-Biskra
that this oasis gets its name ; that the seven villages
have always converged to Biskra market-place, and
that it is an etymological error by which the French
have come to call one part of the oasis "Vieux
Biskra," when the whole of it is really named after
the warrior Ould-Biskra, just as the village of Sidi
Okba is named after its own hero ?

We took leave of Ali with an assurance that he
would earn our sincere gratitude if he would help
us in future days to satisfy, if only in part, the deep
interest and curiosity which had already been aroused
in our minds by our surroundings.

Could we ever, my wife and I asked each other, get
answers to all the questions which our highly stimu-
lating experiences were arousing in our minds?

c

i8 THE DESERT GATEWAY

We already felt that we should be more than
happy among these primitive people, who seemed
ready to give us welcome and admit us to their light-
hearted companionship, in return for which we could
not but feel that we wanted to contribute something
to their happiness.

The chief glory of Biskra is the splendid hour
of sunset, when the vast circle of mountains, broken
only by the narrow opening to the south towards the
illimitable sea of the Sahara, is glorified with such
beauty as one could never have imagined, from what
one has previously known, in northern latitudes, of
colour.

There was scarcely a day on which this "vision
splendid " failed us, and always the late afternoon
found us either on the hill of the fort on the Beni
Mora road, or walking by the river bed.

The turret of the Hotel Royale was built to com-
mand this wonderful scene, and by the kindness of the
owners no objection is taken to its ascent by visitors
who are not staying in the hotel.

Those who think, as we did, that the beauty of
this scene, in which the oasis seems for a time to be
caught up into the atmosphere of a celestial world,
is best enjoyed in solitude and away from the com-
ments of men (some of whom, though colour-blind,
are so well-bred that even to a sunset they think they
must do the "civil thing") will choose the wider
platform.*

I shall never forget the sight which on that first

* I am reminded of a woman of true Lancashire origin who, in
Egypt, when asked by friends of mine to comment on the beauties
of a sunset which is, I believe, thought to be one of the unique
glories of the world, said, with a delicious deliberation, " Well, it's
no better than I've seen at Southport I "

GLORY OF THE SUNSET 19

evening burst upon our view as we left the shade of
the gardens and turned down the road by the Oasis
Hotel.

Still in shadow ourselves, we looked up towards
the narrow opening of the road on to the farther
bank of the river and the mountains beyond. There
the whole scene was bathed in an intense glow of
pearly mauve — intense and yet soft and tender — of
such unexpected beauty as almost to take away our
breath.

The illumination now caught the overhanging
bank of the river, then it lighted with soft precision
the long line of the dwellings of the nomad colony
settled on the other side of the river (which in
ordinary daylight is only just visible), until each tent
seemed like a little pavilion of beauty set on a terrace
of gold. In the intense glow we could plainly see
the white figures of Arabs moving about at their
evening tasks, chiefly of bringing in the sheep and
goats and tethering the cattle.

Then away up to the mountains the eye travelled,
to feast on the ethereal beauty, as the colours glowed
and died on the different hills, with effects that
changed with every moment as the sun sank lower
in the west.

In a few seconds the edge of the river bank was
left to darkness; then the great circle of light, so
vivid as to have almost as clear an edge as the shaft
from a searchlight lantern, crept away from the
nomad tents, leaving them in turn to darkness, slowly
withdrawing across the plain, up the mountain sides,
until the last hill, which stands as a mighty sentinel
at the gateway of the desert, stood alone with one
or two of the higher peaks in the light.

Still the golden line crept on, until at last the

20 THE DESERT GATEWAY

whole range was deserted by the great God of Light,
who left it clothed in its plain brown and yellow
robes, which lacked the decoration of even a single
tree.

Usually the beauty of the sunset fades quickly,
and is followed by complete darkness, with scarcely
any twilight. Now and then, however, there lingers
a deep red glow on the western horizon ; above this
red there will be a broad band of vivid green, while
the great vault of heaven is of purest blue. One
memorable night the intensity of this vision of
heavenly colour was increased by the brightness of
the evening star, when Venus twinkled out into the
centre of the western glow, to be followed by all
the sparkling lights of heaven, which in the southern
sky have a beauty unknown to those who never leave
the lands encircled by the northern mists.

CHAPTER II

A LITTLE PAGEANT OF EASTERN LIFE, AS SEEN
IN THE GARDENS AT BISKRA

Many friends have imagined that our Hfe at Biskra
for a whole winter must have been dull, and when we
have replied that we never had a dull moment, they
have asked us to tell them what we found to do.
This is no easy thing to put into words which can be
understood by those who have no experience of primi-
tive life in a land of almost unbroken sunshine, and
with a people like the Arabs.

To the bustling Englishman, who, to be happy,
must always be doing, life in an oasis would "bore
him to death " after the first few days ; indeed, we
saw the hasty departure of several people of this
class during the winter, who went back to the modern
delights of Algiers because in Biskra they could not
find a single thing of interest to "do."

But over others something of the Arab spirit
and philosophy comes, and the claims of that
vigorous, intensive, exacting life to which they have
been accustomed at home gives way to the quiet,
dreamy enjoyment of mere existence. It is as though
they had smoked the pipe of kief, and had reached
that state in which they had attained the passing
enjoyment of mere sense, the pleasant languor, the
dreamy tranquillity, the airy castle-building which,
Burton said, takes the place in the East of the ener-
getic, passionate life of Europe.

22 THE DESERT GATEWAY

These Arab people truly regard work as travail,
and never, any of them, let its claims entirely possess
them. Out of the easy contentment which they culti-
vate, and which their religion encourages, and with
the childlike impressibility of nature and exquisite
sensibility of nerve which they possess, they find full
happiness in quiet and contemplation.

It is a very true observation that in the East man
wants little but rest and shade ; h^e is perfectly happy
smoking a pipe or drinking a cup of coffee. Under
these conditions, what the Arab hates most is dis-
turbance of mind; even conversation must be kept
out of troublesome channels, and he will abruptly
turn from a serious subject when it begins to weigh
upon his spirit. The displeasures of memory, the
vexations of thought, any domineering pressure of
obligation or possible duty, these are things he
avoids as a curse.

"Is it true," I was often asked by Arab friends,
"that in England there are gentlemen who have
money in the bank and who still work every day ? "

"Yes, there are millions who do this in Europe."

"Sir, it seems impossible. What is the good of
money in the bank if your work is still your master ? "

A question which I found it difficult to answer.

It is obvious, if one can put oneself in some
degree in tune with this philosophy of life, and
establish a pleasant relationship with its followers,
that here is the perfect cure for those who are worn
with the over-strenuous conditions of life at home,
and harassed by its pressing cares, which for a time
they are trying to escape, in the hope, if possible, of
finding healing in the "pipe of kief." To such as
are wanting a complete rest, and are willing to
leave behind them their old habits of civilised activity,

THE JOY OF LIVING 23

and to adjust their minds to a new outlook upon life,
there is no spot so suitable as this.

But in my own case, though I was in search of
rest and change, I was not seeking absolute idleness
or stagnation of mind. Like Hagar, I sought, in the
region of the mind —

** The happy mean, of wealth and want between —
Enough of want to stimulate my mind,
Enough of wealth to keep my mind serene."

I have said that during our long stay we never
had a dull moment. We even arranged to have our
breakfast at a table in one of the windows of the
hotel overlooking the road, so that we might lose
nothing of the ceaseless pageant passing along the
road, which never failed to interest us. Arabs and
negroes of all sorts were continually going to and
fro, while many of the guides and boys sat in the
gardens, in view of the hotel doors, so that none of
the visitors' movements should escape them.

It is the custom of the Frenchwomen of Biskra
to hire the small Arab boys of the place in the morn-
ing to carry the great open-mouthed baskets, made of
plaited palm leaves, in which they gather from the
different provision stalls in the market their stores
for the day. These boys, with the smaller fry, are
full to the brim of the joy of living, and as they
dance and twirl along the road, with bare feet, and
with their one garment of brilliant hue, from brightest
pink to deepest yellow, flashing in and out, now into
the shade of the gardens, now out again into the
sunshine of the road, they are the embodiment of
gaiety and grace.

Breakfast over, we cross the road, where room is
made for us by Arab friends on the garden seats.

24 THE DESERT GATEWAY

One point struck me from the first : these Arab men
and boys never rose from their seat when we
approached, as an English boy, with equal manners
in other respects, would have done. Even Taib,
whose manners were in every way those of a gentle-
man, would greet both my wife and me without
getting up. By a casual question put to AH, we
discovered that it is held to be very overbearing in
a man to require others, however lowly, to rise for
him. It is said that Mohammet's disciples never rose
when he entered a room, as they knew he disliked
an act which would seem to suggest arrogance on
his part.

Soon we are surrounded by a small crowd of
chattering boys. Tw'o or three of them will be boot-
blacks, and these will sit on their boxes quite close
to us; others will be errand boys, who will stop on
the way to chat with the new "tourists," squatting
at our feet the while. There is the greatest ease of
manner and good feeling between us all, and much
conversation on many different subjects; on my side
I tell them of the wonders of London and Paris,
on theirs they describe to me, with gayest humour,
the merits — and otherwise — of the tourists of previous
seasons, and produce from the recesses of their
scanty garments many picture-postcards which
"patrons" have sent them from different Continental
cities.

It is astonishing to find what conversational
powers some of these young scamps possess and
of what picturesque language they are capable. I
was describing how in London the hotels rose floor
above floor (two stories is the most Biskra boasts of),
and how people are carried to the top floors in lifts.
Then, again, how we have railways running at a

" Un sou, M'sicurr"
A BEAUTIFUL LITTLE BEGGAR-GIRI

ARAB IDEA OF WORK 25

great depth from the surface of the ground, the trains
also being reached by Hfts.

A recitation of all these wonders left them almost
speechless with astonishment, when Sassi, an imp
of ten years, being the first to find his tongue, said,
"Monsieur, it is wonderful; for when one looks at
the map of the world, England appears like a little
French racecourse in the middle of the desert, and
yet it is tres riche et tres grande."

These Arab boys are very proud of the few words
of English they have picked up, and which they
repeat very often, and there is much laughter over
their attempts to learn from me one or two new
sentences, such as "May I clean your boots, sir?"
to help them in their travail, of which they speak
much, but accomplish little. I am convinced, how-
ever, that they are not all idle ; indeed, we afterwards
knew several lads who worked hard and regularly,
especially one who was engaged by a French baker,
and always worked all night; several as railway
porters, and others as domestic servants to the
French residents. In a small place like this there is
not enough work to go round, and in the summer
the heat is terrible and must leave its impression
on their habits ; and, of course, there is always the
Arab view that work, as such, is a curse.

An Englishman who came to Biskra later in the
season told me an anecdote of the boy whom he
employed, which illustrates this idea of work.
Messoud was in luck's way this season, for in addition
to his regular employment with a bean-seller in the
market, my friend, who was studying the language,
engaged him for his off-time to talk Arabic with him,
paying him a regular sum each day. As the lad did
not want the money for his immediate needs, it was

26 THE DESERT GATEWAY

banked for him with one of the shopkeepers in whom
he had confidence, and as the days went on he began
to consider himself quite a rich person.

"And what will you do with this money," my
friend inquired, "when I am gone?"

His answer puts the Arab philosophy into a nut-
shell.

"I shall leave it with the shopkeeper until next
June, when the hot weather begins. Then I shall
give notice to the bean-seller to leave him ; I shall
take my money, pack up my things, and go by train
to Setif. There in the mountains (it is several
thousand feet above the sea level) I shall walk about
for three months. I have many friends there, and
I shall meet them, drink coffee with them, and talk
much with them. I shall stay with my sister, who
lives there, and to make sure that I shall be welcome,
I shall buy for her on the day that I arrive a sack
of corn and other provisions."

"But," commented my friend, "why not save your
money, add more to it, and one day buy a palm
garden ? "

"No ! " was the answer, "for I might by staying
a whole summer in Biskra get a maladie and die, and
then I should lose my money, or my garden, and
not have had the good time ! "

To have money in the bank, and yet to work
every day, that is a foolishness which must be left
to people as stupid as the English. "What is the
use of life if you do not have a good time ? "

I have a little joke with these boy friends, that
I am to be paid one franc for each lesson in English,
and when I remind them of this they instantly, with
laughing eyes and gleaming teeth, hand over to me
their little purses. They all love mimicry, and laugh

THE SIGN OF A FOOL 27

delightedly when I imitate them to any new friend
who may join us. I never met an Arab who did not
appreciate a joke, even when against himself. When
I became more familiar with them they would shake
hands as a sign of gratitude if I made them laugh,
as this is their habit amongst themselves.

With all their fun there is no rowdiness, and
even in laughter they think restraint is proper, and
that any loudness is the sign of a fool. I noticed
that no Arab ever whistled, and found that it is
generally held to be unlawful to the pious, because
of the verse in the Koran: "And their prayer (the
unbelievers) at the House of God is no other than
whistling through the fingers and clapping of the
hands." It was believed that some of the infidels
of the Prophet's day at Medina used to whistle on
purpose to disturb him at his prayers, pretending to
be at prayer also themselves.

There was one exception in the matter of rowdi-
ness. Master Sassi, whose facility in poetic expres-
sion I have already mentioned, began to exceed
the bounds of good-natured fun, and his naughtiness
attracted the eagle eye of Madame Jean-Jean. He
was warned once or twice, and then one day summary
punishment descended upon him. In the midst of
his antics Madame appeared at the hotel door, ad-
dressed one or two forceful observations to us on
such conduct — c'est mechant — and promptly ordered
a big boy to haul the small culprit off to the police
station ; where, on Madame's word alone, he was
whipped and detained for some hours.

The transformation was wonderful. Sassi's polite-
ness, especially to me (for it was to me that he was
showing rudeness on that fatal morning), was superb,
and his bows, fez in hand, almost to the ground,

28 THE DESERT GATEWAY

were drollness itself. His "Bon jour,'' and "How
are you?" when we met, and his profuse "Bon
appetity'' "Bonne coiichc," whenever he saw us going
into the hotel, were a daily delight.

When Sassi saw dust on my boots, I had much
ado to keep him from brushing them w^ith his
burnous, and as a further mark of devotion he
offered for four sous to procure me henna and show
me how to stain the nails of my right hand and both
the hands of my wife. In every way a reformed
character, he chattered to us incessantly in French,
and for mischief we had now nothing but innocent
drollery.

One has read much of the repugnance and con-
tempt of Mohammedans for Europeans. Burton says
that no one who has not lived with them disguised,
as he did, can have any conception of its extent, so
well is the feeling veiled under the garb of innate
politeness, and so great is their reserve when con-
versing with strangers.

I can only say that in my experience this is ex-
aggerated. I think the Mohammedan is often in-
expressibly shocked by what is to him our loudness
and want of reserve, and the self-assurance of the
ordinary European, who takes it for granted that
these "barbarians" will recognise him at once as a
much superior being whose patronage of them will
be gratifying. The casual tourist never seems to get
any conception of the depth of pride there is in the
Arab nature, or that his gentleness is not feebleness,
but the result of a universal code of deportment and
good manners.

In the bearing of men towards each other we
have much to learn from the Arabs, and if travellers
would approach them remembering this, they would

MEETING WITH RESENTMENT 29

be met, not with reserve or contempt, but with a
charming friendliness and a courtly frankness which
would not fail to add to the pleasure of their stay.

Twice at the beginning of my stay in Biskra I
met with deep resentment through an ignorant act.
The first time, wishing to attract the attention of
my guide when he was some distance away, I whistled
to him. I shall not forget the pained and horrified
look he turned upon me, and the fixedness with which
he declined to respond to my call.

One day later, when one of my numerous juvenile
friends offered me his hand — as all Arabs constantly
do — and I shook it with my left hand, I was again
met with the same sort of resentment. Snatching
his hand away the boy said, "You should not give
me your left hand ! "

I was worried about this until I found from my
friend Ali that it is the rule to honour the right hand
above the left, to use the right hand alone for all
honourable purposes, and the left for actions which,
though necessary, are deemed unclean. Knowing
this, I took the first opportunity to apologise to the
boy for what, quite unintentionally, must have been
an insult.

The habit of shaking hands is unfailing, and no
thought of social distinction is in any way a limit
to it. It is enjoined in the traditions and founded
upon the Prophet's example, for he is reported to
have said, "There are no two Moslems who meet
and shake hands but their sins will be forgiven them
before they part."

To some English visitors the habit, especially as
practised by the small boys, is vexatious and wanting
in respect, but on the part of the Arab it is intended
as a sign of confidence and friendliness.

30 THE DESERT GATEWAY

Another act so common with us, and which is
abhorrent to the Arab, is yawning. I detected that
a yawn on my part was like a douche of cold water
on our intercourse, while on the other hand a sneeze
seemed to have instant approval. I found that, as a
sacred duty, they always said after sneezing, "God
be praised I " the reason being that Mohammet told
them "God loves sneezing and hates yawning." As
for yawning, it is of the devil. "Therefore, if any
of you yawn, let him suppress it as much as possible.
If he cannot stop it, let him put the back of his left
hand upon his mouth, for verily when anyone yawns
and opens his mouth the devil laughs."

It is a curious thing that although it is forbidden
in the Koran to "call one another by nicknames,"*
the Arabs are much given to the habit. There was
one droll character in our pageant, a lad named
Achmed — a sad rogue, I fear, but a most amusing
one. Sharper even than the average youth (and for
observation and intuition the dullest Arab is an
astonishment to the European), Achmed had not only
picked up a good many English and German words,
in addition to fluent French, but he was able to mimic
the personal eccentricities of most of us, and imitate
us in voice and style of address. He was a born
flatterer, as he was a genius at begging and in the
art of ingratiating himself with anyone likely to serve
him. He was one day trying to cozen a half-franc
out of my pocket. "French," he said, "no good 1
Germans, so, so! Englesh, very good!" He then
gave me the drollest imitation of the way in which
the French and German tourists resisted his wiles,
ending with a very flattering picture of the easy and
courteous way in which an English gentleman would

* Sura sliz, ii.

DELIGHT IN NICKNAMES 31

accede to his requests. Finding I was not to be
drawn, he fell to self-pity; ''Poor Achmed 1 no the,
no caje, no kous-kous ; no pere, no mere, no couchet "
He was so comical in his woebegoneness that he got
my half-franc ; but afterwards, to the great delight of
his friends, in which he himself shared, he became
stamped with the name of "Poor Achmed I " and my
little recitation of his woes — most of which, by the
way, were imaginary — always caused amusement.

Burton, who was himself nicknamed "father of
mustachios," thought that this habit is the effect of
acute observation and the want of variety in proper
names. One of his acquaintances appeared not to
like having been called the "father of a nose." But
there is nothing disrespectful in these allusions,
certainly nothing opprobrious. Amongst these
people you must be father of something, and it is
better to be father of a feature than of a cooking-pot !

The deportment of the Arabs has always called
forth the admiration of Europeans. I think this
dignity is more than the mere natural bearing of a
proud people, which it is generally thought to be;
it is the outcome of much of the teaching of their
religion.

I had many talks with All as we sat in the
gardens on this subject. Often, as we talked, a fine
old Arab gentleman passed and re-passed us, a
benign and gentle figure, always engaged in telling
the beads of a rosary * which he carried in his right
hand.

• The history of the rosary is interesting. It is thought that the
Moslem borrowed it from the Buddhist ; and that the Crusaders
borrowed it from their Mohammedan opponents, and introduced it
for purposes of prayer into Christendom, as it was not known in
the Roman Church until 1596.

32 THE DESERT GATEWAY

"He has given up the world," remarked Ali,
"and now spends all his time in the worship of God.
His rosary consists of a hundred beads, and he
recites with it the ninety-nine ' most excellent titles
of God ' * which are to be found in the Koran,
together with the essential name of ' Allah.' "

The Prophet was once asked, "O Prophet of
God, the rules of Islam are many, tell me one thing
by which I may gain sure reward." "Let thy tongue
be always moist in the remembrance of God ! " was
the reply. From this the recitation of the titles
grew.

I remark on the dignity of the old man's bearing,
and Ali's reply is significant.

"No pious Moslem would be different from that.
In boyhood he is taught that he must not hurry as
he walks, for that is a sign of levity; neither must
he be unreasonably halting, for that would betray
dullness. He must not stalk like the overbearing.
In spitting or blowing the nose, even, he must be
careful that no one sees or hears him ; and he must
on no account eat anything in an open place, lest
a poor hungry person see him and be pained. In all
things he should so behave as not to incommode
or disgust others. Our Prophet taught that ' modesty
is a branch of faith.' The Koran says, ' The servants
of the Merciful are those who walk meekly on the
earth, and, w^hen the ignorant speak to them, answer
" Peace ! " '

"Should it not give strength and dignity to a
man's bearing to know, as the Moslem does, that
he is attended each day by his two recording angels,
' whom Allah hath appointed to write down your

■•• Sura vii, 179.

THE "ENGLISH MARCH" 33

actions; who know that which ye do,'"* said Ali.
"The angel on the right hand records the good deeds,
and that on the left the evil. These angels are
changed every day, and their presence is very real
to us ; so much so that Mohammet enjoined that
if we are obliged to spit, it must not be in front or
to the right hand, but to the left. Before we begin
our prayers we salute the recording angels by a slight
turn of the head towards each shoulder."

The next morning Ali handed me a beautifully
written slip of paper with three verses from the Koran
written on it in Arabic. We referred to them in my
copy, and they were as follows :

" Observe prayer, and enjoin the right and forbid
the wrong, and be patient under whatever shall betide
thee ; for this is a bounden duty.

"And distort not thy face at men; nor walk thou
loftily on the earth ; for God loveth no arrogant, vain-
glorious one.

" But let thy pace be middling ; and lower thy voice ;
for the least pleasing of voices is surely the voice of
asses. " t

"That," said Ali, "my father found for me when
I told him of your remarks about our — deportment,
do you call it ? The Koran, you see, is our book of
manners as well as our Bible."

I now knew why the Arab boys always joked
me about my "English march," when, to keep myself
warm after sunset, I tramped up and down in a way
which only their politeness kept them from describ-
ing as arrogant. One small friend told me that I
walked "like a fantasia"! And I was no longer
puzzled as to why even the poorest of boys would
* Sura Ixxxii. t Sura xxxi, i6, 17, i8.

34 THE DESERT GATEWAY

retire into the most private part of the gardens to
hide himself while he ate the gateau to which I had
treated him.

Such is the Arab modesty of conduct that gentle-
men of Ali's standing always contrive to be very
seldom seen in the more public roads or places of
resort. If it was necessary for Ali to move about
in the town more than usual, he would show the
greatest ingenuity in doing it in such a way as to
escape observation, a ver}^ difficult thing to accom-
plish when there are Arab eyes about !

One morning, after I had been in Biskra about a
month, when I made my appearance one of the small
boys outside the hotel remarked, "Ah, monsieur has
on a new pair of boots. That makes three pairs,
one nearly new, one with a stitch gone, and this
new pair " ! These boots were all identically of the
same make, and my wife did not know the difference
between them !

And another morning, when I went down the
side street to fasten the shutter of my bedroom
window^ which was rattling in the wind, and could
not for the moment determine which was my window,
an Arab boy whom I had never seen before said, " Do
you look for the window of your chamber, monsieur?
This is it ! "

To speak in the same chapter of Arab meekness
and of Arab pride may seem a contradiction, but it
is certain that in their remarkable character the two
things are reconciled. "Ye are the best nation that
hath been raised up to mankind," says the Koran ; *
and every Mohammedan fervently applies this to
himself. In another Sura it is written, "Walk not
proudly in the land, for thou canst not cleave the

* Sura iii, io6.

PRIDE WITH MEEKNESS 35

earth nor equal the mountains."* While amongst
the strongest sayings of the Prophet (recorded of his
private conversation) is that in which he swears by
Allah thaf his followers must desist from boasting
of their forefathers. "Mankind are all the sons of
Adam, and Adam was of the earth."

Our boy Taib was a good instance of this com-
bination of gentleness and pride. Ordinarily his
placidity was unruffled by the slightest sign of self-
assertion, but when an English clergyman suggested
to him that he would like him to become a Christian,
the Moslem pride burst forth in a fierce flame. "Does
he know," he said to me in a voice trembling with
indignation, "that I am a Mussulman?"

These Arab men are physically a fine race, with
incontestable qualities. As a rule they are slender —
they make great fun of a man w'ho is portly — and,
thanks to their clothing, which does not fetter their
movements, and especially to the baboosh, which do
not cramp their feet, their movements are very grace-
ful. They walk with a mien which kings might
copy, and their bodies acquire a purity of line which
the sculptor might rejoice in.

Too much has been made of the haughty and
imperturbable gravity of their habitual expression.
They certainly give one such an impression at first,
but it is always tempered on acquaintance by their
good nature and childlike love of the humorous and
the gay. Dignity they do cultivate with deliberate
study, and they have a steady faith in God which
gives them calm; but I never found an Arab, how-
ever old and reverend, who did not respond heartily
to a joke.

T was sitting in the gardens one day surrounded

* Sura xvii, 39.

36 THE DESERT GATEWAY

by my native boy friends when one of them pointed
out to me an approaching Arab figure and jokingly
told me to say to him in Arabic as he passed, "Naal
deen Waragethum." *

The result, the boys all eagerly told me, would
be that the man would cut my throat! Of course I
carefully repeated the fatal sentence, and, to the
delight of my companions, made as if I meant to
challenge the dour-looking creature with it; equally
of course, while I observed him closely, I avoided
provocation of a foe of whose attributes I was
entirely ignorant.

This man, so different in type from the ordinary
Arab, was thick-set and short, rather high and
round-shouldered, and decidedly bow-legged, so that
he lacked the dignity of carriage which is so remark-
able in the Arabs as a race, as much as he lacked
their geniality and handsomeness of countenance.
He was a Mozabite, one of the sects of Islam which
are regarded with traditional hatred by all others.
There are many Mozabites in Biskra, as in all the
other towns of Northern Africa. And so clear is the
type that, having seen this one man, in his dirty
gandoura, to which his round shoulders gave an
ugly twist in front, his untidy turban wound care-
lessly round the back of his head, and with his slip-
shod gait, there was never any difficulty again in
identifying one of the tribe.

It was with great interest that we afterwards
studied these Mozabites, for they were in almost
every characteristic the opposite of our Arab friends,
excelling them in industry and commercial skill and
stability, while lacking in every way their charm of

* "Curse the religion of your first ancestor," the man who
murdered AH, the Prophet's son-in-law, in the mosque at Bagdad.

THE MOZABITES 37

manner, their cleanliness, and their sociability.
Never during the whole winter did I once get speech
with a Mozabite — man or boy.

From an English friend, who spoke Arabic, and
had ventured to ask one of them a question on the
subject of their language (which also differs from
ordinary Arabic), I learnt that such is their pride
that, although he went humbly and addressed his
man as " Oh, my lord ! " he got a bare answer, given
with the utmost condescension.

One of my photographs of the market-place is
taken from the roof of an Arab caf6. A Mozabite
occupies a shop with a flat roof near by, from which
a much better picture could be taken, but although
I tried every sort of wile, and suggested a variety
of rewards (in which several photographers would
have combined to swell the value), I and my Arab
messengers were met with the flattest of refusals;
and in the end it was made clear to us that the offer
of a bribe, no matter of what value, would not suffice
to get a European, or an Arab of another tribe,
through the house of a Mozabite, by which way alone
the roof could be reached.

These Mozabites come from M'zab, a colony of
seven adjoining oases in the desert, about no miles
from Algiers, and about 400 miles from Laghouat,
to the south. The population of M'zab is only
25,000, so that it is easy to see how these people,
in proudly declining all social intercourse with any-
one born of another tribe, have produced such a
very pronounced type that even the youngest boy
of them is recognisable at a glance.

Little children of this race we never saw, for
so strict is the sect in the barrier which it sets up
to preserve itself from any intercourse — except in

38 THE DESERT GATEWAY

trading — with those outside, that no Mozabite may
bring his wife, or any child under ten years old,
away from his own country ; nor may he, on any
ground whatever, marry in any other place.

The men leave M'zab to engage in all kinds of
commerce, and their industry and skill make them
the most successful bankers, butchers, grocers,
drapers, and coal dealers in all the towns as far south
from Algiers as Biskra. They are joined by their
boys when they have reached the age limit. When
they have gained a competency, they return to their
wives and small children in M'zab, and another mem-
ber of the family comes out to succeed them.

The Mozabites form a well-organised commercial
society, or freemasonry, by which they help each
other, in all the towns of Algeria, to success in trade.

They are very strictly governed by a religious
body called the Assembly. If a Mozabite is con-
victed of drinking wine, or coffee, or of smoking, or
of frequenting houses of ill-fame, corporal punishment
is inflicted upon him by his brethren, at a time and
place appointed by them, in fixing which they take
care to dodge the interference of the French authori-
ties. In the presence of the French they affect man-
ners full of respect, but in reality the Mozabite is
dominated by a spirit of caste so strict that he detests
and misunderstands all other races. In this they
share in common with the Israelites — with whom they
have many affinities — the Oriental pride which makes
them consider themselves superior to the rest of man-
kind. They follow the precepts of the assassin of
Ali, the son-in-law of the Prophet, and hence the
traditional hatred for them of the ordinary Arabs.

On the road to Old Biskra, on the right-hand
side, is a large enclosure, hidden inside a high

STONE-THROWING 39

wall, having apparently no entrance gate. For a
long time we were puzzled, there being no date trees
growing in it, as to what it could be. Then AH
informed us that it was the Mozabite cemetery.
Before it was built — on compulsion of the French
authorities — these people followed their ancient
practice of never burying any member of their tribe,
no matter where he died, in any place outside their
own country.

In Biskra this custom, combined with their great
parsimony, led to grave scandals, for when a man
died it was thought to be far too costly to send his
remains specially to M'zab, and so the body was
preserved in brine until a caravan happened to be
going on general business. Ali declared (and every
Arab in Biskra believes it) that at the time the
French authorities took action there was a corpse in
the back premises of almost every Mozabite shop in
Biskra !

Under compulsion they bought a plot of ground
for a cemetery, and surrounded it with the highest
wall in the town, so as effectually to screen the
funeral ceremonies and the graves from the observa-
tion of infidel eyes. The entrance doors were at first
made in the wall on the Old Biskra road. Stone-
throwing with the Arabs is a token of hate; and every
man and boy who passed these doors threw a stone
at them, until, fearing that they would be broken
entirely down, the Mozabites built up the opening
and made an entrance on the other side of the
cemetery, where it is entirely out of sight of the
passers-by.

But although the men are so hated, in the matter
of business the Arabs rely upon their integrity; even
to the extent of one of the boys of whom I have

40 THE DESERT GATEWAY

previously spoken asking a Mozabite shopkeeper to
take care of iiis savings during the season, until he
was ready to go to Setif "to walk about for three
months." They run successfully a number of banks
in the great commercial centres.

Among the small crowd of youngsters who often
surrounded us in the gardens was a poor unfortunate
boy named Smain, who, with more or less diligence,
sought work as a boot-black. He looked pale and
underfed, and because he was less bright and con-
tented-looking than the other young scamps, he
attracted the sympathetic notice of a charming girl
visitor from Canada, whom he addressed as "Miss
May," and to whom he became very attached. Day
by day during Miss May's visit he gradually shed
all his hideous ill-fitting European clothes and a pair
of awful down-at-heel boots (evidently long before
cast off by a French dandy), until he became com-
pletely transformed by the nice white Arab robes
and the comfortable leather baboosh into quite a
pleasant-looking Arab boy.

And during the season we saw many fostering
acts of kindness of this sort on the part of visitors,
giving continual evidence of the assertion that
nowhere as here do you find people whom you feel
that you must do something to help.

I watched an episode grow out of the kind interest
of Miss May and her friends in these boys which
amused me. These young ladies would often sit in
the gardens and talk to our little crowd of acquaint-
ances, and to amuse them would introduce what we
call "parlour games," mostly played with a pencil
and paper.

On this particular morning there was an un-
usually numerous gathering, and one of the young

DRAWING A PIG 41

ladies bethought her of a game, once popular at
home, in which the different players in turn take a
pencil and, with eyes shut, attempt to make an out-
line drawing of an animal. To show these boys
what she meant, she took the pencil first and, tightly
shutting her eyes, proceeded to draw.

Whether it was a tribute to her skill, or to Arab
intuition, I don't know, but almost at once the boys
detected that she was drawing the outline of a pig.
I saw signs of the feeling of absolute disgust steal
over them; and then, without a single word, they all
slipped away through the trees. With delight I
watched the artist add the squiggle which meant a
tail, and then open her eyes — to find all her com-
panions vanished. In blank astonishment she turned
to me, and, having a keen sense of humour, we
laughed together over the explanation, of which she
had no previous idea. Pig in any form is, of course,
held in great abhorrence by all Moslems, being for-
bidden in the Koran, a fact of which I had seen much
evidence, but I did not know the feeling was so deep
as to have the power to disperse a number of veritable
"street Arabs " at the mere suggestion of the drawing
of a cochon in fun.

A boy friend, to whom we became greatly
attached, was Bendriss, a sturdy lad of fifteen, whom
we often saw as he went backwards and forwards to
the French school. Many were the pranks he played
upon me, a favourite amusement of his being to track
me stealthily in the gardens like a Red Indian, taking
me by surprise. Like many Arab boys, he was very
amusing and interesting in conversation. More even
than most, he made expressive use of his hands,
knowing and using the whole language of the hands
by which the Arabs often convey a great deal of

42 THE DESERT GATEWAY

meaning without speaking a word. In sorrow and
regret the palms of the hands are turned downwards.
To express dissent in every form they wave the raised
forefinger of the right hand. To dismiss a subject,
and to express the finish of anything, they extend
each hand in turn and sharply draw over it the other
palm.

One day Bendriss cleverly showed us how with
his fez he could imitate the head-dress of each of the
regiments of soldiers w^ho had been stationed at
Biskra.

Although there is among these people hardly any-
thing of what we call class distinction, we were told
with great empressement many times, when our Arab
friends met us with Bendriss, that he was of a most
noble family, and that his father was tres riche, a fact
in which they all seemed to take great pride. On
the boy's part there was not the slightest conscious-
ness of this, and it certainly never made the least
difference in his dealing with other boys. And often
this merry young scamp would drop all his play-
fulness, and with serious face lead a poor old blind
Arab man (of whom there were too many) up to me
to ask me if I would not like to give him a sou !

Bendriss lodged in Biskra during the school term,
his home being at El Outaya, twenty miles or so up
the raihvay. One day I met him looking very spr)4
in what one might call his second-best clothes. I
knew it was not holiday time, so I questioned him.

"What is the meaning of this?"

"Oh! I've got a conge, a holiday! By the two
o'clock train I am going home for two days. Oranges
in my father's garden " — he enumerated the delights
in store — "kous-kous made by my mother, horses to
ride, no work to do ! " To express his pleasure he

BENDRISS ON OVERWORK 43

could only put all the fingers and thumb of his right
hand together and wave them up and down, saying
" Beaucoup ! beaucoup ! "

I pretended to be greatly shocked ; said he had
not long been back from his Christmas holiday, and
that it was a scandal that he had so soon got a conge
again.

"Sir," he replied, with a gravity that was comical,
"it is bad to work too much. If you do not have
enough holiday " — here he shook in every limb in
imitation of senile decay — "you wall have a palsy ! "

We parted with the inevitable handshake, both
laughing heartily. I have often wondered since how
an Arab boy of fifteen came to know even the name
of a disease which was the result of overwork.

Bendriss writes to us sometimes, in good French.
He is to go on from the Biskra school to the univer-
sity at Constantine, and then he wants to enter the
French army as an officer of Spahis, a native regi-
ment. He is determined to visit London, and as
English is taught at the university (we afterwards
had proof of how well it is taught by meeting Arab?
educated there), he was determined to learn it. Wc
sent him an English dictionary, and in reply he said
he hoped when we returned to Biskra (and we must
go again next year) we should find that he could talk
in our own language to his bon camarade.

CHAPTER III

FAST, FEAST, AND A GREAT PRAYER

We had only been in Biskra a few days when, in
a single night, a curious change seemed to us to have
come over all the native population. There was a
great falling-off in the good spirits even of the young-
sters, and towards afternoon one found signs of
irritability which were disconcerting. The cigarettes
which I oflFered were not altogether declined, but I
noticed they none of them smoked them, but put them
into their pockets. As the day wore on Tai'b seemed
to lose what little energy he originally had, and to
all my questions as to the cause he gave his usual
answer, " I do not know."

However, at last we found an Arab who con-
firmed— what I had suspected — that we were at the
beginning of the month of the great Fast which has
been previously mentioned.

During the whole month of Ramadhan every
Moslem who hopes to gain Paradise practises a strict
fast each day from sunrise to sunset, by express
command of the Koran. This particular month was
chosen because in it the Koran was sent down from
heaven. It begins when the new moon appears,
and lasts till the appearance of the next new moon,
during which time the faithful must abstain from
eating, drinking, and all indulgences, from daybreak
till sunset.

They may eat and drink "until ye can distinguish

44

THE MOSLEM YEAR 45

a white thread from a black thread by the daybreak,
then fast strictly until night."* So severely is the
injunction observed that during the Fast they suffer
nothing to enter their mouths or other parts of their
bodies; even to smell a perfume is to break the fast;
and they must not bathe, or purposely swallow their
spittle.

If there is a physical impediment, the Fast can be
postponed until the obstacle is removed, when it must
be observed for an equal number of days, and the
breaking of the Fast must be expiated by giving alms.

The Moslem year being lunar, each month runs
through all the different seasons in the course of
thirty-three years. Up to Mohammet's day, the year,
by unscientific intercalation, had been made to agree
roughly with the seasons ; unfortunately, having no
knowledge of astronomy, Mohammet made a very
bad mistake in altering this arrangement, by insist-
ing on the year being twelve lunar months; and
confusion has ensued ever since.

The calculation of dates is almost beyond the
p>ower of the ordinary Arab, who, in the matter of
religious festivals, awaits the announcement of the
marabout. As for his own birthday, he leaves it to
his mother, who is the only person interested enough
to be at the trouble of remembering such a date.

There being no intercalation to make the year
correspond with the course of the sun, it amounts to
about 356 days 9 hours, bringing New Year's-day
about eleven days earlier than in the preceding year.

In the year of our visit (1909), as Ramadhan was
in November and December, the hours of fasting
did not, of course, entail such suffering as when the
fast falls in the summer time; then, in addition to

* Sura ii, 183.

46 THE DESERT GATEWAY

the long hours, the intense heat makes the abstinence,
especially from drink, almost unbearable.

But even at this time of the year in Biskra the
fast was severe enough to make the setting of the
sun a very welcome event. At a given moment a
gun was fired, and then the revelry broke forth, as
thirst and hunger were assuaged and the convivial
instincts of the people were again given play. The
cafes became crowded, and custom at the Arab eating-
houses and the refreshment stalls was as brisk as at
a fair. The flaring lights were turned on to their
fullest power, for at all times an Oriental hates drink-
ing in any but a bright light, and more especially
after a depressing day of abstinence.

The keepers of the cafes at Biskra had discovered
the merits of the acetylene lighting in its very early
days, and are now supplanting it with electric light.

This Fast was instituted by Mohammet in per-
petuation of his custom of retiring to a cave during
the month of Ramadhan for reflection and prayer;
and it is possible that before his time the Arabs
practised some sort of asceticism about this same
time of the year. The Prophet regarded fasting as
"the gate of religion," declaring that "the odour of
the mouth of him who fasteth is more grateful to
God than that of musk." He commended it as an
atonement for sin, fasting much himself; fasting, he
said, "is a shield"; it is done for God alone, and
He will reward it.

Towards the end of the Fast I met AH, who was
in a very quiet and reflective mood. Por some time
we sat silent in the garden, and then he said : "This
is our Night of Power, or al-Kadr, the solemn night
of which our Prophet wrote in the Koran — *

* Sura xcvii.

A SOLEMN NIGHT 47

" ' Who shall teach thee what the night of power is?
The night of power exalteth a thousand months :
Therein descend the angels, and the spirit, by per-
mission of their Lord, for every matter ;
And all is peace till the breaking of the morn.'

"On this night," Ali continued, "the decrees of
Allah with respect to life and death, and other im-
portant affairs for the ensuing year, are fixed and
settled, being taken from the table beside God's throne,
and given to the angels to be executed. On this night
the Prophet received his first revelation.

'* ' By the Book of the Koran on a blessed night have we
sent it down, for we would warn mankind,
On the night wherein all things are disposed in

wisdom,
By virtue of our behest.'*

"You will not wonder," he said, "that we regard
al-Kadr with great solemnity. There is another im-
portant night, the 15th of Ramadhan, when every
year, a little after sunset, the great Sidrah tree in
Paradise is shaken, whose leaves are as numerous
as the members of the whole human family, each leaf
bearing the name of an individual. This tree stands
on the loftiest spot in Paradise, in the seventh
heaven, on the right hand of the throne of God,
being the utmost bounds, beyond which neither men
nor angels can pass. When it is shaken on this
night the leaves fall on which are inscribed the
names of those who are to die in the following year,
being more or less withered, according to the length
of time the person has yet to live.

"In a few days the Fast will be over," continued
Ali, "and the New Year will begin. Early on the

* Sura xljv, I, 23.

48 THE DESERT GATEWAY

first morning we shall observe, on the plain at Vieux
Biskra, what the French call our Grande Priere,
which I think you will like to see, for most Europeans
find it very impressive. It only takes place twice
in the year."

We then talked much about this Great Prayer,
and I gained information which enabled me on the
morning of its performance to follow the service.

We engaged Ta'ib to acquaint us with the day
and hour, and — finding that he was not intending
to take part in the Prayer— to accompany us.

Starting from our hotel soon after seven o'clock
in the morning, we walked to the plain at Vieux
Biskra. Here we found a number of Arab men
already assembled, while other groups were con-
stantly coming in from all directions, chanting
passages from the Koran as they came, and going
at once to their places on the plain, where they re-
moved their shoes, the right one first, and sat down
in straight lines.

All this was done by what seemed instinct; for
the perfect order of their assembling, which appears
in my photographs, was certainly brought about in
silence and without the offices of an usher of any
sort.

On every face of these gathering worshippers was
an expression of rapt spiritual fervour; and when
once seated these men kept their eyes towards Mecca,
and spoke scarcely a word to each other (they would
not discuss any secular subject) during the long
period of the assembling of all the great host of
worshippers. Here, indeed, they are "souls at rest,"
in contemplation of the perfections of God, and
acquiescing in their knowledge of Him.

On a small hill in front of the multitude incense

A MAD MARABOUT 49

was burning in a great brazier, the smoke rising
to heaven in a straight column.

It is not usual for boys to join in this Prayer,
but among the most devout of those who were
assembling were several lads, who, with the rest, per-
formed a short private prayer before seating them-
selves in the ever-growing rows of worshippers. Here
and there a father had brought with him his little
son, who, as the parent sat immovable, quietly played
about him in the sand, occasionally nestling in his
voluminous robes for rest and warmth. It was a
pretty picture of parental affection. Very dear to the
Arab father's heart are his little children.

When I mentioned this circumstance to AH, after
the Prayer was over, he said, "Yes. The first deep
impression on the mind of many a Moslem boy is
made by his father taking him to the Great Prayer.
The Prophet taught us that the presence of little
children is no hindrr.nce to devotion ; in his own
prayers he would sometimes hold a child in his arms
when he stood up, putting it down when he pros-
trated himself. The children of his much-loved
daughter Fatimah would mount his back when he
prostrated himself in prayer."

Still the chanting groups of men arrived, until
the plain was almost covered by the white figures.
Only once the stillness of waiting was broken, by
the sudden appearance of a wild-looking man, who,
barking loudly like a dog, marched through the
lines, straight up into the primitive pulpit in front,
and waved his arms madly, while he again barked.
Leaving the pulpit, he rushed about the plain for a
few minutes, no one apparently taking any notice
of him, until he eventually disappeared. Taib's only
explanation was that the poor creature was a mad

s

50 THE DESERT GATEWAY

marabout ; and his appearance was the only distraction
from the almost oppressive quietness and solemnity.

At last the waiting was over. In front of the
pulpit a small prayer carpet was spread, and as the
figure of a frail old man, who was to act as the Imam,
or leader, took his place upon it, the whole congre-
gation rose as one man. The photographs will give
some idea of the impressiveness of this great con-
course of men in the attitudes of adoration of Allah
and of abasement for their unworthiness, but nothing
can convey to those who have not heard it a sense
of the deep emotion caused by the sound of such a
number of men uttering aloud in one voice the praise
and the adoration of their God. "Allah Akbar!"
(God is Great !). "La ildha ilia lldhuH" (There is
no God but God !)

Several times the Prayer, with the prostrations,
was repeated, with a concentration and a fervour
which brought tears to the eyes of many of the on-
lookers, who were deeply moved both by the spoken
adoration of God and by the impressive attitudes of
humility and abasement, which ended by every fore-
head being placed in the dust. It was obvious, as
everyone felt, that the worshippers were totally
absorbed in their devotions, bearing themselves with
an entire aloofness for the time being from any other
claims of life, and displaying the calm dignity of
those who realised that they had access to Almighty
God.

When the Prayer was over the worshippers rose
and grouped themselves closely round the pulpit, now
occupied by the Imam, who was to preach to them.
One of my photographs shows this scene — the listen-
ing multitude, the frail figure of the preacher, and
the Arab collector (just under the pulpit, in a black

PRAYER WITH FAITH 5i

burnous), who is gathering alms for the poor, this
being specially a feast of almsgiving.

Once or twice the preacher, who all through his
discourse leaned on his staff, flagged, and had to
sit for a few moments on the top step of the pulpit.
This custom of leaning on a staff was instituted by
Mohammet himself, who frequently preached to his
followers. The staff, too, is always used as a re-
minder of the early days of Islam, when it was often
needed by the preacher for defence.

The sermon was not long. One of the pithiest
sayings of the Prophet is that "the length of a man's
prayers and the shortness of his sermons are signs
of his common sense."

The sermon being ended, everyone rose ; the
Imam began a prayer, and all hands, both of Arab
worshippers and of onlookers, even to the smallest
child, were raised, cup-like, to the breast, to catch
the blessings from heaven for which the Imam now
supplicated — the remission of sin, recovery of the
sick, increase of rain, abundance of corn, preserva-
tion from misfortune, freedom from debt.

This part of the Prayer, they believe, is highly
acceptable to God. "There is nothing more pleasing
before Allah than supplication," the Prophet said,
and "supplication is the marrow of worship."

The Prayer ended, the palms of the hands are
drawn down the face, symbolically to transfer the
benediction to every part of the body ; and it was
a pretty sight to see even the tiniest baby hands
being used in this way.

The service being now over, an extraordinary
liveliness took the place of the calm and quiet of
the previous hours.

The New Year has now started, the F'ast is well

52 THE DESERT GATEWAY

over, the great Feast of the year {Id al jetr) has
begun.

With the greatest fervour every man is now em-
bracing every acquaintance, his first ambition being
to salute the Imam of the Prayer. It is obviously
impossible that the frail old man can stand the strain
of being embraced by nearly a thousand men, who
press round the pulpit steps, now stoutly guarded
by four stalwart Arabs; two of whom may be seen
with him in the pulpit in my photograph, while the
other two are to be seen sitting on the steps during
the preaching.

But the congregation will not be altogether
denied, and so the ends of the Imam's burnous are
hung over each side of the pulpit, and the crowd
presses round to kiss the garment. Even then a
number of men ha\e to take the kiss by proxy, for
they cannot get near enough to touch the garment
itself, and the salute is handed to them by those who
are more fortunate — or more pushing.

When the pressure of the crowd has abated, the
old man is escorted from the pulpit by a strong body-
guard, who still protect him from the affectionate
manifestations of the crow-d, to a carriage, in which
he is quickly driven away to his lowly home in
Vieux Biskra.

We now set out with Taib to return to the town,
and being overtaken by AH, who has made the
Prayer, we find our progress very much impeded
by the constant embraces and mutual congratula-
tions with which our Arab friends are greeted — and
which they return — by the men we meet on the road.

It is New Year's Day, they tell us, and they must
embrace every man they know, even if he be an
enemy, for it is the duty of every good Moslem to

'•^ "

AFFECTION FOR CHRISTIANS 53

begin the New Year free from ill-feeling towards his
fellows.

The mode of the salute to-day is to throw one
arm over the shoulder and the other round the side,
and kiss each cheek in turn ; or, where a less familiar
greeting is intended, to place the chin upon the
collar-bone and kiss the shoulders.

All's talk about the Prayer is full of interest.
Telling him how deeply impressed we and other
Christian onlookers had been, he replied, "Yes; it
was so in the Prophet's own day, for he told us
that nearest in affection to the people of Islam are
those who say ' We are Christians.'* This because
the Christians are not elated with pride." Ali then
quoted from the Koran :

"And when the Christians hear that read which hath
been sent down to the Apostle, thou seest their eyes
overflow with tears at the truth they recognise therein,
saying, ' O Lord we believe ; write us down therefore
with those who bear witness to it.

" 'And what should hinder us from believing in God,
and in the truth which hath come down to us, and from
earnestly desiring that our Lord would bring us into
Paradise with the Just? '

" Therefore hath God rewarded them for these their
words."!

Everyone had been much impressed by the saintly
bearing of the venerable leader of the Prayer. From
Ali we learnt that he is esteemed as a great marabout,
a distinguished Arabic scholar, and as a sincere
friend of everyone in poverty or distress of any kind.
Although a rich man, his life is ruled by strictest
denial ; he lives in the humblest of mud houses in
Vieux Biskra, and although eighty-four years of age,

* Sura V, 85. t Sura v, 86, 87, 88.

54 THE DESERT GATEWAY

and very frail, he gives several hours daily to receiv-
ing the poor and burdened, supplying their wants and
advising them in their difficulties. Even the children
go to him with their troubles. He is chosen for the
crowning honour of leading the Great Prayer because
of his saintliness.

Each mosque has an Imam, the office being sup-
ported by endowments, for no congregation of
Moslem worshippers can engage in their service
without an Imam to lead. The office is not in any
sense a sacerdotal one, and the Imam is not set apart
with any ceremony, as the Christian custom is. He
should be a model to the pious, Mohammet said,
"The most worthy to act as Imam is he who repeats
the Koran best. Let him act as Imam who knows
the Koran thoroughly ; and if all present should be
equal in that respect, then let him act who is best
informed in the rules of prayer; and if they are
equal in this respect also, let him act as Imam who
has fled his country for the sake of Islam ; and if
equal in this likewise, let that person act who is
oldest ; but the servant (or governed) must not act
as Imam to the master (or governor)."

It was an instruction from the Prophet that the
Imam should be concise in worship, because there
might be decrepit, aged, or sick persons present. In
his private prayers he may be as prolix as he pleases.

I had remarked that in all this great concourse
of Arabs there was not a vestige of the gorgeous
apparel in which ordinarily they delight to appear;
indeed, with only one or two exceptions (of men
wearing a black or brown burnous), every man
present at the Prayer was dressed in the simplest of
white garments. I mentioned this to Ali, who was
himself transformed from his usual resplendent

PLAIN CLOTHES FOR PRAYER 55

appearance to unembroidered white, and he explained
that the Moslem must never pray in sumptuous
apparel.

"We must be decently clothed, however," he said;
"and almost every man here to-day will be wearing
new clothes, or clothes of spotless cleanliness ; but
we have laid aside for the Prayer all costly dress,
all but the simplest ornaments, all gold or silver
embroidery. We must not seem proud or arrogant
in addressing God. But," he added with that child-
like glee which often broke through his Arab gravity
now that he was more familiar with us, "I go home
now and dress myself for the Feast in my very
best."

An interesting item of news to us, for Ali had
accepted our invitation to dinner that evening, and
to be photographed in the courtyard of the Sahara in
the afternoon.

These men who have prayed are proud of the
dust on their foreheads, "their signs are on their
faces, the mark of their prostration." * It is for-
bidden to smooth the ground by clearing away
pebbles or wiping away dust in front of the worship-
pers. If any of them shall, after death, find them-
selves in purgatory because their evil actions in life
have outweighed their good, they will be distin-
guished from the utterly wicked by the marks of
prostration on those parts of their bodies which used
to touch the ground in prayer, and over which the
fire can have no power; and by the mercy of God
they shall be delivered.

The very shadows of the congregation are thought
to worship God,t in the morning and evening, when,
being at their longest, according to the position of

* Sura xlviii, 29. t Sura xiii, 16.

56 THE DESERT GATEWAY

the sun, they appear prostrate on the ground as
though in adoration.

AH informed us that during the Prayer the fore-
finger of every man's right hand is extended, but
as it was covered by the burnous we should not see
this. It was to remind him that the members of
the body may take part in worship and prayer with
the tongue and the heart.

Any wandering of the mind or the eye, coughing,
or the like, or answering a question, must be strictly
avoided during the Prayer. Between the different
prayers it is allowed to make three slight irregular
motions or deviations from correct deportment ; but
to lift up the eyes is, as some Moslems think, to
incur the risk of becoming blind. The Koran says,
"Pronounce not the prayer too loud, neither pro-
nounce it too low; but follow a middle way." *

To Englishmen the subject of the collection was
naturally of great interest. Was it for the poor, or
for "church expenses," or was it for a "missionary
society " of the Moslem faith ? Almsgiving is highly
meritorious to the Mohammedan ; as one of their
great saints had said, " Prayer carries us halfway to
God, fasting brings us to the door of His palace,
and alms gain for us admission."

The collection to-day was of the nature of volun-
tary alms, as distinct from the legal alms which
every Mohammedan is constantly exhorted in the
Koran to contribute, to be used for the ransom of
captives, and to help those who are in debt and
broken, and for the advancement of religion, and
to help the wayfarer. f But, in addition to this,
alms are to be given to the paupers, and to the poor
who are in transitory distress ; and it was to this

* Sura xvii, no. f Sura ix, 60.

CONCERNING THE COLLECTION 57

cause we had all contributed to-day ; for while one
Arab was collecting from the faithful, another had
come to us onlookers with the corner of his burnous
held out as an alms-dish for our gifts.

The heart of the Prophet was ever warm and
generous towards the poor. Constantly he reproved
the arrogance, as well as the futility, of those who
trusted in their possessions, using the illustration of
the eye of the needle, with which Christians are so
familiar. The race, too, is not to the swift, in the
teaching of the Koran as in the Old Testament.

" Moreover man, when his Lord trieth him by prosperity

and is bounteous unto him,
Then he saith, ' My Lord honoureth me ! *
But when he proveth him by afflictions, and withholdeth

his gifts from him,
Then he saith, * My Lord despiseth me ! '
By no means." *

There is in the Koran a beautiful verse about the
deserving poor, "who, being shut up to fighting for
the cause of God, have it not in their power to strike
out into the earth for riches. Those who know them
not think them rich because of their modesty. By
this token ye shall know them — they ask not of men
with importunity ; and of whatever good thing ye
shall give them in alms, of a truth God will take
knowledge." f

While AH wished to impress upon us the
importance of alms, and that Allah had promised to
repay again and again, he was seriously anxious to
show us that the giving of money out of a bad heart
could avail nothing. We must give as seeking the
face of God. A kind speech and forgiveness are
better than alms followed by injury. J

* Sura Ixxxix, 14, 15, 16, 17 (Sale). t Sura ii, 274. + Sura ii, 265

58 THE DESERT GATEWAY

There is a passage on the true meaning of charity,
attributed by tradition to Mohammet, which AH trans-
lated and brought to us a few days after this con-
versation. If it lacks the grandeur of St. Paul's
Epistle, it is nevertheless worthy to follow it as an
exposition of the true spirit of almsgiving :

" Your smiling in your brother's face is alms;

Your exhorting mankind to virtuous deeds is alms ;

Your prohibiting what is forbidden is alms ;

Showing men the road when they lose it.

Removing stones and thorns when they are incon-
venient to man,

Pouring water from your bucket into that of your
brother.

All these are alms for you."

In Biskra we found that the fete was in full
swing, and every child in the place was taking part.
Everybody was wearing new clothes; even the
poorest had managed to get at least one new garment
or a pair of shoes, to conform to the instructions of
the traditions, which at this New Year's feast require
the people of Islam to renew their clothes. At the
only other feast of the year* {Id al adhd) it is obli-
gatory to buy new cooking utensils.

The children make merry to-day by riding in the
public vehicles, which have been decorated specially
for them. These constantly perambulate the town,
crowded even to the roofs with merry youngsters,
who sing, and shout, and blow their little trumpets,
and hail us and other friends with hearty cheers
whenever they catch sight of us. Everyone has
been generous to them, and there is not an Arab

* Called the " Feast of Sacrifice," beginning on the tenth day of
Dhu'lhajja, when the victims are slain by the pilgrims at Mecca.

ALI DINES WITH US 59

child in Biskra who on this day is without the few
coppers necessary for a drive and for the buying of
sweets and of those fizzing drinks without which no
juvenile fete anywhere would be complete.

The men are all smiles and amiable greetings,
and we have to drink many cups of coffee outside
the cafes in the interests of good fellowship.

The Arab women, Ali told us, were keeping the
festival at home, wearing all their finery of silks and
jewellery, in which they receive their women friends,
whom they entertain with singing, and their primitive
music, chiefly of the rude flute, which almost every-
one plays. They give presents to each other and to
their dependents and the poor. In the afternoon they
all visit the cemetery, with their very small children,
driving, whenever possible, in vehicles closely
covered or, if obliged to walk, going out entirely
veiled but for the tiny hole over one eye, which is
the custom here. For a man to appear in the
cemetery on this particular afternoon would be very
bad form. There is much feminine gossiping, and
exchanging of compliments, the entire absence of
the menfolk no doubt adding much to the freedom
of the views which are expressed on domestic matters.

Ali came to dinner with us at the Sahara Hotel
that evening, and most resplendent he was in a
beautiful new brown burnous, richly embroidered in
gold, and worn over an elaborately braided and
embroidered suit of blue cloth, and a haick of delicate
silk — a garment which begins at the head, encircles
the face, and falls to the feet, unless festooned to
the waist to be out of the way for horse-riding.

After the subdued moods of the month of fasting,
Ali was now beaming with good spirits, at times
becoming quite jocular as he expanded under the

6o THE DESERT GATEWAY

influence of the excellent dinner provided by host
Jean-Jean, who is his own chef.

Ali described to us how, at home, he would be
sitting on the floor, with his brothers,* round the
common pot, dipping straight into the kous-kous,
the national dish, with a wooden spoon, a stranger
to all the varied apparatus which is necessary to a
French dinner of six or eight courses.

His innate good breeding was in every way equal
to this new demand on polite manners, and the only
point in which a casual observer would have detected
that he was not at home at such a meal was the fact
that he always ate everything with his right hand;
but as most French and American people do the
same, even this was not very remarkable. To any-
one who had closely studied Arab ways, however,
there were many other points in which his nationality
or religion would have been shown. Even the man-
ner of raising his tumbler would have revealed him
to a Moslem, as would his whispered "In the name
of Allah ! " when he sat down and (quite unobserved
by anyone else in the room) quietly pushed off his
shoes under the table.

This French dinner was good for a Mohammedan
on the day of the feast, he said ; but at other times
he must keep his life simple, eating plain food in a
simple way.

In the merriest of moods he described to us how,
at home, everyone licked the dish when the meal was
over, not for greed, but as a point of good manners,
and because, in a cryptic sort of sentence, Mohammet
had enjoined it — "Whoever eats from a dish and

* Sons when married, or brothers near of an age, eat together.
The father generally eats alone, having the dishes first ; to be invited
to join him would be a great honour for any member of the
household, to all of whom he is stdi, or lord.

CAFfi MAURE, TEN CENTS! 6i

licks it afterwards, the dish intercedes with Allah
for him."

The Prophet would not eat off a table, as is the
manner of proud men, who do it to avoid bending
their backs. This, of course, Ali hastened to explain,
only applied to Arabs, for it is lawful for a Moham-
medan to eat with Christians (and Jews) in the way-
customary to their hosts, unless their vessels are
polluted with wine or pork. From infancy, he added,
the Moslem is taught to observe very particular
manners at food ; to be modest, not greedy, and very
cleanly. "At home," he said, "when the meal is
ended, I should place my hands on my dish like
this " — illustrating by putting his hands on each side
of the plate — "and I should call for drink, which my
sisters would bring, and I should only drink once."

Dinner over. All's frugal soul was shocked at the
suggestion that we should drink coffee in the hotel,
where his sharp eye had caught the announcement,
"Cafe filtre, fifty centimes." Could we not adjourn
to an Arab cafe, where the price would be only ten ?
"And," with a mischievous smile at me, "the coffee
is so much better."

The taste for Arab coffee is an acquired one, for it
is boiled with the "grounds," each cupful in its own
little tin pot, and is made thick with the addition
of an enormous quantity of sugar. The taste for it
usually grows on the foreigner, while to the Arab
it is the greatest luxury in life. "A dish of coffee,"
quoted Ali, "and a pipe of tobacco are a complete
entertainment."

Our guest had, of course, declined the offer of
wine at dinner, for this, with all spirituous liquors, is
forbidden in Islam. I twitted him with the fact that
in heaven the prohibition would be withdrawn, for

62 THE DESERT GATEWAY

amongst the delights in store for the faithful are
draughts of pure wine ! His answer showed again
how close was his knowledge of the Koran.

"It is true that there will be wine in heaven, but
I have heard, sir, in a discussion between a Christian
and an Arab, on the latter quoting your Bible, that
one should not take away a statement from the con-
text ! Here is an unmutilated passage from the
Koran describing a heavenly banquet :

" A cup shall be borne round unto them filled from a
fountain.
Limpid, delicious to those who drink ;
It shall not oppress the mind, nor shall they therewith
be drunken."*

"The wine, in fact, is * unfermented,' " he said,
using the word with what was a sly reference to a
certain controversy in England, of which he had
read in a French newspaper, on this same question
of teetotalism. "But in another Sura we are told
that those who in heaven, because of their purity,
approach near unto the Divine presence, ' drink only
pure water, they being continually and wholly em-
ployed in the contemplation of God.' t Even in
heaven, you see, the best men abstain ! "

The Prophet forbade wine because of the dis-
graceful excesses of one of his followers, Hamzah ;
at the same time prohibiting gaming of every sort. +
Gambling, he said, caused heart-burnings and
quarrels, and intoxicants led to foolish bickering in
company and to the neglect of prayer or the indecent
performance of it.

On the appearance of this revelation to the
Prophet, the teetotal fanatic at once arose and went
* Sura xxxvii, 44, 45, 46. t Sura Ixxxiii, 27, 28. j Sura ii, 216.

WHY THE FEAST OF MUTTON? 63

round the houses of the Moslems of Medina and
forcibly emptied their vessels of all liquor; and it
is amusing to know that even in those days the
opponents of abstinence bethought them of "the
poor widows and orphans " whose subsistence would
be injured by the deterioration — not of brewery or
distillery shares— but of their property which had
been invested in wine !

Unfortunately one sometimes sees a drunken
Arab in Biskra, where the absinthe and other spirits
in the French caf^s have proved an awful curse to
the natives; and the French Tombola, set up in the
square by the Garden of Gazelles, exercises a fatal
fascination over the Arab men and boys. This year
the gaming tables of the Casino were not opened
during my stay, but I was told that during previous
seasons the Arabs had crowded the place, and such
was their skill and cunning that the owner had come
out the loser. All this depravity, however, is a cause
of sadness to the pious Moslem, who always deplores
the new vices which European conquest has brought
with it.

To the Europeans at our hotel the Feast had been
the subject of much inquiry and speculation, and the
evasive answers to all questions made by the guides,
beginning with Taib's "I do not know," only added
to the general perplexity.

" Why was it called by many, instead of the
' Feast of breaking the Fast,' the ' Feast of Mutton ' ?
Why was a sheep killed in the early part of the day
(being the first day of the month Shawal) by a
member of every household? Why was the lintel
of the houses sprinkled with the blood? And why,
on an outside corner of the roof of most of the houses,
was a jar placed ? "

64 THE DESERT GATEWAY

So much afraid of the thoughtless scoffing, or the
light jest, at their religious observances and super-
stitions are the boys and men who wait about the
hotels, that they will even go so far as to deny that
these things, belonging to the Feast, had been done
at all. As I did not care to bombard Ali with further
questions, it called for a great deal of patient inquiry,
with information gathered a little here and a little
there, to get a connected story.

It is clear, first of all, that the sheep is killed to
commemorate the intended sacrifice by Abraham of
his son, who was redeemed by a ram. The actual
feast is made with this sheep or lamb, and part of
the food is given to the poor. The sprinkling of the
lintel with the blood doubtless got its origin from
another practice of old Bible days.

As for the jar on the housetops, Ali volunteered
that it contained the barley of the Prophet, consist-
ing of the last food eaten by the sheep before it is
slain. Any more exact information than this it
seemed impossible to elicit. I wondered if it had
anything to do with those souls of the faithful whose
spirits, according to a tradition of the Prophet, rest
in the crops of green birds. Or was it an offering to
the jinns or genii, which mischievous spirits are
thought to be kept in prison during Ramadhan, and
when they come out— and this would, of course, be
the first day of their release — station themselves on
roofs and throw down bricks and stones at passers-by.
As they are very apt to pilfer provisions, it is
possible that the barley is put out in the hope of
satisfying them without further loss to the house-
holder. This, however, is mere conjecture ; of the
facts — "I do not know."

I found that, to secure themselves against the

KILLING THE LAMB 65

jinns, the devout repeat the words, "In the name of
God, the compassionate, the merciful I " on locking
the doors of their houses, rooms, or closets, or
covering the bread-baskets or any vessel containing
food.

The killing of the lamb for the Feast is regarded
as a great honour.

Deep is the devotion of the Arab women to
their sons, and it is touching to see the sacrifice
a poor struggling widow woman will make to turn
her boy out in fine clothes for this Feast. But the
climax of her joy is reached when the boy, having
gained the age of about eighteen, kills his first lamb
for the Feast as a sign that he is now a man ; she
having first washed his feet to show that she recog-
nises her first-born as the head and guardian of the
home. Usually this is the occasion of his first
taking part in the Great Prayer, in preparation for
which he must keep his first fast.

Our boy Taib, being only sixteen, has yet to kill
the lamb ; the mere thought of it makes the timid
lad shrink from his coming responsibilities as his
mother's only son. When we asked him why he did
not join in the prayer, he, with tears in his eyes, said,
"If my father had lived, he would have taken me
every year. Perhaps when I am eighteen I shall go
with my friends."

It is at two years of age that a boy's hair is first
cut, and this is made the occasion of a feast. About
this age he is first given a burnous. A tiny friend
of ours on his second birthday blossomed out into
a gorgeous cloak of pale blue cloth, splendidly em-
broidered in gold; his small nurse could scarcely
muster enough breath in her almost speechless pride
to inform us that it had cost fifty francs t

F

66 THE DESERT GATEWAY

At any age from about two to seven the boys
must invariably be circumcised, although the ordi-
nance is not laid down in the Koran. This is mostly
done during the month of Ramadhan, and nearly
every day there were the most exciting Arab pro-
cessions, with the women dancing quite prettily, and
the men letting off fire-arms with the loudest possible
reports and the maximum of smoke. The little
objects of the fete rode on the backs of horses or
mules, with the gayest caparison possible. Great
was my amusement one day to see a proud Arab of
about five years striding his horse in haughty state
as the centre of so much demonstration and gaiety,
puffing a cigarette!

" All unconscious of their doom
The little victims play ! "

The operation itself is performed according to
clearly laid-down laws by a marabout.

When AH took leave of us at the end of the
evening he overwhelmed us with profound thanks
for what he called his short time of pleasure.

I afterwards found that it is usual with all Arabs
to describe what they like as of short, and what they
dislike as of long, duration.*

* Sura xxiii, 115.

CHAPTER IV

WE VISIT OUR ARAB FRIENDS, AND SEE THE
FAMOUS JARDIN LANDON

Readers will have noticed that up to this point I
have scarcely mentioned the existence of Arab
women. The fact is that during the first weeks of
our stay in Biskra we never saw a woman, with the
exception of the dancing girls (the Ouled Nai'ls),
who inhabit two little streets of the town, where
they appear unveiled and bedecked in jewels, and
are consequently outside the ken of the respectable
Arab women.

We were naturally curious as to the hidden lives
led by the wives and daughters of our now numerous
friends, but as we had been warned that the Arab
regards it as most improper for anyone even to ask
after his womenfolk we saw little chance of learning
anything about native home-life.

However, as time went on, and we gained the
confidence of different friends, the opportunities we
had coveted arose. First, our boy Taib brought us
an invitation from his mother at Vieux Biskra, tell-
ing us that if we cared to go to his home a young
married sister would be there to help his mother
to receive us.

Of course we accepted ; and on the morning
chosen we were proudly taken by the lad to his home,
which is one of the mud houses standing on the
beautiful road leading through Ras-el-guerria.

On either side of this road are palm gardens,
67

68 THE DESERT GATEWAY

varied by two or three orange groves, in which the
fruit was now ripe. It is a charming road, with the
low mud walls of the gardens, and the brisk little
canal (called a seguar) of sparkling water running
by the side; and it became our favourite walk, for
here we always found shelter from the north wind
and shade from the scorching sun, while the native
life passing up and down between Biskra market and
Vieux Biskra gave it constantly varying interest and
colour.

Arrived at Taib's door — we must remember that
being the only son of his mother, and she a widow,
he is the man of the house and is already deferred
to by the women of his family — we witnessed the
quiet courtesy with which alone it is proper for a
Moslem to enter a dwelling.

By the Prophet's example, on coming to a door,
one should stand not in front of it, but on the side,
and say in a low voice, "The Peace of God be with
you ! "

In the Koran the most particular instructions are
given as to the observance of good manners in enter-
ing a house not your own, and as we found that
Taib's mother shared their home with another
family, it was necessary for him to keep these rules.

" Oh ye who believe ! enter not into other houses
than your own, until ye have asked leave, and have
saluted its inmates."*

Having saluted the house, Taib pushed open the
rough outer door, and entered the dark, windowless
hole, with a mud floor, which, for want of a better
word, one must call the vestibule. Here he sang
out in Arabic his request for admission, upon which

* Sura xxiv, 27.

I'holo: Hoic.iaittI, Itia-ia

THK I'KF-:TIV KOAI) IKOM HISKKA ro KAS-KLGUIiKKIA

WE VISIT TAiB'S HOME 69

after a few seconds of waiting — for it shows great
rudeness to enter any house abruptly — the inner
door was opened by a child, and Taib asked us to
enter the room to which it led.

It was a fairly large room, with rough mud walls
and uneven mud floor. It had no window, but there
was a square hole in the middle of the ceiling —
which was supported by the trunk of a palm-tree — ■
and through this the smoke from the fire on the floor
made its way out. In one corner a well-grown lamb
was tethered.

There was no furniture whatever in the room, but
we could discern in the half-light that Taib's poor
old mother was rising from one of the mats which
are spread upon the floor and take the place of the
chairs and sofas which we think necessary for com-
fort. Our hostess was not veiled, and as she came
shyly forward Taib proudly introduced us. We
shook her hand, and she requested her boy, in whom
it was plain to see her soul delighted, to give us polite
messages of welcome, which he translated into French
for us. In return we asked him to put into Arabic,
for his mother's pleasure, sentiments of interest in
hira, and our sense of the honour she had done us
to invite us to her home.

At this moment, out of the darkness of a recess,
afterwards seen to be a kind of cupboard which must
be called a bedroom, came a girlish figure, clothed
in pretty colours, and jingling with much jewellery,
whom Taib introduced with beaming satisfaction as
his sister.

She was a beautiful girl of about nineteen, having
small features, an olive complexion, small teeth which
were quite perfect, and those lovely soft brown eyes
which are seen in no other people. It was a great

70 THE DESERT GATEWAY

surprise to us that she had entirely laid aside her veil,
and when we expressed to Tai'b that we were pleased,
he replied that we were "his friends," speaking the
words in such a way as implied that nothing more
need be said.

We had heard much of Arab hospitality, the truth
of which we were fully to prove during our stay in
Biskra. In this poor home every thing the inmates
f)ossessed was offered, and while we talked to the
younger woman the older one was already squatting
by the fire, fanning it into flames as she fed it with
dried palm branches, in the hope that we should
consent to let her make us a griddle cake at least.

Meanwhile Taib was spreading mats for us to
sit on, but, thinking it kinder to decline any food
which required cooking, we consented to the sug-
gestion to see the house and go up to the flat roof.

A candle was lighted to show the way, and in
the most deprecating manner Tai'b's sister offered
to accompany us. The deference paid to men, which
would not allow this girl to go out of the door before
me, until I had strongly insisted, was not comfortable
to a European.

The "house" consisted of the room we were in,
one or two tiny windowless rooms leading off it
which were used for sleeping purposes, while up a
very dark and ramshackle staircase we found a small
loft filled with dates — which were, of course, offered
us without stint — another loft used as a bedroom,
and a door leading on to the roof. Here on the wall
surrounding the house several pigeons were perched,
looking beautiful in the clear sunlight which, with
the cloudless blue sky, contrasted so delightfully with
the darkness of the interior of the house. On this
roof, Taib informed us, he and the other "men" of

THERE AND HERE 71

the house slept all through the summer, enjoying the
comparative coolness of being in the open air.

When we had descended, the two Arab women
timidly examined my wife's jewels, and with much
interest she returned the compliment. I am quite
sure, if it were not for the diamonds worn by
European women, and which the Arabs admire
extremely, the latter would in no way envy the
possessions of their visitors, who in their eyes are
to be pitied for the inadequate amount of jewellery
which they wear, and especially for their lack of the
engraved anklets which the Arab women seem to
value above all their other treasures.

Very human, in spite of their subjection, are
these poor women of the East, and, in their personal
vanities, very little different from the women who
live under conditions of freedom sufficient even to
produce the suffragette. A distinct warning by the
Prophet about these anklets, "Let the women not
strike their feet together so as to discover their hidden
ornaments," has not been enough to suppress the
tinkling which always betrays the approach of an
Arab woman, any more than, I suppose, the most
drastic warning would suppress the rustling of silk
skirts by which many English women betray a little
innocent pride.

As these two gentle women came to the door with
us to say good-bye they could not refrain from a
little clanking of their ornaments, and in their child-
like minds I felt sure they experienced delight at
the impression of grandeur they were making.

Taib's sister ventured very shyly to ask if we
would care to visit her at her own home some day,
where she would show us how she worked at a hand-
loom in the weaving of the stuff of which men's

72 THE DESERT GATEWAY

burnouses were made, an invitation we readily
accepted.

The code of manners set forth in the Koran as to
entering houses has many other points in addition to
those of asking leave, and giving the salutation,
"Al salam aleica " (Peace be upon thee).

If there is no one at home when you knock, you
may not enter unless leave be given, and if there are
inmates and they say, "Go ye back," then you must
go back. In no case is it decent to be importunate
for admission, or to wait at the door.

It is not, however, wrong to enter houses in
which no one dwells, or to go into public caf^s,
shops, sheds, and so on, without preamble, for the
supply of your needs.*

Three times in the day — before the first morning
prayer, and when the garments are laid aside at noon
for the siesta, and after the evening prayer — even the
members of the household, and children and servants,
must regard the privacy of their superiors, not enter-
ing into their presence without leave. After these
times they may go freely in and out of the different
rooms without special leave. But when children are
of age they must ask leave at all times to come into
the parents' presence, "as they who were before them
asked it."

On the way back to Biskra we passed the entrance
to the little palm-garden in which Taib owns an
interest, shared with two others, and, finding that
we were anxious to see it, he took us round the
small domain. There were a number of date-palms
and one or two fig-trees.

The date-tree was, I am sure, created for the Arab
people, for it exactly meets their needs. Very little

* Sura xxiv, 29.

WATERING THE GARDENS 73

work is wanted to cultivate it; as someone has said,
the only demand the date-palm makes is that "its feet
shall be in a stream of water and its head in the
furnace of heaven."

Nature has here provided the water in the exhaust-
less springs of the Biskra oasis, and when man has
once made the seguar — or little canal — little more
requires to be done than to direct the supply of water ;
and as for the furnace, that may be entirely left as
Nature's work.

When the palm-tree flowers, each bloom has to
be fertilised by hand (with rare exceptions), and, of
course, in the autumn the dates must be gathered,
packed, and despatched.

The innumerable little irrigation streams are fed
from the main canals, which are directed from the
source of the precious water supply through every
village of the oasis, going many miles on their life-
giving errand.

The hundreds of gardens are watered at strictly
stated times, an elaborately arranged system of dam-
ming being used to direct the flow.

A right to water is, of course, most important in
the East, where irrigation, and not rainfall, must be
looked to to sustain life. The more the date is
watered the larger and more juicy the fruit. To get
the best results it should have the rivulet flowing
about its roots every third or fourth day ; a condition
possible at Biskra, which as a consequence is famous
for its dates.

Naturally there will be disputes between the
different owners of gardens as to the fairness of the
division of the supply, for the moment one man fails
to dam up the canal after the period for the water
to run through his garden is up, he is practically

74 THE DESERT GATEWAY

robbing his neighbour by detaining the stream from
the waiting channel.

These water disputes in Biskra are referred to
the Kaid, the Arab chief, who decides the just pro-
portion of water allowed to each garden. Without
his permission no person may in any way alter or
obstruct the water running through his own ground.
In some parts of the East this question of irrigation
leads to more disputes, and even murders, than any-
thing else.

In the palm-gardens we often saw Arab men
making their formal prayers at the appointed times,
Mohammet having said, "Acceptable is devotion in
the garden and the orchard."

Taib and his partners in this garden had never
found it necessary to appeal to the Kaid, having
good neighbours. As in our Christian religion, so
in the Koran, the duty to one's neighbour is much
insisted on, and it is as carefully observed by the
pious Moslem as by the sincere Christian. "Show
kindness unto your neighbour, whether kinsman or
new-comer." *

We asked Taib how it came about that three
neighbours were owners of one garden which so con-
veniently adjoined their combined home.

With Moslems, we found, the duty of neighbours
is especially observed in the sale of property. The
Prophet laid it down that the neighbour of a house
has a first right to the purchase of it, or of adjoining
land. And if a neighbour is absent from home, the
owner must defer a sale until his return.

In this village of Ras-el-guerria — as in nearly
every Arab village — there is, near the mosque, a
rough roof across the road, under which, on each

* Sura iv, 40.

ALI'S INVITATION TO COFFEE 75

side, seats of mud have been made; upon these,
sheltered alike from wind, sun, and rain, we generally
found seated one or two poor men engaged in
repeating the names of God, reciting prayers, or in
other ways, as the Irish say, "making their souls."
Usually these are poor strangers, without friends or
place of abode, who ask the protection of the faith-
ful. The custom of making these sheltered seats has
been continued from the Prophet's days ; for he was
very good to the "sitters on the bench," as he called
them, and often, when he went in to meals, he would
call some of them to join him ; and his generous
example is followed to this day.

The next invitation we received was from Ali,
who desired us to take coffee with him at his house.
Accordingly, on the afternoon named, we rang the
bell of the important residence in which our friend
had a small suite of rooms, cut off from the rest of
the house, which was occupied by his parents and
their other children.

Although the Arabs of this class do not live in
the rough mud houses of the poorer natives, they
have their dwellings built on the same plan, with
one floor only, and without ordinary windows, the
light being admitted through one or two openings
near the ceiling in each room, so that the interiors
are cool and the sunlight much softened, even in
the hottest weather.

We were admitted by a tiny Arab servant maid,
who retired at once as Ali appeared to welcome us.
He was all delighted smiles, and in the pleasure of
receiving guests his usual gravity had fled, and both
he and an Arab friend, who had joined the party,
became like schoolboys entertaining chums at a tuck-
shop.

76 THE DESERT GATEWAY

His friend was a son of a local Kaid, a handsome
youth of eighteen, who told us that he was a student
of medicine at Constantine. He hoped eventually to
gain his diploma in Paris, and then become the first
Arab doctor to practise in Biskra, where, indeed,
a magnificent field of service to suffering humanity
awaits him.

The sitting-room was quite European in its
furnishing, for there were a table and chairs, a large
wardrobe sort of cupboard in one corner, and on the
other side a handsome chest of drawers. To my sur-
prise there were, too, three or four pictures on the
walls, representing pretty children of the type asso-
ciated in our minds with our Christmas annuals.

The only things reminding us specially of the
East were the beautiful rugs on the floor, and a hand-
some chased brass ewer, with a thin spout, and a
basin, with which we are familiar from having seen
illustrations of them in books of travel, as they are
being used for the Moslem ablutions.

There were, of course, no ladies of the household
present, Ali himself disappearing into the recesses of
the house to bring in the coffee, which he did with
much droll mimicry of a French waiter at the Caf^
Glacier in the town. The coffee, made in an Arab
kitchen, was, of course, delicious; and we had cakes,
and a dish of Biskra dates, which Ali advised us to
eat with the shelled walnuts provided. This was not
a true native meal, but an invention devised by Ali
to take the place of English "high-lif " afternoon tea.

We were a merry party, and the little meal w-as
over all too soon. In the intervals of our talk we
had caught the sound of female voices from the other
part of the house, referring to which Ali said his
mother had several callers — ladies, of course — whom

WE MEET ALFS SISTERS 77

he imitated as all talking gossip at the same time.
He is obviously devoted, as Arab men usually are, to
his mother, and apologised because the many callers
made it impossible for her to receive my wife that day.

To our great surprise, however, a little later on —
when his friend had excused himself owing to the
pressing nature of his "affairs " and had left us, after
kindly inviting us to visit his father's house — AH
went out and returned with a sister, a girl of twenty,
who, all shyness and confusion, allowed herself, with
a little good-humoured persuasion, to be brought into
the room and introduced to us. As she talked French
a little (a very unusual thing in an Arab woman), we
were able to chat with her, as much as her extreme
shyness would permit.

In a few minutes Ali disappeared a second time,
to return almost carrying in his arms a second sister,
a little older than the first. All blushes, she too
spoke timidly to us in French, both girls agreeing
that their brother was a great tease.

This sister, of whose beauty we had heard from
an English lady who had visited her mother, was,
my wife and I agreed, one of the loveliest women we
had ever seen. She was more queenly in form and
manner than Taib's pretty sister, and, if possible,
her eyes were more wonderfully beautiful. She had
the same perfect teeth, and her mouth had those
delicate curves rarely seen after childhood ; and a
wealth of hair of blue-black hue set off the purity
of her complexion.

In the privacy of their home these girls and Ali
evidently played together like nursery children. Ali
was proud of his sisters, while they had for him a
deep devotion which made them his slaves.

78 THE DESERT GATEWAY

After a few minutes, during which we had
exchanged simple compliments, the girls' shyness
created a pause. With that wonderful instinct for
making things easy for his guests which the Arab
host never lacks, Ali relieved the impending awkward-
ness with a joke. Seeing that his sisters' modesty
would make any formal adieux impossible, he pre-
tended to become severe at their waste of time, and
with a mischievous twinkle in his eye he assumed
the air of a stern jailer, and, rapping the table sud-
denly with a spoon, cried, "Travaillez ! Travaillez ! "
(Work ! Work !) at which both sisters scuttled out
of the room in an instant, the anklets of the beauty
defying all the moral precepts. It was a funny scene,
at which we laughed heartily.

I expressed to Ali our pleasure at meeting his
sisters, delicately hinting at my surprise at their
appearing unveiled.

"To friends," he replied, "nothing is hidden " —
taking care to add, however, that this did not apply
to Arab friends.

It was clear that if the medical student had not
taken his leave we should not have been favoured in
this way. I frequently found afterwards, while walk-
ing on the country roads, or on finding myself near
the cemeteries on the days when the women were
there, the truth of Ali's statement that the Arab
ladies, having found that Europeans do not stare at
them, will drop the veil if no Arab man is in sight,
taking little or no notice of the presence of an
Englishman.

Ali now proceeded to show us his treasures,
which, to our astonishment, consisted in a great store
of rich clothes intended for a girl. There were shoes
of all sorts, from the most elaborately embroidered to

ALPS "BOTTOM DRAWER" 79

those intended for plainest use. There were robes of
costly cloth, veiling in great lengths of every sort of
fascinating material, little gold embroidered caps,
and yards of delicate stuffs for wear round the head.
There was also jewellery of every sort, from the heavy
silver anklets to the prettiest finger-rings. Drawerful
after drawerful he brought out and piled on the floor.
And then he opened the cupboard, to display another
store of materials in brilliant colours and of strange
patterns, including two very handsome nuptial
cushions.

My wife was filled with wonder and curiosity.
"And who is to wear them?" she inquired.

"Madam," said AH, with a touch of sadness we
could not understand, "these will one day be for my
wife. For years my father has insisted on my buying
them, according to our custom ; and they represent
many econoviies! " — this with almost comic self-pity.
"How strange ! This is what we call in England
the * bottom drawer ! ' But there, it is the girl who
fills it in readiness for her marriage. The bride
comes to her husband richly provided with every-
thing of this sort."

"Madam," responded Ali, as he made a feint to
dash through the door, " I go to England at once ! "
"Are you engaged to be married?" we asked.
"No!" and he became serious again at once.
" No ! but my father wishes me to be married to an
Arab girl of fifteen he has heard of at Chetma, and
that within a few weeks. I am over twenty, and he
thinks it a disgrace that I should not be married.
He is a pious Moslem, having made the pilgrimage
to Mecca, and always reminds me that the Prophet
condemned celibacy as a lower form of life than
marriage, A healthy man unmarried Mohammet

8o THE DESERT GATEWAY

called ' a brother of the Devil I ' Celibacy is not
condemned in the Koran, but because Mohammet
said to a follower, who wished to live without
marriage, ' When a Moslem marries he perfects his
religion,' my father, whom I must, of course, obey,
commands me to marry.

"I do not wish to marry a mere child, who has
learned nothing, who cannot talk to me, and who
must never go out walking with me. Madam, I have
met several young ladies of your country, and I have
seen how clever they are, how intelligently they talk,
what good companions they are to their men relatives,
to their husbands what you call ' helpmates,' and L
have longed that I might be married in the European
way. But, alas ! my father's patience in so often
putting off the arrangement of an Arab marriage is
exhausted, and so he has already been to Chetma; he
has seen the uncle of the girl, and has offered 2,000
francs for her. In a few days my mother will go to
see her, then the marriage-day will be settled, and I
shall find myself allied to a girl I have never seen.
Let us not talk of it. I am ires triste to think of it ! "

When we left, Ali came out with us to stroll in
the gardens, where, with native instinct, he chose a
spot which screened us from too much observation.
Here we met an old Arab gentleman, whom we
had several times seen Ali walking with hand in
hand, a sign with Arabs of affectionate friendship.
Nothing is more pleasing than to see the number of
such friendships between old and young Arab men.
He proved to be the Arab judge at Sidi Okba, the
most interesting oasis about fourteen miles farther
out into the desert than Biskra. Hearing that it was
our intention to visit his native place, he most kindly
— through Ali, for he spoke no French — gave us a

THE ARAB JUDGE ?i

very hearty invitation to visit him a week later,
promising to give us a truly Arab meal of kous-kous.

Needless to say, we accepted the invitation, our
pleasure being heightened by the promise of Ali to
accompany us. Our experiences on that visit were
so interesting that I withhold them for a time so
that they may have a chapter to themselves.

Ali told us that the position of judge (Qazi) is
an old and important one, the qualifications for which
the Prophet has very clearly laid down. It becomes
a Moslem not to covet the appointment. "Who-
sovere," said Mohammet, "seeks the appointment
shall be left alone, but to him who accepts the office
on compulsion an angel shall descend and guide
him." He must be adult, a free man, a Moslem,
sane, and unconvicted of slander. His office must
be established in some public place, a court in the
chief mosque being recommended. He must not
accept presents, except from relations and friends,
and must attend no feasts but those given by such
as are most intimately related to him.

I was anxious to question Ali — when his Arab
friend had at last hurried away to catch the afternoon
diligence — on the subject of the pictures which we
had seen in his room, and which were a sign of
advanced views on the part of a Moslem.

When the Prophet forbade wine and games of
chance and divining, he declared that images or
statues were also "an abomination of the work of
Satan."* The word (ansab) has been expanded to
mean all figures, or representation of figures, so that
in Arabic art neither human beings nor animals are
ever carved or painted ; and even the camera is
detested as "the Devil's box."

* Sura V, 9?.

82 THE DESERT GATEWAY

By some it is thought that Mohammet was refer-
ring chiefly to the carved pieces with which the pagan
Arabs played at chess, being small figures of horses,
men, elephants, and camels, so that to this day the
strict observers of the letter of the Koran forbid the
game of chess with any but plain pieces.

I think it is more probable that the Prophet was
thinking of the idols which he had destroyed, his
intention being that it should be made impossible to
revive them in any form. It is true, however, that,
in the traditions, Mohammet went further and cursed
those who painted or made drawings of men or
animals, and consequently by many Moslems all
pictures are held to be unlawful.

It is believed that, in addition to the idols in the
church at Mecca, which the Prophet destroyed, there
was a picture of the Virgin Mary, which may have
been worshipped in the same way as the images, and,
to make assurance doubly sure, in his abolition of
idolatry the Prophet uttered the second curse.

All this I discussed with AH, who argued that
the letter of the Koran was sometimes followed so
slavishly as to defeat the true intentions of Moham-
met's mind, and to hamper the proper development
of his followers. He did not believe that such a
wise ruler as their Prophet could have meant to shut
out his people for ever from all practice and enjoy-
ment of art. And so he (AH), while preserving the
Moslem detestation of anything in the nature of
religious statuary or sacred pictures, was quite ready
to approve of other works of art, as well as to believe
that photography was allowable to the Moslem.

While these opinions would be repugnant to the
older Mohammedan, I found a general disposition
on the part of the younger men to adopt them.

THE HOLY TREES 83

The next day Taib suggested that it was our duty
to visit the Jardin Landon, sometimes called the Villa
Benevento, which "Monsieur Hichens" has made
so famous in "The Garden of Allah." Accordingly
we set forth, going by the Old Biskra road, in the
shadelessness of which we were able to realise a
little the intensity of the sun's rays in this dry and
rarefied atmosphere. But by doing this we escaped
the road of insanitary horrors which runs by the side
of the negro village, the disgrace of which has, I
hope, by this time been remedied by the authorities.

Turning off the road on the left, we made towards
what looked like a tropical shrubbery, above which
rose the tall palms, enclosed by a high mud wall,
crossing an open field in which a casual and ragged
sort of grain crop was just springing up.

At the corner of the shrubbery wall I happened
to notice a small leafless tree, tied all over with bits
of rag of every kind of material. This, Taib said,
was a Holy Tree, and those who had tied the rags
on it had torn the pieces off the garments they were
wearing, and had said a prayer consisting of certain
verses from the Koran.

This was quite a lengthy explanation to come
from Taib, but it did not altogether quench our thirst
for information. All my further questions, however,
were met with the lad's gentle but conclusive, "I do
not know."

I remembered, however, that Burton came across
such a tree on his pilgrimage, and, as a supposed
Moslem, he had "added a rag to its coat of tatters."

These trees are found throughout the whole of
Islam. I afterwards found another in Biskra, near
the cemetery, and this, I believe, was used exclusively
by childless women in their prayers to be relieved

84 THE DESERT GATEWAY

from what, in the East, is a disgrace and a reason
for divorce.

The origin of the sacred ti^e is unknown, going
back to the time of the pagan Arabs. Many believe
that the Prophet permitted the practice; indeed, there
is the expedition of Zat at Rika'a (place of the shreds
of cloth), which is supposed to be a term for a tree
to which the Moslems tie their ex-voto rags. The
rag torn direct from the garment of the supplicant is
supposed to have a sort of clairvoyant effect in bring-
ing the owner of it intimately into touch with the
spirit from whom aid is sought.

In this belief a rag is in some places tied on to
the gate of the tomb of a marabout. At Cairo, I
believe, the spirit of a great saint is supposed to linger
round the city gate ; and men hang bits of rag, teeth,
and other personal fragments on the gate to attract
the attention of the saint.

Sometimes a strip of cloth is torn from the
garment of a person who is sick and taken and tied
to such a tree, in the belief that the illness will,
through this medium, pass away.

I told all this later on to Taib, who, I suspect,
knew it as well as I did, and certainly understood
the local usages in the matter a good deal better, but
he still looked pleasantly blank. I think he con-
sidered such mysteries wasted on the unbelievers,
who, with that touch of arrogance which the best of
us always betray, would ridicule what they were not
worthy to understand.

Arrived at the garden entrance, we were required
to use the great knocker to summon the "guardian."
Entering, w'e walked into the large sanded court-
yard in front of that detached part of the brilliantly
white house which forms a boundary of the garden;

DELICIOUS SHADES 85

on our left stretched the cool avenues of tropical
trees in long vistas towards the desert.

Just inside the gate an Arab tent was pitched on
a green knoll, in which the "guardian" lives and
sleeps.

The whole beautiful scene could not but seem
familiar to anyone who has read Mr. Hichens's un-
approachably graphic descriptions of it.

To add to the impression that we were living over
again a beautiful experience which we had previously
dreamed, the haunting notes of an Arab flute were
heard coming from the shady depths, produced, as
Taib told us, by no other than the original Larbi
himself.

If some visitors to the garden have felt a slight
tinge of disappointment, it is, I think, because, to
the English mind, a famous garden is a place in
which a profusion of flowers, set in green lawns,
delights the eye.

Here, when the young Count Landon set out to
make a garden where before had been a bare waste
of stones and sand, the ideal he set himself was —
having brought water in the seguars — to create shade
from every rare and beautiful shrub and tree which,
with patience and skill, might be made to grow at
the edge of the desert. The many varieties of palm-
trees to be found here would alone make the garden
famous.

What we know as "flower-beds" are almost
entirely absent. At no given time is the garden ever
like an English garden in August, when everything
reaches a climax of brilliant and luxurious beauty,
in a short time to fade and die.

In the Jardin Landon there are many flowers, but
most of them thrive only by seeking the shade of the

86 THE DESERT GATEWAY

trees. There are wonderful climbing plants with
gorgeous blooms, climbing roses, hedges of hibiscus,
and everywhere the geranium growing in great bushes.
Coming into the cool green tunnels from the glare
and heat of the sun, hearing the splash of the water
coursing through the innumerable channels, sitting
in the delightful arbours, or on the wall from which
one looks across the vast sandy ocean of the Sahara,
the fascination of the garden grows upon one hour
by hour.

All the time, to-day, Larbi plays upon his flute
those weird and sad airs which the Arabs love, and
which have upon the Western mind a haunting
effect from which it can never set itself altogether
free.

In one of the avenues we come across the smoking-
room, built for the entertainment of his Arab friends
by the Count, with beautiful rugs for them to sit on,
spread upon the divans surrounding the walls.

In another part we found the French drawing-
room, with the blue-dog, the famous mascot, about
which the novelist makes such imaginative play.

On all sides the Arab gardeners were silently and
elusively at work — their numbers being augmented
because the date harvest was being gathered — and it
is true that their chief concern seems to be to preserve
the marvellous tidiness of the garden, by which not
a leaf is ever allowed to be out of place or the sand
of the paths to be ruffled.

We remembered that only pious Moslems are
employed here, men who say their prayers five times
a day and keep the fasts; and that it is necessary
to have five men to guard the domain at night,
firing guns at intervals as a warning to intending
marauders.

LARBI AND HIS FLUTE 87

Guided by the sounds of his flute, we sought out
Larbi, and found him reclining on a green bank,
while he pensively played his love songs. After some
conversation he confided to us that his ambition was
to go to London, where Monsieur Hichens had
promised to meet him. By many economies he had
managed to save quite a large sum, and when this
had grown a little more he would be ready to set off.
Since Monsieur wrote his book he (Larbi) had made
many English friends who had been generous to
him. He had many beautiful clothes (we afterwards
met him in the town arrayed like a prince), and did
we think he could wear them in London ? — a question
we would not venture to answer, advising him to seek
the opinion of Monsieur Hichens. In this answer
we are interested, for we hope that one day our friend
Ali may venture — "if it please Allah" — to travel to
England to visit us, and the thought of him in
hideous European clothes is perhaps more appalling
than the contemplation of the ordeal it would be to
escort him through the streets of London in his
graceful and gorgeous native attire.

In speaking of the Jardin Landon to the Arabs, I
always found considerable reserve in any approval of
it which they might express. Count Landon is very
popular for his kindly and generous treatment of the
poor, and for the faith he has always shown in the
Arab people, for whom he undoubtedly has an
affectionate regard.

But in the pious Moslem mind there is, I believe,
always a doubt (although this was never expressed
in words) as to whether the great Allah is pleased
when a man builds gorgeous palaces, or makes
resplendent gardens, for himself.

One of our friends, a man much given to quiet

THE DESERT GATEWAY

reflection, who had travelled as far as England, said
one day, when we were discussing one of our great
houses which he had seen, "Is it good for a man to
have so much splendour and enjoyment in this life?
He is in Paradise already; will he do anything here
to earn an entrance into heaven ? And how dreadful
death and punishment must be to one who has had
such indulgence and happiness below ! "

It was this friend who read to us the Sura in the
Koran called "The Daybreak,"* which deals with
those who, because of great and splendid possessions,
"behaved insolently in the land, and multiplied
excesses therein," and points out how much better
it is to do good works here for a reward in the future
life, while preserving in this present life a soul which
is at rest. In this Sura the people of Irem are men-
tioned, and how God dealt with them. The king's
two sons (our friend related) extended their kingdom,
after their father's decease, until their power covered
the greater part of the earth. One of them, having
heard of the delights of the celestial Paradise, made
a garden, with the intention of imitating it, in the
desert of Aden. When it was finished he set out,
with a magnificent retinue, to see it. All this time
the Lord, who standeth on a watch-tower whence He
observeth the actions of men, had seen this, and had
prepared a punishment. When the king and his
followers had come within a day's journey of the
garden, they were all destroyed by an awful
manifestation from heaven.

That afternoon, as we sat chatting with AH in
the public gardens opposite our hotel, in the shade
of the mimosa avenue, he related to us, apropos of
our visit in the morning, the story of a garden of

* Sura Ixxxix.

A MEAN MAN^S PUNISHMENT 89

which mention is made in the Koran,* putting it
into his own words, which I venture to think interest-
ing enough for repetition :

"This palm garden was near Mecca, and belonged
to a charitable man who remembered the poor. When
he was ready to gather his dates, he first gave notice
to his needy neighbours, as is the custom of the
generous Moslem, so that they might come to the
garden and pick up such of the fruit as had been
blown down by the wind, or fell on the ground outside
the limit of the cloth spread beneath the trees to
receive it, or was missed by the knife of those who
cut the clusters off the trees. This good man died,
and his two sons, who inherited the garden, proved
to be irreligious and mean men. In entering their
garden to gather its fruits they omitted to say ' If
Allah will,' and, ignoring their father's example,
they determined to give no notice to the poor, and,
to evade their importunities, to gather their dates at
dawn while their poor neighbours were still in bed.

* So they went whispering to each other,
No poor man shall set foot this day within your
garden. '

"But God had taken notice of their evil intentions
while they slept, and He encompassed their garden
and swept it with desolation, so that it became black
and barren.

"And when they came to the garden at daybreak,
and saw that it was blasted, they were bewildered and
said, ' This is not our garden ; we have mistaken
our way.'

"And when they found that it was their garden,

* Sura Ixviii.

90 THE DESERT GATEWAY

they cried, ' Verily we are forbidden to reap our own
fruits ! '

"One, more worthy than the other, said, ' Did I
not say unto you. Will ye not give praise unto God?'

"And together they said, 'Praise be unto our
Lord! We have done unjustly 1 '

"And they began to blame one another, saying,
* Woe be unto us ! Verily we have been trans-
gressors. Peradventure our Lord will give us a
better garden in exchange; verily we crave this, with
delight in the presence of their Lord.'

"From which they learnt the chastisement of this
life. But the chastisement of the next life is more
grievous; to remember which is to take heed.

" ' Verily for the God-fearing are gardens of
delight in the presence of their Lord.'

"There is also a parable of a rich man and his
garden in Sura xviii," AH continued, "which, as it
is fully told in the Koran (the story I have told you
is partly from the traditions), perhaps you would like
to read yourself"; which we did, appreciating the
fervour of the style and the truth of its moral teach-
ing, summed up in the verse :

" Wealth and children are the ornament of this
present life ; but good works which are permanent are
better in the sight of thy Lord with respect to thy
reward, and better with respect to hope."

Taib's sister lives at M'cid, another of the seven
villages of Biskra, having been married to a widower
there for about a year. She fixed the hour of our
visit rather early in the morning, so that Taib, who
always had to walk a mile from his home to the
Sahara Hotel, had to be up betimes.

A VISIT TO TAIB'S SISTER 91

It is a delightful walk to M'cid. Passing the
Jardin Landon, and entering the shade of the beauti-
ful oasis on the edge of the desert, one passes down
one of the prettiest of the many village streets.

On the left hand side of the road is a magnificent
cypress tree, the immense height of which gives M'cid
the distinction of having a landmark towering far
above the palms and to be seen many miles away.

There is, too, in M'cid a primitive mill for crush-
ing the oil out of the olives, which the men in charge
will show and explain for a trifling reward.

The house we were visiting is a modest dwelling,
built or the usual mud bricks, but we were received
with a simple dignity which would have graced a
castle.

Taib's beautiful sister was very gaily arrayed m
the multi-coloured clothes the Arab women admire,
and she was wearing all her jewellery, which,
although of such primitive workmanship, had a
handsome effect. On her head was a bright scarf,
her hair being looped, and the kerchief fastened with
jewels and chains. There was a note of vivid green
in her dress, which made a perfect harmony with her
black hair and light olive complexion.

She introduced us to her stepdaughter, a girl of
her own age, who carried an infant, being herself
married, and living with her husband in the same
house with her father and his wife and several smaller
children.

The two women then sat down on the floor, side
by side, behind a hand loom, to go on with their
weaving, so that we might see it. They were making
a very superior burnous ; and the painful slowness of
weaving each thread separately by hand brought a
flash of recollection into my mind of a cotton factory

92 THE DESERT GATEWAY

in Lancashire wliere every appliance invented by the
skill of man was used to add to the speed of produc-
tion. How remote all the noise and bustle, and the
pressure of modern conditions, seemed in this small
mud village, where Taib informed us these women,
like his mother, only worked at the loom when they
wanted money I

Having started from home at an early hour, Taib
had not yet broken his fast, a fact he whispered to
his sister. At once she left the loom, and, asking
us if we would kindly wait until she made cakes, she
proceeded to prepare and cook her brother a very
simple breakfast. She took a shallow wooden bowl,
into w'hich she put a handful of coarse flour, mixing
it into a dough with olive oil.

A small girl, in the meantime, was blowing up
(he fire on the floor and feeding it with pieces of
dried palm branches.

The dough was divided into balls, and each ball
ivas taken into the palm of the right hand and pulled
and pressed out until it was thinner than a pancake,
when it was skilfully thrown on to a large flat piece
of iron already heated over the fire. At the right
moment it was most dexterously turned, and, when
cooked, taken up and folded into about four folds,
put into the bowl, and covered with a cloth until all
were ready; when Taib pulled out a mat, squatted on
the floor, taking off his shoes (the right one, of course,
first), and, with a soft "Bismallah ! " ("In the name
of Allah ! "), sat down to his breakfast, as seen in
the photograph.

My wife tasted the cakes, and found them very
good.

I ventured tentatively to suggest to Taib that per-
haps his sister might not object to be photographed

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STRANGE ARAB WAYS 93

in her own house. The answer was characteristic of
the Arab way of regarding things. She appeared to
be shyly gratified, but after a few quiet words in
Arabic with Taib, he told us that she would gladly
consent, but as her husband's small children were
about, and might tell their father, she was afraid !

The house consisted of the same large general
room and the dark cupboard bedrooms that we had
seen before, but our pretty hostess had in some way
become possessed of quite an interesting little collec-
tion of pottery, for which she had had shelves made,
to hang in her own bedroom — a small and totally
dark recess, to which we were proudly conducted by
the light of a candle.

After distributing trifling gifts to the small child-
ren, we said good-bye, our hostess taking leave of us,
of course, before we reached the door into the village
street, as she was unveiled. And as we left we
pronounced the usual benediction (which we had
learned), as, on arrival, we had been careful to
follow Taib's example in the manner of approaching
and entering an Arab house.

A day or two later my wife sent a small gift of
remembrance to his sister by Taib. Even this little
act served to show how essentially different is the
Arab mind from that with which we are accustomed
to deal. The lad took the parcel with courteously
gentle acknowledgment; then he opened it, felt the
scarf between his finger and thumb, obviously to test
if it was silk, and wrapped it up again. And the
curious thing about the act was that it was entirely
free from any consciousness of offence to us ; and the
motive puzzles us to this day.

CHAPTER V

A DAY AT SI D I KBA

In arranging to go to Sidi Okba we were amused by
the way in which Ali insisted that we should get up
early and take seats in the diligence which starts from
the little street behind the Hotel Royale at eight
o'clock every morning. The return journey this way
costs only two francs, while a private carriage,
engaged for the day, costs twenty, a colossal sum
which to the Arab mind puts anything but the
diligence out of the question.* I must confess, too,
of myself that —

" Although he was on pleasure bent,
He had a frugal m'ind."

It was a bitterly cold morning, with one of those
terribly piercing dry winds from the north which are
the rift within the lute that chants of Biskra's praise;
and when Ali called for us at our hotel we found that
he was wearing an extra burnous, of a heavy material
and very ample folds, and he advised us to put on
w^arm clothes, being especially anxious about my wel-
fare, as he knew that I was suffering from a weak
throat.

Everybody knows that the Arab will not in any
circumstances put himself under the irksome pressure
of what we call punctuality, a quality for which he
neither has, nor desires, a name.

* " Guard us, Allah, from the sin of extravagance " is a usual
Moslenn prayer, I found.

94

A JEWISH IDIOT BOY 95

We found the diligence standing at the regular
starting-place, but with not the remotest sign about it
that it was ever meant to move. Taking our cue from
our Arab friend, we sat down under the veranda of
the nearest cafe, and, over our steaming cups, pre-
pared to wait the will of Allah — and the disposition
of the driver — with growing signs of a benign
philosophy we had certainly never known in England.

While thus engaged we were joined by a lad I
knew as a street vendor of nuts, with whom I had had
many pleasant chats, although, as he spoke only
Arabic, the details of our respective languages were
sealed to us. It is wonderful, however, with a little
gift of imitativeness and some intuition, how easy
it is to communicate with an Arab on simple topics.
The lad, who to-day was quite handsomely attired
in a great plum-coloured burnous, told me he was
going to Sidi Okba to visit his mother and brother.
I invited him to join us at coffee, which he did
without the slightest embarrassment on either the
part of Ali or himself; showing again how entirely
absent among these people is any sense of the pride
of class distinction.

While we waited, a poor idiot youth, clothed, this
bitter morning, in nothing but a loose cotton shirt,
whom I had often seen about the market quarter,
came up to us and spoke to AH in Arabic. Ali
invited me to offer the lad a five-franc piece; and,
as I hesitated, he took from my hand the silver coin,
which, however, the beggar emphatically refused.
Ali then gave him a sou, which he took, running
gleefully off to get with it a piece of bread for his
breakfast. Ali laughingly told us that he was a
"Juif marabout," and for years he had begged for
sous, always refusing any other coin of whatever value.

96 THE DESERT [GATEWAY

I was amazed, knowing the intensity of the hatred
and scorn which the Arabs have for the Jews, to
observe the gentleness and consideration shown to
this poor idiot lad. It was further proof of the
sincerity with which the Moslems regard those who
are bereft of reason (even when they are Jews) as
being under the special care of God.

At last the driver of the diligence began to move,
his sense of independence from the thrall of anything
like an exact time-table having apparently been
satisfied. We got into the rather ancient wagonette,
with canvas covering; and when, half an hour behind
time, it was finally decided to start, our two wiry
horses set off in gallant style, which promised well
for our fourteen miles' journey across the stony river-
bed and along the desert road.

With the nut-seller, who attached himself to us,
our own party consisted of four, while a sturdy
Frenchman, in a rough corduroy suit, with an Arab
friend, both carrying guns, completed the inside
occupants of the diligence.

Without a word to them, Ali proceeded to
describe these two men to us in French, neither side
showing any embarrassment, for, apparently, as the
Arab knows everything about his neighbours, he
takes it for granted that his neighbours are as fully
informed about himself.

They were mighty hunters. "Look at the eyes
of this Arab — only hunters have that clear, steady
gaze." (The Arab hunter smiled steadily at us as we
made our observations as directed.)

"This French gentleman, who owns considerable
property in Biskra — he once was proprietor of the
Sahara Hotel — has such an intense love of the desert
that he has practically become an Arab. He has just

CALL OF THE DESERT 97

been into Biskra for a day or two on business, and
to buy ammunition; but, as usual, he is hurrying
away from the town at the earliest moment to the
desert beyond Sidi Okba. His home is a nomad's
tent, where his Arab wife and children await him,
and where he will take off the clothes he is now
wearing, and put on the Arab dress which he so
much prefers. His Arab friend is his constant com-
panion, and together they hunt the gazelle with a
skill which has made them famous."

With charming modesty the Frenchman assented
to this account of himself.

"It is true that I have become an Arab," he said
to my wife and me. "From early boyhood I could
not resist the power which the desert has over me.
My father tried everything he could think of to break
me in this; he thrashed me, he starved me, he even
sent me to Paris. But nothing could cure me of what
was a passion of my soul. My happiness in this life
is in the desert; and when I die I hope to go to the
Paradise of the Arabs ! "

"Are you not afraid in the desert? Isn't the
silence and loneliness awful? Isn't it terrifying at
night ? " asked my wife.

"Madam," he answered, "I am never afraid in
the desert. In Paris, at night, I am afraid; in the
desert, never ! "

"Can you tell us what the fascination is?"

"Oh ! the desert is so — free; the good God is so
near, and nothing of man's stupidity, and badness,
stands between you and Him. You breathe the pure

air, and walk under the glorious sky, and — and "

Further language failing him, be could sum up in
only one word, "you are so — free! "

Ali and our boy companion now produced their

H

98 THE DESERT GATEWAY

flutes, and for the first time we discovered that AH
was an accompHshed player on the little reed from
which such haunting airs are drawn.

First the boy played a line of an Arab chant, and
Ali answered it in song. Then AH would flute and
the boy would sing. One song — the lay of a conquered
tribe — would wail and cry until the sadness became
almost unendurable (there is surely nothing so pathetic
as the dirges of the Arabs); then the Arab impatience
of the misery of mind, in which to that moment Ali
had revelled, would break forth in a merry dance, in
which both flutes would seem to vie with each other
in joyousness of step and reel and coy retreat.

And then the vocal chant of one of the Psalms of
Islam would wail forth again, flute answering voice,
both in minor key, in such a way that one would
think the solemn fervour of the Prophet's message
must be irresistible. And again fun would succeed
gravity, and there would be much laughter over a
comic Arab song.

"To be with friends is to be happy," said Ali,
when w^e remarked on his good-humour. Both he
and the Arab boy seemed determined to entertain
us — and no one who has not experienced it can under-
stand how entertaining an Arab can be when he' is
making holiday.

By this time we had reached the open desert road,
and the cruel wind w^as blowing full upon us. My
throat was not taking kindly to the cold and the
dryness.

Looking through the flap of our canvas covering,
we saw coming towards us from the desert an
enormous pillar of sand of great height, driven
forward in the centre of a whirlwind.

Immediately tlie Arab lad made a sort of tent of

PROTECTED FROM GENII 99

the spare folds of his burnous, and, putting it over
my head, completely covered me with it, as a pro-
tection from the sand, which every Arab understands
is hurtful to the throat.

In a low voice I heard him muttering to himself,
" Hadid ! Hadid ! " repeated by AH in French as
" Fer! Fer! " (Iron ! iron !) "Fer, tu es malheureux ! "
(Iron, thou art unlucky !) the Arab boy repeating it
in his own tongue, "Hadid! za mashum ! "

The boy's explanation (which Ali translated) was
that he was warding off from us the flight of evil
genii of the desert which causes these sand storms.

These jinns — which also are responsible for water-
spouts— are supposed to have a great horror of iron,*
so that the mere mention of it renders them power-
less.

The fluting ceased, for the first instinct of the
Arab always is to cover his mouth, not alone from
the whirling sand but even from a cold wind.

For nearly half an hour we drove through this
storm, and all the time I was covered like a chick
by the mother hen. Occasionally Ali would peep
under my cosy wing, with a humorous remark, and
the face of my protector would dive down now and
then ; once he pulled up the whole burnous— it was
specially voluminous — to bring his own head into my
tent, and, to cheer me, played on his flute the merry
dance tune which is always heard in the cafes where
there is native dancing.

* Onp of the Suras of the Koran (Ivii) is ontilled " Iron." " Diro
evil rcsideth in it, as well as advantage to mankind " — seeming al;--o
to suggest that by its occult power " God may know who assistoth
Tlim and His apostles in secret " (verse 25). Adam is said to havt
brought with him from Paradise five things made of iron — an an\il,
a pair of tongs, two hammers, and a needle. Possibly the great
usefulness of iron caused it to be venerated.

100 THE DESERT GATEWAY

Once through the storm we could see the oasis of
Sidi Okba standing out very clearly in the distance ;
and with song and flute, and light-hearted jest, our
friends again bewitched the time, so that we arrived
at the famous desert village without feeling any
irksomeness from the long drive in the old-fashioned
diligence — an ordeal which our European friends had
declared would alone kill us, even if we were fortunate
enough to escape the murderous designs of possible
Arab fellow-passengers.

We alighted, however, with alacrity, and as we
were accompanied by Ali, who is everywhere well
known, the crowd of men and children who await the
daily arrival of what is their mail conveyance, in the
hope of capturing a "tourist," melted away from us.

Our boy friend — and this is a true touch of Arab
character — having behaved with charming kindness
on the journey, now, with genial confidence, expected
me to pay the franc for his fare — which, of course,
I did without hesitation.

We turned to receive the most cordial welcome
of the Arab judge, who had come out to meet us, and
in two minutes we were all sitting outside a Moorish
cafe — the boy included — drinking coffee, as the first
sign of the hospitality which was to be lavished upon
us on this memorable day.

Sidi Okba is quite different from Biskra. It is
built all of mud in the Arab style, for there is no
French colony and no military garrison. All its
streets are very narrow, and its shops are tiny dark
holes ; but it is full of colour and brightness, because
all the commodities are spread out in the streets. And
very brilliant the fruit and vegetables, the clothing
stuffs, the red and yellow shoes, the shining kitchen
utensils, look in the blazing sunshine.

AT SIDI OKBA loi

To admit the picturesqueness of Sidi Okba one
need not omit mention — as sentimental writers do —
of the unreUeved horrors of the butchers' shops
(would that their wares were not spread out in the
streets), the pest of fiies, and the primeval lack of
sanitation, which to some squeamish people are each
and all insupportable.

For ourselves, our squeamishness in the matter of
certain primitive customs had deserted us some time
since by a sort of easy natural process, and though
we never liked the flies (we found one means of
defence, that these pests never followed us into the
shade), the butchers shops we were able to take for
granted.

The streets are thronged with Arab men and boys,
but there is less of alertness and brightness here than
in Biskra. Indeed' a distinct air of sadness prevails,
a kind of listless reflectiveness which makes the in-
habitants seem more remote and unapproachable.

Sidi Okba is the religious centre, as Biskra is
the trading capital, of the Ziban. It is the town to
which the pious Moslems from all parts of the vast
country are drawn on pilgrimage; I have even heard
it said that at one time of the year, when religious
fervour is specially stirred by the more important
observances of Islam, there are not wanting signs of
fanaticism in these serious-looking people.

Under an arcade near by in the street, and very
prominently placed, were two funeral biers. I asked
Ali if they were always kept there.

"Oh, yes," he said; "and it is right. When the
Prophet was asked what purifies and cleanses a sullied
heart, he replied, ' Remembering death and constantly
reading the Koran.'

"In a religious village like Sidi Okba these things

102 THE DESERT GATEWAY

serve to remind men of the end of life and the world
to come."

In company with the Arab judge and Ali, we
went first, of course, to the great mosque, the centre
of the town, the one cause of its being, the shrine of
one of the greatest men of Islam, in the shadow
of which men come to study and to pray — the tomb
of Sidi Okba.

This is the oldest Mohammedan building in
Africa, for it is the original burial place of that great
warrior Okba ("Sidi" is the title of "Lord"), who,
in the early enthusiasm of Mohammedanism, with a
small army, conquered, in 680, the whole of Northern
Africa from Egypt to Tangier, being eventually
killed near this spot.

He was a man of contagious courage, and one
of his passionate exclamations is preserved to this
day. As he once urged his horse into the Atlantic
surf, he cried, "By the great God, if I were not
stopped by this raging sea, I would go on to the
nations of the West, preaching the unity of Thy
Name, and putting to the sword those who would
not submit ! "

Sidi Okba began his brilliant career as the barber
of the Prophet.

All round about the mosque were rooms in which
religious teaching was being given to boys and young
men. As this teaching was entirely concerned with
the learning of the Koran for recitation, the class-
rooms seemed like so many humming nests of
hornets — a comparison which our friends suggested
as having been employed by the Prophet when he
once paid a surprise visit in the night to his people,
and, to his delight, found them repeating prayers.

In the wall at one end of the mosque there were

STUDENTS AT THE MOSQUE 103

several small doors, just large enough for a human
being to creep through, about five feet from the
ground. These, AH told us, were the lodging-places
of students and pilgrims; and, in answer to his
knocking, one of the doors was opened, and a youth
peered out from the cupboard in which he had his
lodging, and returned the pious greetings of our
friends.

The precincts of the Moslem mosque, especially
when, like this one, it is an object of pilgrimage, are
always regarded as the resting-place for strangers
and travellers ; and it is an important point in the
religious life of Islam to visit the tombs of great
men to claim an interest in their intercessions.

As at other great tombs, there are endowments at
Sidi Okba for students and pilgrims, and the leaving
of legacies is believed to put one in good favour
with the saint.

In the old days of warfare, when most of the men
of a village like this would at times be called to
battle, a certain number would be left behind "that
they may diligently instruct themselves in their
religion, and may admonish their people when they
come back to them, that they may take heed to
themselves." *

In the first days every healthy man went to war,
with the result that the study of religion was entirely
neglected, hence this rule became necessary to keep
alight the fire of religious zeal ; and it would be in
such rooms about the mosque as we saw at Sidi Okba
that these men would study.

Having put slippers over our boots — lent us by a
man at the door — while our Arab friends put off their
baboosh and walked in stockinged feet, we entered

* Sura ix, 123.

104 THE DESERT GATEWAY

the sacred precincts of the mosque, a large covered
court which ran round two sides of it.

A pretty Httie bird flitting freely about in the
court attracted my attentions-it was a house-bunting,
so common in the mud villages— and we were told
it was the pet of the marabout, with whom it was
very tame.

Our Arab friends took much interest in the pretty
creature, telling me that birds are often mentioned in
the Koran. In one chapter the fable of Jesus breath-
ing life into the little clay birds which He had
played at modelling with other boys is referred to.*

In another Sura there is a story of a miracle
which Abraham performed with birds to convince one
(said to be the Devil in human form) who doubted
that God could bring together at the resurrection
the several parts of the corpse of a man which lay
on the sea-shore, and had been devoured partly by
wild beasts, by fishes, and birds. t

The Arab judge told Ali (who translated for us
— it will be remembered that the judge spoke only
Arabic) that Abraham, after asking God to show
him how He would give life to the dead, took four
birds — an eagle, a peacock, a raven, and a fowl — and
minced the four bodies together, flesh and feathers,
keeping the heads uninjured in his hand. Dividing
the mass into four parts, he laid a part on four
different mountains. Then he called the birds each
by name, and immediately all the original parts flew
together and joined the heads, and the birds were
alive again.*

Moslems believe that all kinds of birds (and many,

* Sura iii, 43. + Sura ii, 262.

X One of the many echoes of the Bible to be found in the Koran
and traditions, I think. — Gen. xv, 9.

AT THE SAINT'S TOMB 105

if not all, beasts) have a language by which they
communicate their thoughts to each other, Solomon,
they say, was taught the speech of birds, and was
endowed with power over the genii — ''a clear boon
from God." *

In the interior of the mosque there is much rich
colouring, and the tomb is finer than most, and was
shown to us by our friends with much pride. Hang-
ing on the outside of the walls of this small chapel
(to give it an English name) which encloses the grave
were pictures, containing, of course, no human or
other figures, but crude representations, without any
attempt at perspective, of the sacred Kaaba at Mecca,
and of Mohammet's tomb at Medina, I believe.

This chapel, our friends told us, was only opened
on one day of the year, and on that day it would
not be wise for an "unbeliever" to enter even the
outer courts of the mosque ; to attempt to enter the
chapel itself would be death.

Burton relates that in visiting a sacred tomb the
guardian who took him made a great rattling with
the keys before opening the door, the reason being
that the souls of saints are fond of sitting together
in spiritual concourse, and, as no profane eye must
look upon the scene, it was proper to give warning
of approach. Whether that is true or not, our Arab
friends, who obviously regarded the tomb with great
veneration in other ways, betrayed not the slightest
delicacy in trying, with all an Arab's keenness of
observation, to find for us a hole through which we
might peep at the grave within, inviting us to go on
to our hands and knees in order to catch a better
glimpse of what (for we did see it) looked like a very
simple sort of sarcophagus.

* Sura xxvii, i6.

io6 THE DESERT GATEWAY

In another way, however, I was to receive proof
of their behef that the spirit of a great saint lingers
round his tomb.

After a whispered consultation apart, Ali and his
friend asked if we would care to join with them in
a simple supplication at the shrine.

We agreed, and took our place with them, side
by side, standing close to the tomb, with our faces
towards it, while they showed us exactly how to form
with our hands the cup upon our breasts.

Silently, for a minute, we prayed in that strangely
impressive place, the only occupants of that silent
church, in an attitude which was a sign of faith in
an immediate answer. A simple petition — on our
part that the God of Abraham would bless us and
our friends with all good, and on theirs that, through
the good offices of this saint, the great God would
protect us all, and that (to our wonderment), if we
did not meet again in this life, we might all meet in
Paradise ! And then together we drew the palms of
our hands down our faces to absorb the blessing of
our prayer.

It was all so simple, and so true; and, although
we felt sure of the regard of these men, so utterly
unexpected was it that they could link us to them
in their religion in this way, that we could not help
but be deeply impressed.

Afterwards the incident led to many an interesting
talk, the gist of which I will give later, when I will
try to show how such a thing could be possible as
between sincere Moslems and Christians, none of
whom thought for a moment of giving up the least
point of their own faith.

The view from the minaret of this mosque is
exceptionally fine, for the whole oasis, with its houses

ON THE MINARET 107

and palms, is in sight, while on one side stretches
away the desert, and on the other is the beautiful
yellow range of the Aures mountains.

It is especially interesting to look down from a
height like this, from the fact that so much of the
life of the people of a purely Arab town is passed
on the flat roofs of the buildings, and that the women
are allowed to walk on the roofs.

With his eyes so much quicker than ours,
Ali p)ointed out many details of family life on the
different roofs, which would have escaped us. I
noticed that he kept in the shadow and never
appeared in the openings of the minaret, from which
he could be seen himself by the people below, while
his friend had altogether excused himself from
coming up with us.

The reason for this is that the Arabs object very
strongly to anyone — especially of their own country-
men— going into the minarets, from which they can
be overlooked.

Afterwards I found that any Arab, whether
friend or guide, who went to the village mosques with
us would always, on some pretext, refrain from going
up into the minarets. It is no uncommon thing, they
said, to find that some mysterious person below has
flung a stone at an Arab appearing in a minaret,
and in some parts bullets are not unknown. So
thorough is this dislike that in some parts of the
Arab world a blind muezzin is preferred, and cases
are known of blindness having been pretended by a
man who thought he might get the office.

The muezzin was an office instituted by the
Prophet, one of the most faithful of his early followers
named Bilal, an Ethiopian, who had a fine voice,
being the first man to be employed to summon, from

io8 THE DESERT GATEWAY

an eminence, the worshippers to prayer. Mohammet
is reported to have said, "The callers to prayer may
expect Paradise, and whoever serves in the office for
seven years shall be saved from hell-fire." He must
stand, when he calls, with his face towards Mecca,
with the points of his forefingers in his ears. The
call must under no circumstances be recited by an
unclean person, a drunkard, a madman, or a woman.

Leaving the mosque, we were now ready for the
Arab lunch to which we had been invited.

The judge had previously gone home to see that
everything was prepared for our reception, and when
we arrived at the door we had a very cordial welcome ;
and, while the kous-kous was being prepared, we
were taken to our host's garden of fig and palm trees,
where another charming young Arab, who was to
join the party at lunch, was awaiting us.

"What will you drink? Water! You must not
drink the water if you are not quite strong, as it
comes from a mountain stream, and not from a well,
like that of Biskra, so it is not good for Europeans
who are at all delicate. Wouldn't I have wine?"
The judge had come to me in the garden to ask.

This was the question which led me to a faux pas.
I was very thirsty, the dry wind having parched
my throat. I never drink wine, but it occurred to
me, in an unfortunate moment, that if I must drink,
the safest thing to take would be the simple wine of
the country. Forgetting for a moment that, although
the Mohammedan does not drink wine, his sense
of hospitality would lead him to get some for a guest,
however he might detest it himself, I said "Yes! "

At last we were summoned to the feast, which,
as the day was now fine, was served on a green patch
of ground in the garden near the door of the house.

WHERE IS OUR HOSTESS? 109

Here a cloth was spread on the grass, round which
we seated ourselves, a wooden spoon being handed
to eacli one of us by an Arab servant — a man, of
course — who then went into the house and brought
out a large steaming dish, and placed it in the centre
of our circle. The dish itself was of crockery, for
it is unlawful for an Arab to eat out of anything of
the nature of a silver or gold vessel.

I must mention here that we had not been invited
to go over the threshold of the house (we had entered
the garden by a door in the mud wall), and so had
not met the wife and daughters of our host. Not
knowing us as well as Ali did, he could not intro-
duce us to them, and in any case the presence of Ali
and the other Arab friend would have been enough
to keep them strictly within doors.

What seemed to us the least agreeable restriction
upon us with regard to the ladies of the family was
that we were not able, unless we committed a rude-
ness to our host, even to ask about their welfare in
any way, although we quite well knew that all the
morning they must have been working very hard in
preparing this meal for our entertainment.

Of course, when the meal had begun, we knew
our last chance of seeing them was gone, for in
no circumstances w-ould an Arab woman venture to
eat with a general party, for she may not even sit
down to food with her own husband and sons without
a very urgent invitation.

The steaming dish proved to be a thick brown
potage, in which the Arabs delight, and which they
pepper so much as to make it almost unbearable to
English throats; and, as the point of this meal was
that It was to be purely x'\rab, no modification had
been made for our benefit. Great was the delight of

no THE DESERT GATEWAY

Ali and his friends at our spluttering over the first
mouthful, which, when once swallowed, seemed to
prepare the way, so that we were able to partake of
what was a really delicious soup without further
tears.

Having, of course, no plates, we all dipped into
the general dish. There was a neatness, a reserve,
and a daintiness about the way this was done by the
Arabs that robbed this method of eating of every
sign of rudeness.

After this doubly-hot soup I was wondering how
we could cool our English throats, when the servant
placed beside me a bottle of vin ordinaire. By this
time I had realised that I had made a mistake in
manners, but decided that it would be best now to
take a little of the wine without comment. As I
poured some into my glass I noticed the slight
instinctive movement of the young Arab who sat on
my right, as he drew back his burnous, lest a drop
of the forbidden liquid should splash upon him. I
then put the bottle out of sight on the ground behind
my back.

We had imagined that kous-kous was a single
dish, and that the Arabs lived almost entirely upon
its one or two ingredients, but we were to learn that
it consists- — on ceremonial occasions — of three or even
more courses.

The soup having been removed, a smaller dish
of an entirely different nature was brought in. It
contained a small amount of meat, cut up into little
pieces, fried egg, also cut up, and — to my special
gratification — a great many large raisins, the whole
being prepared with olive oil, and spiced quite mildly
and pleasantly.

Having retained our spoons, we again sat up close

OUR FIRST KOUS-KQUS m

to the dish and dipped in, our host and Ali pointing
out deHcate morsels and laughingly urging us to
take them.

Ali, who was sitting on the other side of the
circle, away from me, seeing my glass was empty,
urged me to have more wine.

Turning for the bottle, there was delighted laugh-
ter at my surprise in finding that it had vanished.

Looking to Ali for explanation, he said, to the
further delight of his friends :

"Sir, Sidi Okba does not like to see a good man
drinking wine, and so he has taken it ! "

Of course, I acquiesced in the saint's good offices,
asking my wife — ^in English — if she had any idea of
the means by which the great Sidi had performed
the vanishing trick, only to find that, although she
was sitting in the best place for observation, she had
seen nothing of it.

The kous-kous proper now appeared, the national
dish which is prepared daily in every house and tent
in Arab lands. The name of this preparation is on
every tongue; the beggar daily craves a sou to buy
a portion of it, the well-to-do make all their engage-
ments converge towards that magic hour at sunset
when a silence falls upon every community as men
leave their occupations to sit round the steaming pot
containing it.

To-day we had a huge piled-up dish, the sight
of which, after the two previous courses, almost
dismayed us.

The great round basin had been first filled with
a granulated semolina steamed until soft and free
from liquid; in this, seasonable vegetables, cooked
separately, had been placed ; over the top was a layer
of small white nuts, also steamed or boiled until

112 THE DESERT GATEWAY

soft, and on the top of all were laid chops of boiled
mutton.

The Arabs hailed the appearance of this course
with joy. Our host helped himself first, and as Ali
took a huge chop by the bone end into the fingers
of his right hand he explained to us that he was
eating much to-day, because on the journey home
we should face the cold wind. "If I do nothing and
am warm, I eat little."

It is difficult for Europeans, at first, to realise that
it is an act of truest politeness on the part of an Arab
to help himself to all food, and to eat, before serving
his guests; but, as Ali afterwards explained, the
intention of this is to show that he is offering his
friends only what he esteems highly himself. In
some cases the question of poison would not be
absent, and then the custom gave confidence. From
a similar motive he always enters a room before
guests — to show that he will not ask you to go where
he hesitates to go himself.

When they had each taken a chop in their
fingers, we did the same ; and I wish I could say
we ate with anything like their daintiness, although
we, using both hands, had the left one free to dip
into the bowl, while they, of course, had to put
down the chops when they wished to use their
spoons.

They still showed every anxiety that we should
have the choice bits of vegetable, to be found by
probing into the mass of grain, and all the time they
smilingly urged us to dig deep in order to bring up
something specially good, showing us the way to
success.

Ali now laughingly asked me if I did not want
to drink.

SIDI OKBA AND THE WINE 113

"Take your wine," he said. "Sidi Okba, after
all, does not like you to suffer from thirst."

I turned round, and there was the bottle !

The joke gave the greatest delight, which was
increased when he played it off upon me a second
time; and, notwithstanding that my wife and I were
now awake to the possibility of a repetition, we still
had not an inkling of how it was done.

I got a return for the joke a few days later. A
friend had brought from London a trick cigarette-
box for Taib, which I borrowed. When I met AH
I showed him the box full, and asked him to have
a cigarette. Closing the box, apparently in absent-
mindedness, I handed it to him. When he opened
it, it was empty.

"Ah!" I said in feigned surprise, "Sidi Okba
does not like to see a good Arab smoke."

Ali saw the joke, of course, and was greatly
delighted. His sharp eyes soon saw through the
mechanism of the trick, and I was commissioned to
send him a similar box from England on my return.

After the kous-kous we had delicious dessert. A
large plate of orange-sections, a plate of the dates
of Okba, and a bountiful supply of shelled walnuts.
It was a culmination to a meal fit for a king, and
when we had finished we gratefully joined in the
Arab grace, in which thanks were ascribed to Allah.

The Arabs held the dish with both hands while
they said grace, and then the servant poured out for
them the one sole drink of water which it is their
invariable custom to take.

Our friends now smoked, and there settled over

our party that air of quiet reflectiveness and peace

which sustains the most enjoyable sociability without

the intervention of the spoken word. We sat there

I

114 THE DESERT GATEWAY

for a long time in the sunshine, under the flecking
shadows of the golden leaves of the vines and fig-
trees, smiling with happiness.

The appearance of coffee woke Ali to a considera-
tion of practical affairs, and he suggested that after
a short walk through the village we ought to go to
the diligence to secure our seats, for he knew that a
good number of Arabs were intending to travel to
Biskra by it that afternoon.

At the gate of the garden we said good-bye, with
most cordial thanks, to our host, whose kindliness
and hospitalit)% dispensed with such high courtesy,
had given us greatest pleasure.

He shook hands with us in the Arab way, raising
his own hand to his lips after releasing ours. It
was in this way that I noticed an agate ring he was
wearing, bearing an inscription in Arabic. It bore,
he told me, a quotation from the seven wonderful
verses of the Koran, which contain a marvellous
description of Allah, His majesty and His provi-
dence, which, through Ali, he quoted to us with
quiet dignity :

" God ! there is no God but He; the Living, the Eternal;

" Nor slumber seizeth Him nor sleep; to Him berongeth
whatsoever is in Heaven, and on Earth ! Who is
he that can intercede with Him but by His good
pleasure?

*' He knoweth what hath been before them and what
shall come after them ; and naught of His knowledge
shall they comprehend, save what He willeth.

" His Throne is extended over the Heavens and the
Earth, and the preservation of both rs no burden
to Him; and He is the High, the Mighty."*

* Sura ii, 256.

FRIENDLY "MURDEROUS THIEVES" ii5

These verses, he said, were often worn (in many
forms) by Moslems.

It is related that Mohammet's son-in-law, Ali,
heard the Prophet say in the pulpit that the person
who repeated this verse — called the Throne — after
every prayer is only prevented from entering Para-
dise by life. Whoever says it when he goes to his
bedchamber, God will keep him in safety, together
with his house and the house of his neighbour.

When we reached the diligence we found our
host and his young friend there, to see us comfort-
ably seated, and again wish us good-bye. The
vehicle was apparently already full of white-robed
Arabs, but after much discussion (the explosive
nature of the language always makes even the most
ordinary argument sound like a violent quarrel) my
wife was seated next to the driver, I was squeezed
in between the Arabs on one of the inside seats, and
Ali sat on the floor.

The return journey was only memorable for the
force and the bitterness of the wind. The amiability
of the "murderous thieves " of Arabs, and their child-
like curiosity about my camera, my rings, my watch,
my fountain pen — all of which, to their delight, I
entrusted to them without any hesitation — were no
surprise to me. How could one be afraid of men
who, at the hour of the first evening prayer, when
the driver stopped and himself alighted, all got down
to go through their devotions, with a fervour and
entire absence of self-consciousness of which in our
own worship we know little ?

Arrived safely at Biskra, we made our adieux to
Ali, with many expressions of thanks for all his good
services.

Awaiting us was the gentle Taib, who courteously

ii6 THE DESERT GATEWAY

listened to all our enthusiastic descriptions of our
excursion, but added no word of agreement or
approval.

On being pressed, he told us that he did not
think it suitable for an English lady and gentleman
to travel in the diligence.

But the gist of Taib's grievance really was that,
in going with Ali, we had deprived a guide of a
day's occupation.

From which suggestion we took the hint, both
for Ali's sake and Taib's, always in the future to
engage a guide when there was any question that
Ali might gratuitously be serving us in this capacity.
We felt that we must not subject our friends to the
enmity of anyone, for the accounts we heard of Arab
rage when once roused — and it flares sometimes in an
instant — by a supposed grievance were alarming.

The objection to the diligence for people of our
description was, too, perfectly genuine. We never
afterwards mentioned the word to Ta'ib without
exciting signs of his disapproval, and we heard that
in his quiet way he held us up in this matter to other
"patrons" as an awful warning.

CHAPTER VI

ABOUT MORTALITY AND IMMORTALITY IN THE
MOHAMMEDAN FAITH

An Arab funeral always excites great curiosity in
the minds of visitors; and on no subject is the
Moslem so reticent as on things belonging to death,
the grave, and his beliefs about a future life.

The first surprise to a European in meeting a
funeral is to see the whole cortege running to the
cemetery. Why is this? he asks. Why is the body
buried without a coffin ? Why do Arab men, who
happen to meet the funeral in a casual way (even our
guides would do this), show such anxiety to be
allowed to help in carrying the bier?

It is to answer these, and a hundred other ques-
tions, that I am writing this chapter, which is the
outcome of research as well as inquiry — the latter
from our good friends in Algeria, and the former
from books written by Moslem as well as English
and French authors.

The Arab people are in pitiful state when sick-
ness overtakes them, for, without doctor or nurse,
there seems little for them to do but to steal away,
as animals do, and quietly die. Like little children,
if they are out of health they sink into a gentle
acquiescence, refusing food and desiring to be left
alone.

Often during our winter in Biskra we came across
a melancholy figure huddled up in an out-of-the-way

"7:

ii8 THE DESERT GATEWAY

corner of the gardens, which turned out to be one of
our young friends— his animation and gay temper
all gone — ^who answered our inquiries in a whisper,
without sign of interest or hope.

The Arab boy who fluted and sang so merrily to
us on the way to Sidi Okba was one of these cases,
the more pitiful to us because we could not under-
stand even the few words he could muster up spirit
enough to speak to us.

To feel the pulse, look at the tongue, administer
quinine or some other simple remedy, and, if
possible, make such arrangements as would secure
shelter and rest, that was all it was in one's power
to do.

There are ancient medicine-men amongst the
Arabs, but they are much like the witch-doctors of
old.

If the case was one of accident, or became serious
in any way, it was open to us to ask the help of the
White Sisters, who have a small French hospital,
and are very kind to the Arabs, when they are
willing to submit — which is seldom — to their
ministrations.

The usual native remedy for wounds is butter
mixed with henna, the peel of an onion, and some
resin. If one of the old medicine-men is employed,
the fee is payable in advance, but payment for the
medicines is only made if the patient recovers; if he
dies the "doctor" cannot recover the price of the
compounds.

It was rarely, however, that we heard of the ill-
ness of the natives, so fatally quiet and submissive
to the will of Allah are they under affliction.

For some diseases they have great belief in the
hot mineral springs which abound in Africa, the

WHEN THE ARAB IS SICK 119

Hammam-es-Salahin — or hot sulphur springs near
Biskra — called by the French, Fontaine Chaude, being
looked upon as a cure for almost every disease
which is not of such a nature as to make the three-
mile journey in the rattling one-horse tramcar im-
possible.

In some cases faith is put in a pilgrimage to a
famous tomb; and, of course, they almost all have
a deep belief in the potency of the charms made up
by a favourite marabout.

Bleeding is very common, and the women are
acquainted with the use of a few simples, and use
herbs for the cleansing of wounds. As a dressing,
they sometimes use aromatic herbs, pounded and
sprinkled with salt or pepper; occasionally this may
hasten a cure, but I should imagine that sometimes
it might cause such irritation as would effectually
prevent healing, and might probably hasten dissolu-
tion.

In fevers and other severe cases the onlookers are
so petrified with their own helplessness that they do
nothing beyond tying a piece of parchment round
the patient's neck, on which verses from the Koran
are written ; giving no medicine whatever. Death, of
course, is very frequently the result of neglect.

Amputation is resorted to very rarely indeed.
There was one poor man in Biskra who had lost a
leg, but I found that he was a soldier at the time
it was cut off, and his protests were ignored by the
army doctors. He was now regarded by the Arabs
with something of aversion. They prefer death, on
religious grounds, to the chance of recovery with a
limb gone. In denying this, Lieut. -Colonel Villot
is wrong.

"The body that we hold from Allah," they say,

I20 THE DESERT GATEWAY

"does not belong to us any more than the Hfe with
which He has animated us, and we ought not to dis-
pose of one or the other. It is a sacrilege on which
our days should not depend, for they are counted
beforehand, and Allah has given to man neither the
right to abridge nor the power to increase their
number."

From which it will be seen that suicide, too, is
contrary to their belief — indeed, it is expressly for-
bidden in the Koran.* It is sinful, even, to wish
for death.

As for death, when it comes, "What does death
matter? What is written is written. If I must die
of a wounded limb, I will keep it and die as Allah
made me ! "

A pestilence is regarded as a punishment sent
from Allah ; and, from the monuments in the French
cemetery at Biskra commemorating the deaths of
soldiers who had died in two visitations of plague,
one would suppose this desert town had been
especially deserving of chatisement.

A pestilence — said Mohammet — is also an occa-
sion of martyrdom, for the Moslem who abides in
the place where it is, and dies of it, enjoys the special
reward reserved in Paradise for all martyrs. The
Moslem may not enter a place stricken w-ith the
plague, but he must not flee out of a place because
of it.

The souls of martyrs, says one of the " Fathers "
of Islam, dwell in the crops of green birds, which
have liberty to fly wherever they please in Paradise
and to feed on all the delicious fruits to be found
there.

To visit the sick is a religious duty, for the

* Sur9 iv, 33.

MUSIC FOR THE SOUL 121

Prophet said, "When a Moslem visits a sick
brother, he gathers the fruits of Paradise from the
time he leaves home until he returns."

If a man is thought to be dying, he makes his
will and appoints his executor. When the end is
near, any learned reader of the Koran is sent for
to repeat, in a distinct voice, the thirty-sixth Sura,
which was regarded by the Prophet as the heart of
the Koran. The reading of it to a dying person is
thought to give to his spirit a peaceful concentration
on holy things. Such music as the reading of this
chapter makes is said to resemble that which Allah
created for the delight of the spirit which he com-
manded to enter the body of Adam, and so it has
power to tranquillise the soul. The short Moslem
Confession of Faith is also recited by those present,
and, if possible, by the sick person. If, however,
a dying man has not strength to repeat his creed, he
may hold up the forefinger of the right hand, or it
may be held up for him, while the confession is said.

There is a beautiful passage of consolation and
comfort which is sometimes read to the sick and the
dying by friends other than the professional reciters,
as it is not prescribed. It gives praise to

" the Lord of Worlds,
Who hath created and guided me,
Who giveth me food and drink ;
And when I am sick He healeth me.

And who will cause me to die and again quicken me,
And who, I hope, will forgive me my sins in the Day

of Judgment.
My Lord ! bestow on me wisdom and join me to the just,
And give me a good name among posterity,
And make me one of the heirs of the garden of delight ;
And forgive my father, for he was one of the erring ;

122 THE DESERT GATEWAY

And put me not to shame on the day when mankind shall

be raised up,
The day when neither wealth nor children shall avail,
Save to him who shall come to God with a sound heart,
When Paradise shall be brought near the pious."*

There is a fully prescribed ceremony of washing
the dead. If the deceased, or a pious friend, has
made the pilgrimage to Mecca, and has brought back
water from the holy well of Zam-Zam there — the
identical spring from which Hagar and Ishmael
drank in the wilderness — this should be used, and the
grave-clothes should also be washed in it.

Some pilgrims to Mecca make a trade of the sale
of linen for this purpose which has been washed at
the well in Mecca, and will secure peace of soul after
death. It can always be purchased in the holy city.

Possibly at the hour of death the deceased has
swallowed a few drops of this water, which has a
brackish taste, and this would give him power to resist
the Devil, who, at the moment when a dying man is
parched with thirst, stands by and offers a bowl of
pure and sparkling water, the price of the departing
soul. A subtle temptation, indeed, in the scorching
desert !

The burial clothes are like those worn in life, but
they must be of white only, and new. Often, in
going round the market, small boys would point us
to one of the sewing-men, who was busily engaged
on clothes for a departed Arab; the funeral taking
place within twenty-four hours of death.

A coloured cloth may be spread over the bier — in
Biskra the one generally used was bright red and
green.

* Sura ;^)cvi, 77-90,

AN ARAB FUNERAL 123

No coffin is used, and the simple nature of the
bier can be seen in my photograph. On the morning
of burial, notice is sent to the men at the cemetery,
and they make a rough beginning of the grave,
which, however, is not completed until the arrival
of the cortege.

It is considered a very meritorious act to carry the
bier, and men will beg of the bearers to be allowed
to take their place for a short time. Amongst some
Moslems there is a tradition that no one should pre-
cede a corpse, as it is the office of angels to go before.
But this is not recognised at Biskra. The bearers
run to the grave, for the Prophet said — in the Tradi-
tions— that this is right, enabling the good person
to arrive soon at happiness ; if the deceased is a bad
man, it is well to put wickedness away from one's
shoulders as quickly as possible.

The funeral procession should always be on foot,
for Mohammet reproved certain men who went on
horseback : "Have you no shame, since God's angels
go on foot and you go upon the backs of quad-
rupeds ? "

To attend a funeral is regarded as a righteous
deed, and the Arabs pay great respect to the
obsequies not only of their own race, but of
Christians and Jews.

On the way to the cemetery the men chant from
the Koran. The sound of this mournful singing
when it came upon us suddenly one day from one of
the narrow lanes leading from Vieux Biskra into the
main road, by the side of which is the cemetery, was
startlingly weird.

"It is a funeral," said Taib, when we first caught
the sound; and, while I quickly adjusted my camera,
the sensitive lad turned away, his hands over his

124 THE DESERT GATEWAY

ears, so that he might not see the sad procession or
hear the mournful chant.

Arrived at the cemetery, the bier, with its burden,
is placed on the ground some distance from where
the grave has been partly dug; and by it, with his
face turned away from the grave, sits the chief
mourner, depressed and motionless.

Pitiful indeed was the figure of a father, as he
sat thus by the body of his little son, when we passed
the cemetery one day.

Some of the friends will go to the grave and help
to complete it; others will form a group by the side
of the small mosque (or kouba), and will rapidly
chant the Koran.

If the family of the deceased is rich, special
religious men will be engaged, and, by beginning
the chanting of the Koran at five different places at
the same time, the whole book will be got through.
There is great comfort to the bereaved in this service.
In what country is not the possession of ample means
some sort of alleviation on such occasions ?

Over on the other side of the cemetery a very sad
group of mourners, who have come separately, will
sit, consisting of the women of the family, who weep
and Avail, sometimes in a heartrending way — as did
the mother of this little boy — under their veils; the
while the little children, all unconscious of the mean-
ing of the tragic commotion, run in and out in play,
the most venturesome sometimes going over to the
grave to see how the work is progressing.

The grave is dug at first of double width, but
when it is a certain depth (I think about two feet)
the remaining part, being the narrow grave itself, is
made the size only of an ordinary grave. There is
thus a wide step down into the grave, and as the

THE WILL OF ALLAH!" 125

body must be laid in a hollow space, unbaked bricks
are placed across the narrow grave from this step,
and then covered with palm branches. The narrow
part of the grave must be dug on the Mecca side of
the opening, and must be of sufficient depth for a
person to sit upright in it.

The primitive nature of all the arrangements is
shown by the fact that more than once I saw a
person who was helping to dig a grave, being
uncertain of the exact proportions, run over to the
body, unwind one end of his turban, and take
measurements with it, not, of course, completely
baring his head.

After the chanting, the people seat themselves on
the ground and raise their hands in silent prayer on
behalf of the soul of the deceased. Then a friend,
addressing the chief mourner — who has come up to
the group from his lonely vigil — says, "It is the will
of Allah ! " to which he replies, " I am well pleased
with the will of Allah ! " Permission is then given
by him to the friends to retire : "There is permission
to depart ! "

The procession now goes with the body to the
grave, if the signal (sometimes a call) has been given
that it is ready. Three or four men stand down on
the step and take the body, which they place in the
grave with their hands, the head to the north, and
on its side so that the face is turned towards Mecca,
the right palm beneath the right cheek. All the
bands of the clothes are loosed, to make freedom of
movement possible. At this point an angel, it is
believed, gives the deceased notice of the coming of
the two examiners.

After the burial the people recite the first vSura
of the Koran in the name of the deceased :

126 THE DESERT GATEWAY

" Praise be to God, the Lord of all creatures!
The most merciful, the King of the Day of Judgment !
Thee only do we worship, and to Thee do we cry

for help !
Guide Thou us in the right way.
In the way of those to whom Thou hast been gracious,
The way of those with whom Thou art not angry,

and who go not astray."

When they have gone forty paces from the grave
they repeat the Sura, for at this moment they believe
two angels of a terrible appearance, named Monker
and Nakir, come to examine the departed as to his
faith and life, for which purpose the deceased comes
to life again, and is commanded to sit up in the
hollow space provided.

If the answers are satisfactory, the body is suffered
to rest in comfort and peace, for the grave will
magically expand in length and breadth, and a light
will be given for the grave, and as they depart the
angels will say, "Sleep ! "

If wicked and faithless, the angels will beat him
(on the temples with iron maces, it is thought by
some) till he roars out so loudly that every living
thing — except men and genii — can hear him from
east to west.

The angels then press the earth on the corpse,
and it is believed (in a figurative sense, say many,
chiefly of the cultured class to which our friend AH
belongs) that the sins become live, venomous beasts,
which trouble the deceased until the Resurrection.

During this time the mourners are engaged in
distributing food to the poor, as a propitiatory offer-
ing to God, in the name of the deceased. At intervals
the men and lads go to the tombs of marabouts near

A BEAUTIFUL PRAYER 127

by and kneel in silent prayer with an apparent in-
tensity of devotion and fervour. I wondered if they
were using the beautiful prayer which Burton heard
used before the tomb of the Prophet :

"O Allah! O Safeguard of the Fearful, and
Defender of those who trust in Thee, and Pitier of the
weak, of the poor and the destitute ! Accept us, O
Beneficent ! And pardon us, O Merciful ! and receive
our penitence, O Compassionate ! and have mercy
upon us, O Forgiver ! For, verily, none but Thou
canst remit sin ! Of a truth, none but Thou alone
knowest the hidden, and veilest man's transgressions !
Veil Thou our offences, and pardon our sins, and
broaden our breasts."

On the third day it is usual for relatives to visit
the grave and to recite selections from the Koran ;
when there is wealth, learned men are again engaged
to recite the whole book.

Mourning is restricted to three days, during which
friends and relatives must visit and console the
bereaved family and offer up prayers for the dead.
A widow must mourn for four months and ten days.
It is the duty of mourners to abstain from perfumes,
and not to wear ornaments; the garments they wear
must be old and faded.

Vocal lamentation and immoderate weeping for
the dead arc forbidden by the Prophet, but are never-
theless a common custom amongst all Moslems. I
saw a group of women at the cemetery at Biskra in a
very paroxysm of loud weeping, and on another day
I heard distinct wailing.

Mohammet said, " Whatever is from the eyes
(tears) and whatever is from thr heart (sorrow) are
from G(jd ; what is from the hands and tongue is

128 THE DESERT GATEWAY

from the Devil. Keep yourselves and your women
from wailing, which is the noise of the Devil."

The examination in the grave is suggested (though
not plainly ordered) in the Koran ; there is an express
warrant, however, for it in a tradition of Mohammet,
and at Biskra it is firmly held. One sect denies it,
but all Moslems believe that the dead undergo some
punishment in the grave, whether they are believers
or infidels.

A curious point about the examining angels is
that they are said — as a feature of their repulsive
appearance — to have blue eyes. I could not under-
stand this until I found that the hatred of blue or
grey eyes has been traditional amongst Moslems
since the Prophet's day.

In Sura xx of the Koran he makes Allah say,
"We will gather the wicked together on that day (the
Resurrection) having grey eyes " * — the idea of the
word translated grey being "leaden," or grey to
greyish-blue.

Almost every Arab has brown eyes, and any
deviation from this colour is pointed out as remark-
able. In Biskra we met only one Arab with blue
eyes, a fact to which Ali at once called our attention.
This deviation from the national type appears more
often amongst the Kabyles.

It is stated that this hatred arose from the fact
that the early enemies of the Arabs, the Greeks,
usually had blue eyes. For the same reason, red hair
is hated. Of a person they abominate the Arabs will
say, "He has a black liver, blue eyes, and red
whiskers." It is curious that with us to say a man
has a white liver is a term of opprobrium.

* The word may also mean " dull " eyes, " squint-eyed." or
" blind " of a suffusion.

THE GRAVEYARDS 129

The graveyards are much neglected; indeed, one
of the Moslem sects think it meritorious to neglect
their graves, believing it to be in accordance with
the wishes of the Prophet. The erection of tombs
with baked bricks or with mortar is forbidden, and
also the placing of inscriptions. At Biskra the graves
are made strictly according to the general belief of
what is permitted — a mound of mud, like a camel's
back, with unbaked bricks set at the head.

In some places — Algiers, for instance — inscrip-
tions on headstones are put up, and even in Biskra
the graves of marabouts are made of plaster, and,
unlike the mounds, are kept in repair. At one end
of them a hollowed cone is made, and in this, on
Fridays, candles are lighted and incense burned.

On some of the graves — there are sadly too many
of these — two bricks are placed on end, leaning
together, indicating that a woman has died in child-
birth. Poor women I In this land of neglect and
suffering their natural burdens are more than
doubled. It was evidence of a kind heart in the
Prophet, I think, that he promised to every woman
dying in this way those special rewards of a martyr
to which I have previously referred, so that it has
become a glorious death, and is even envied.

An Arab cherishes the idea of being buried in
the same place as his fathers. On the field of battle
Arab soldiers have been seen to expose themselves
to a murderous fire in order to bring away their dead
for burial.

Many and curious are the beliefs of Islam about
immortality. There is a state between death and
the Resurrection into which men enter when their
souls have been separated from their bodies by
Azrael, the angel of Death, who performs this office

J

130 THE DESERT GATEWAY

with gentleness to the good and violence to the
wicked.

Much discussion has taken place amongst
Moslems as to the resurrection of the body, some
believing that only the spirit will appear on the Great
Day. The usual opinion is that both body and soul
will rise. The Prophet taught that, while the earth
may absorb most of the body, there is one bone
that will be reserved — the coccyx, the last bone of
the spinal column — on which the whole frame will
be rebuilt. Even failing this, however, the Koran
teaches clearly that the God who made man can re-
make him. However, in one tradition Mohammet is
said to have taught that this bone will remain in the
earth as seed, and after a forty days' rain, which
Allah will send, all human bodies will spring forth
from the coccyx like plants.

The Day of Resurrection is known alone to
Allah, but there are various signs which must be
fulfilled before the time is ripe for the final judgment,
all of which are enumerated. They are particularly
interesting to Christians and Jews, as they echo much
that is suggested both in the Old and New Testa-
ments and in the Talmud.

There will be an appearance of the Beast, the
coming of Antichrist, certain wars, eruptions, odori-
ferous winds, and so on. Also it is firmly believed
that Jesus Christ will descend again to the earth,
near Damascus. He will destroy Antichrist, and
under Him there will be peace and plenty on the
earth; all men will dwell together in love and unity,
and the lion will indeed lie down with the lamb, and
a little child shall literally lead them. At His death,
Jesus will be buried in the grave reserved for Him,
close to Mohammet and his friends at Medina »

ANIMALS IN PARADISE 131

The Resurrection will include genii as well as
men; and also animals. Those animals, say some
writers, which have suffered from horned brutes will
take vengeance on their enemies until satisfaction is
given to the injured. The Creator will then com-
mand them to return to dust, at the sight of which
wicked men will exclaim, "Would to Allah that we
might become dust, alas ! "

For the genii, according to some tenets, a similar
fate is reserved ; while others claim that the believing
genii will receive a higher favour than being turned
into dust, a place near to Paradise being assigned
to them, where they will be happy, although not
admitted to heaven itself. It is universally held that
the wicked and unbelieving genii will be punished
in hell. The Moslems believe that certain animals
— a dog is particularly mentioned * — will be taken
to Paradise.

The first direct sign of the Resurrection will be
the blast of a trumpet, which will be sounded by
Israfil, three times — the blast of consternation, of
examination, of resurrection. Terrible indeed will
be the first blast, for all the earth shall be troubled
and tremble at it, although Allah will exempt some
souls from the terror of that day. At the second
blast all creatures in heaven and earth, whom Allah
does not exempt, shall die, nothing surviving except
the Creator alone, with Paradise and Hell, and their
inhabitants, and the Throne of Glory. The Angel
of Death, having finished his work, shall be the last
to die.

After an interval of forty years the last sound of
the trumpet shall be heard. Israfil shall blow it,
and, with Gabriel and Michael, call all men to judg-

* Sura xviii, 17.

132 THE DESERT GATEWAY

ment. While mankind is waiting for judgment, the
wicked will suffer appalling heat from the nearness
of the sun, but the good will stand in the shade of
the Throne.

At length God will appear, coming in the clouds,
surrounded by angels, for the Judgment, with the
Prophet as Intercessor. The books will be produced
in which the guardian angels of men have recorded
their actions ; and the prophets who have been sent
to warn and admonish mankind will be asked to bear
witness against those who have rejected their message,
the chief prophets being Noah, Abraham, and Jesus.
Then every person will be examined as to his life,
the chief points of inquiry being those which were
stated by Mohammet — how they spent their time;
by what means they acquired their wealth, and how
they spent it; of their bodies, how they exercised
them ; of their talents, of intellect, and opportunities
of study, what use they made of them.

" God will be swift in taking an account," says the
Koran many times, and Moslems believe those words
to indicate that this part of the judgment will be
quickly over.

A book will be delivered to each person, in which
all the actions of his life have been entered. The
good will take their book in the right hand with great
pleasure, but the bad will be obliged to extend the
left hand to take the book, when that hand will be
bound behind their backs, the right hand being tied
up to their necks.

There are many curious beliefs about the details
of the Judgment, especially those concerning the two
colossal scales in which men's actions are weighed.

The Judgment ended, the souls who have deserved
Paradise will go to the right hand, and those who are

THE BRIDGE TO PARADISE i33

destined for hell to the left. But all must pass
through the strange trial of crossing al Sirdt, the
Bridge. The Bridge crosses over the pit of Hell, and
is described as being finer than a hair and sharper
than the edge of a sword.

One sect of Islam (the Motazalites), whom one
might call the " New Theologists," reject this and
other articles of faith which put a great strain on their
credulity; but the Arabs at Biskra believe implicitly
in the Bridge, as I proved again and again in my
questions, saying that their Prophet had told them of
it, and he never lied.

On each side the Bridge is beset with briars and
hooked thorns. In spite of every difficulty and ob-
stacle, the good will pass with ease over it, directed
into Paradise by a bright light. In darkness (for the
light will be extinguished) the wicked will struggle in
vain to walk along this perilous way, and when they
have fought with its difficulties and tried to free them-
selves from its entanglements they will fall headlong
into Hell, which is gaping beneath.

Those who have safely passed the Bridge will,
before entering Paradise, refresh themselves by drink-
ing at the great and beautiful lake of the Prophet,
which is supplied from one of the streams of Heaven.
The water is pureness itself and of fragrant odour
(sweeter than musk), and round it are set as many
cups as there are stars in the firmament. Those who
drink of it shall never thirst again.

On entering Heaven the saints will say : " We
take up our abode at the command and through the
mercy of Allah alone, who ruleth all things, past and
future and present, and who is not forgetful of the
works of His servants."

Much has been written about the materialistic and

134 THE DESERT GATEWAY

sensual Paradise which Mohammet has pictured in
the Koran. There is indeed a great deal to justify
this, especially if to all that the Prophet says about
it in the Book the particulars given in the Traditions
are added. The magnificence of its furnishing, as
well as its luxurious amenities, are such as appeal to
the Arab and other Eastern races, and must always be
congenial to an unenlightened and carnal generation.
The fruits grown there are luscious and abundant;
the very stones are pearls and jacinths; the ground
is made of finest wheat flour, scented with musk or
(as others say) saffron.

There are gorgeous buildings of gold and silver,
and the trunks of the trees are of gold, the boughs
bending spontaneously to the hand of those who
would gather their fruits. Any fruit desired is im-
mediately presented, or, if flesh is chosen, birds ready
dressed will be served without delay. Streams of
water will flow on every hand ; as well as rivers flow-
ing, some with milk, some with honey, some with
wine.

Fountains also are promised, their pebbles of
rubies and emeralds, their beds of musk ; the climax
being reached by a description of certain special
gardens of pleasure, numbering at least a hundred,
all offering different degrees of felicity, the very
meanest of which would be entirely overwhelming in
its delights had not Mohammet declared that in order
to qualify the blessed for their full indulgence and
enjoyment Allah would increase the abilities of each
soul a hundredfold.

A great deal of fun, too, has been made of the
houris of Paradise, the beautiful damsels with black
eyes, who will wait upon the faithful there. Of
purest creation, these fragrant and lovely creatures

HOURIS OF PARADISE i35

are of such modesty that they are secluded from
public gaze in pavilions of hollow pearls.

Beautiful youths, too, will attend to the wants of
the saints. And two angels will meet them at the
gate of Paradise, bearing the presents sent by Allah ;
one of these angels will clothe them with garments
of Paradise, and the other will put a ring on their
fingers, bearing an inscription referring to the happi-
ness of those in Heaven.

The suggestion of a great deal of this voluptuous-
ness is found alone in the Traditions, and although it
must not be supposed that the Paradise of the Koran
is one of spiritual happiness to beings who have out-
grown sensual and earthly enjoyments, there are sug-
gestions in the Book that the highest joy of Paradise,
reserved for the purest souls, shall be to be nearest
the Throne of God :

" On that day shall faces beam with light
Looking towards their Lord,"*

I think it is not claiming too much to say that
Mohammet may have caught a glimpse of the truth
that spiritual joy might raise those who had attained
to the highest state from the need of material in-
dulgence. Those " who approach near unto the
divine presence " shall drink water only, pure and
unmixed, while others, on a lower plane, drink wine.f
It is reserved for those whose lives have made them
examples of piety and virtue to "approach near unto
God " :

" They that were foremost on earth — the foremost still.
These are they who shall be brought nigh unto God,
In gardens of 4elight. " |

* Sura Ixxv, 22, 23. t Sura Ixxxiii, 28. + Sura Ivi, 10.

13(3 IHE DESERT GATEWAY

The great punishment shall be "to be shut out
from their Lord on that day."* One of the joys of
Paradise shall be that of peace; "there shall be no
vain discourse, but only the salutation, * Peace I
Peace I '"t of which Carlyle said "the thing all
rational souls long for, and seek vainly here below as
the one blessing."

Not only is peace promised in Paradise, but per-
fect amity and brotherhood, which to the Arabs will
be a great gift, for they cherish friendship and simple
habits of sociability very dearly.

To turn one's back upon a person is a mark of con-
tempt and indignity quite as conclusive, if not as
violent, as to strike a man on the head, especially
with a slipper or a pipe stick. To strike him with a
whip would mean nothing in comparison. In Para-
dise, as a sign of perfect social happiness, they shall
sit on couches face to face. The angels' greeting as
they enter into the bliss of heaven will be :

" ' Enter ye therein in peace, secure ' —

And all rancour (grudges) will we remove from their

bosoms.
They shall be as brethren, sitting over against one
another on couches." +

I have often seen it stated that but for the houris
there is no mention in the Koran of women in the
Moslem Paradise ; its joys for men are described, but
no word is written of the pleasures it may have in
store for women. This is so, and the fact is a strik-
ing revelation of the attitude of the Prophet's mind
towards women ; in this I imagine he was no whit
better, or worse, than any other Arab writer of his
time. It must be remembered, too, that the Arab

* Sura Ixxxiii, 15. + Sura Ivi, 25. t Sura xv, 46, 47.

FATE OF MOSLEM WOMEN i37

man trains himself to refer to womenfoll<: as little
as possible. But, notwithstanding this, it is made
perfectly clear all through the Koran that those
who do right, whether male or female, shall inherit
Paradise.

This point is so obvious that if it were not for the
almost universal misapprehension which I have found
on the subject of the women of Islam and their
religion, I would not do more than mention it. But
when I say that I heard a man with a reputation as a
theological scholar state in Biskra that women were
not so much as mentioned in the Koran, I think I
may be justified in insisting that there is abundant
proof to the contrary. The following, one of many
passages to the same effect, is conclusive :

" Truly the men who resign themselves to God, and
the women who resign themselves, and the believing
men and the believing women, and the devout men
and the devout women, and the men of truth and the
women of truth, and the patient men and the patient
women, and the humble men and the humble women,
and the men who give alms and the women who give
alms, and the men who fast and the women who fast,
and the chaste men and the chaste women, and the
men and women who oft remember God : for them
hath Allah prepared forgiveness and a rich re-
compense." *

The faithful Moslem is charged to protect and
succour believing women, f and it is distinctly pro-
mised by the Prophet "to those who have believed,
whose offspring have followed them in the faith, will
we again unite in Paradise their offspring " — a
message revealed to him by the Spirit in answer to

* Sura xxxiii, 35. t Sura Ix, 10.

138 THE DESERT GATEWAY

his first wife's question as to the fate of her children
who had died. I have already mentioned that certain
women will obtain the special rewards reserved for
martyrs.

Between heaven and hell there is a wall or parti-
tion broad enough for certain beings to dwell upon
it, but not broad enough to prevent the inhabitants of
the regions on both sides from talking to each other.
The writers of Islam greatly differ as to who are the
beings consigned to this wall, called al Ardj. Some
say it is a place of honour for prophets and patriarchs
or the most highly meritorious of the martyrs. This
does not seem probable in view of the special delights
provided in the gardens of Paradise for those entitled
to the greatest reward.

Others think it is a place reserved for those whose
good and evil deeds are exactly equal, so that they
deserve neither reward nor punishment. On the
wall they will be able to perform such good works in
praise and worship and adoration of Allah that they
will eventually be admitted to Heaven.

Others hold the curious belief that on this wall
will be found those sons who have gone to war with-
out their parents' leave. For going to war and losing
their lives for Islam they are martyrs, but for dis-
obedience to parents they must in justice be punished,
this being a serious fault with a Moslem. And so
while they lose early admission to Heaven, they also
escape hell. But as there are seven heavens, of differ-
ing degrees of bliss, one might suppose that the first
heaven would be a suitable place in which to start the
work of qualification for the upper heavens and for
Paradise itself.

There now remains the question of the Mohamme-
dan hell, in picturing the woes and the torments of

THE LARGER HOPE i30

which the imaginativeness of the East has left
nothing unexpressed.

I will not enter upon the harrowing details. Suf-
fice it to say that, as there are seven heavens so there
are seven hells, prepared for different classes of the
banished, the lowest hell being reserved for hypo-
crites who falsely professed some religion when on
earth. There will be the torments not only of heat
but of cold; the greatest misery will be that of
despair.

But true believers in God and His Prophet will, at
the intercession of Mohammet, be released from tor-
ment and admitted into heaven after a full expiation
of their sins, tradition putting the period of deten-
tion at no less than 900 years and no more than
7,000.

On leaving hell the redeemed ones will wash
away all trace of that awful region by immersion in
"The River of Life," from which they will emerge
whiter than pearls.

The Devil, called by Mohammet Eblis, or Despair,
does not differ much from the Evil One of the Bible.
He was once one of those angels nearest the presence
of God. He fell because when God created Adam
he refused to pay homage to man at the command of
the Creator.

From all this it will be seen that mankind are to
be rewarded or punished hereafter in the most exact
degree according to their conduct in this present
life — the scales shall weigh them with a justness,
taking note of infinite detail in their good as in their
bad deeds.

But here again Mohammet seems to have caught
a glimpse of a nobler conception of justice than that
of mere weight and measure. All through the Koran

140 THE DESERT GATEWAY

there are faint flashes of illumination from those
grander truths which are to be found ahead of the
revelation which Mohammet experienced — of mercy
and compassion, of self-sacrifice, and of an infinite
pity and tenderness towards those whose earthly lives
are set on so low a plane as severely to limit their
opportunities of attainment and to preclude them
from the chance of happiness.

It is a crude expression of one of these beautiful
truths in the teaching of Christ to declare, as
Mohammet does, that the poor of this life will enter
Paradise five hundred years before the rich. When
he had a vision of the seventh heaven as it was to be,
he saw that many more of the poor were there than of
the rich.

CHAPTER VII

ABOUT ISLAM AND ITS PROPHET

There are two things which the average man knows
about the Prophet of Islam : that his coffin is sus-
pended between heaven and earth, and the saying
that "if the mountain won't come to Mohammet,
Mohammet must go to the mountain." As the
Prophet never had a coffin, and no Moslem I ever
knew had heard of the mountain, this knowledge
seems to amount to less than nothing, or perhaps
equals that of Mrs. Skewton, who declared that the
wicked Turks said, "There is no What's-his-name
but Thingummy, and What-you-may-call-it is his
prophet ! " — which Dickens himself thought, quite
erroneously, was a revision of a quotation from the
Koran.

And yet the life of Mohammet has influenced more
human souls than any other, save one. There are
170,000,000 of Asiatic and 60,000,000 of African
Moslems, in addition to the Moslems of Europe. In
South-Eastern Europe, excluding Russia, there are
3,500,000 souls of this faith. T<he Mohammedan sub-
jects of Great Britain are more in number than those
of any other Power.

Islam means the Baptism of God, and is the name
given by the Prophet himself to the religion he
founded. While the whole world outside Islam
speaks of Mohammedanism, that name is never used
by the people themselves. They rebut the name as

141

142 THE DESERT GATEWAY

the apostle did who reproved those who said, "I am
of Paul, I am of Cephas, I am of Apollos." So
entirely is this religion the outcome of the mind of the
one man, however, that it is not surprising that what
was at first a nickname (for to label Islam with the
first name of its Prophet is almost as though one
should call the Wesleyans "Johnites") has grown
into one title by which alone the religion is
designated.

Mohammet ben Abdallah (ben meaning "son
of "), to give him his full name, was born a.d. 569 or
570, at Mecca, in Arabia, in poor circumstances,
but with connections of some influence, who in later
life were able to give him protection which possibly
saved him from assassination, and certainly from
outlawry, more than once.

Arabia in those days was a turbulent, barbarous
country, whose fierce and warlike tribes had resisted
the approach of other Powers which had subdued
surrounding countries. The civilising influences of
Europe failed to make any impression on Arabia :
Rome tried to administer it and failed; Byzantium
was content to keep it at arm's length.

This peninsula, cut off by the sea on three sides,
and on the fourth by a desert, although it was almost
as great in area as India, eventually lost its attraction
for the Western world, and so long as its fierce tribes
did not trouble the gr^at trade marches at the North,
it was left alone.

Tenacious of old customs and traditions, ferocious
in guarding their tribal rights, these people had
changed but little since early Bible days, when Hagar
went out into the desert with Ishmael.

In religion the Arabians had lapsed into idolatry ;
their chief temple was at Mecca, where a great many

DECENDED FROM ABRAHAM i43

strange ceremonies (some of them retained to this
day, with a fresh meaning) were performed in
worship of its idols, said to number as many as the
days of the lunar year.

One of the most cherished of all traditions of the
Arabians was, and is to this day, that the Kaaba, or
temple at Mecca, was erected by Abraham and his
son Ishmael ; and while this is scoffed at by many
writers, there are others who, like Burton, from a very
intimate knowledge of these people, have found
reason for the belief that where a tradition is held
as universally and with such depth as this, the proba-
bility is that it is based on truth, or, at any rate, that
it may be left an open question. More authentic
history places the period 993 years before Solomon's
temple, or 2,000 years before the Christian era.

On the authority of the Bible we know that some
of the Arabs were descended from Abraham through
Kedar, Ishmael's second son, but the idolatry into
which Mohammet was born was far removed from
the religion of the book of Genesis, where is written
the life of the patriarch who is declared in the Koran
to have raised the foundations of the Kaaba.*

It is always said by his followers that Mohammet
was illiterate, and, as reading and writing were not
very generally practised in his day, it is not surpris-
ing that he refers to himself as "unlettered."! The
ignorance — or half-knowledge — betrayed by every
reference in the Koran to the Jewish Scriptures and
other ancient histories seems to show that what know-
ledge he had was gained by hearsay, and not by
reading.

With his natural cleverness and quick ear he
would possibly gain a perfect knowledge of Arabic,

• Sura ii, i2i. t Sura vii, 156.

144 THE DESERT GATEWAY

as spoken at Mecca, by learning by heart and recit-
ing the songs and tribal lays in which these people
have always delighted.

We knew more than one lad in Biskra who,
although he did not write, had an apparently endless
store of Arab desert songs, and even the Kabyle
chants of the mountains, picked up by ear.

Mohammet was doubtless, as a lad, clever and
reliable, with a mind turning towards the contempla-
tion of religious things. By the time he was twenty-
five his exceptional qualities were so well known that
a wealthy widow woman of the town entrusted to him
the conduct of an important caravan to Bostra.

His management of this business was so satisfac-
tory in every way, and so profitable, that the widow
offered to marry him, and by doing so raised the
almost penniless youth into the peaceful enjoyment of
a fortune. The reward may seem disproportionate
until one remembers the risks and the dangers of such
undertakings in a wild, ungoverned country, amongst
men more full of cunning and subtle knavery than
those in any other part of the world. To manage his
own men of the caravan, to escape the daring and to
outwit the wiles of possible enemies, eventually to
dispose of the goods entrusted to him to the greatest
advantage — all this must have commended him to his
employer as a man of mark.

His union with Khadijah seems to have been a
perfect one. On the side of the woman there was the
most sublime devotion, leading to a faith which was
Mot shaken even when, later on, he claimed to have
visions from Heaven and to be chosen as the one
Prophet of God. Through all the losses and tribula-
tions which the new role entailed, she remained firm.
On the side of Mohammet there was deep respect and

FIRST WORD OF THE KORAN i45

affection, which kept him true to this one wife until
her death, ten years after the beginning of his mission
(620 A.D.)-

In these early traits we find an indication of the
qualities which account for the history of this man,
whose work was to leave such marvellous effect upon
time and upon eternity. He was a man of great
understanding of his fellow-men, of great courage,
and of perfect judgment in awaiting his opportunity,
and in the use to be made of opportunity when it
came to him. There was a remarkable simplicity in
his character, and a true appreciation of the relative
importance of mundane things, which is so often
found in the really great.

It is said that for years before Mohammet became
subject to visions he was in the habit of going away
to a retired spot in the hills to fast and give his entire
mind to reflection on spiritual things. When at last
great truths were borne in upon him, he gave himself
fervently to their deliverance. Fortune, comfort, life
itself, became nothing to him in comparison with his
mission as a Prophet of God. Before success was
anywhere in sight he put everything he had to the
hazard, and when power was within his grasp he still
taught simplicity for both himself and his followers,
commending to them those things which belong to
the eternal verities, and warning against the shams
and the delusions of life which lead men astray from
the higher path.

He was forty years of age when he received his
first experience of Revelation; the first word sent to
him was to " Recite in the Name of the Lord, Who
created man."* It is from this word — recite — that
the name of the Koran is taken. A strange physical
* Sura xcvi.

K

146 THE DESERT GATEWAY

experience came upon him. At the first convulsion
he cried to his wife, "Cover me! Cover me! " and
she spread his mantle over him. Again, in sonorous
language, a kind of rhymed prose, which always had
stirred the Arab mind, a message came to him,
brought from God by the angel Gabriel, to "Arise
and preach! Magnify thy Lord!"*

Mohammet now conceived himself to be the
Prophet whose message was to call men from idolatry
to the worship of the One True God. From this
moment he lived but to fulfil this mission and to
deliver to mankind the Book of God's word.

In most works written by Christian critics about
Mohammet it is asserted that he was an epileptic,
and that his visions were experienced during the
paroxysms of his disease. By all his followers this is
indignantly denied, and they declare that it was a
base invention of the Greeks. Even his most relent-
less enemies, however, those who accuse him of im-
posture and deceit in every stage of the role which
they declare he deliberately undertook from the basest
of motives, can find no evidence that he ever showed
the physical signs of epilepsy — such as biting the
tongue, dropping what was in the hand, or, most
important of all, the gradual degeneration of the
mind.

The briefest outline of the marvellous tw^enty years
which remained of his life after his first revelation
will suffice to enable us to arrive at some sort of
understanding of the religion which Mohammet
started.

As Carlyle said: "Here stands this man in a
majority of one ! " The whole debased, disjointed,
chaotic world of Arabia is before him, which his soul

* Sura Ixxiv, a, 3.

ABU BAKR AND OMAR i47

longs to win from a revolting worship of idols to a
nobler and better worship. For four years his
message gains scarcely any hold. His wife, after a
little explanation, believes in his mission.

We should expect to find that a man of his
character had good friends — it is said his uprightness
earned for him the name of "the Trusty" — and
Mohammet was, above all things else, fortunate in
the quality of the men who possessed his confidence.
Abu Bakr, whom he had known for two years, was an
early convert, and became the chief of his apostles.
He was a man capable of blind devotion to a friend.
In the darkest days he never questioned or looked
back. Next to his conversion, in importance to the
movement, was that of a man of quite a different
type : Omar was a man of herculean strength, of com-
pelling force of character.

Where Bakr was courteous and gentle, Omar was
commanding and determined; where the one was
compassionate and kind the other was for swift and
cruel justice, or even for vengeance, on opponents and
enemies. '* If Satan were to meet Omar," said
Mohammet, "he would get out of Omar's way."

Guided by the unerring instinct of the Prophet in
getting the best service from his followers, these two
men, by one means or another, broke through the
barriers which confined the new sect, at first a secret
society confined to one obscure family, and com-
manded the attention of the town.

An interesting fact about these two apostles shows
the remarkable faculty of the Prophet in the manage-
ment of men, and throws a sidelight on one of the
most potent of the reforms which he instituted, to the
great benefit of his own nation.

It was possibly on his return from his travels that

148 THE DESERT GATEWAY

Mohammet saw how the tribal system and the blood
feud were a cause of weakness to his country. If the
member of a clan, or any person over whom the clan
had thrown its protection, were slain, the whole clan
demanded vengeance. This led to wasteful wars and
to everlasting unrest. At this time honour had fallen
so low, or men were so beginning to taste the advan-
tages of property as to prefer them to the mere glory
of conquest, that a poet of the day taunts his con-
temporaries with preferring goods and money to
vengeance ; with accepting blood-money where men
of courage would have been satisfied only with blood.

The great idea came to Mohammet of a national
patriotism which should end these wars between sec-
tions of his own countrymen, and should make war a
national weapon to strengthen a people instead of
exhausting its resources. Not even Mohammet could
have foreseen how in this way trade would begin to
flourish, and that within a century the treasures of
practically the whole earth — from Delhi to Granada —
would be at the disposal of this people, who before had
been merely a number of separate tribes and clans,
to whom the meaning of patriotism was a dead letter.

As one means to the end of superseding the claims
of blood which led to the feuds of families and tribes,
the Prophet instituted "brotherhood," a new and
binding relationship between pairs of believers. It
was a brilliant inspiration to couple Omar with his
greatest friend and follower, Abu Bakr. The agree-
ment of these two, so widely different in tempera-
ment, was complete, and the Prophet always looked
to them for advice. His hold over the fierce and
bloodthirsty Omar was no less strong than over the
gentle Bakr. Omar asked only to be trusted and
respected by Mohammet. The Prophet once decided

POETRY OF THE KORAN i49

not to wear rich clothing, and, taking off his silken
robe, offered it to Omar, who, at the fancied slight,
burst into tears.

There was, of course, much opposition and even
violence towards the new teaching of Islam ; and if
the Prophet's uncle, Abu Talib, had not been the
head of an important clan, and, although professing
no belief in his nephew's strange teaching, had not
been willing, from a sense of family duty, to throw
over him his protection (by which injury to Moham-
met would have been revenged as done to the whole
tribe), the whole movement might have been imme-
diately stamped out by the indignant Meccans. In
using the blood-feud for his own protection while it
lasted, the Prophet again showed that practical sense
which never deserted him,.

For ten years the history of Mohammet's mission
is largely a history of discussions and debate with
Mecca. The converts argued, and sometimes
preached ; and the Prophet delivered mighty orations
burning with zeal and powerful with fiery eloquence.
All the time new revelations were being added to
the gathering Koran, the merits of which were recog-
nised even by the poets, the chief of whom admitted
himself eclipsed by one of the Suras which was nailed
up in the public place where such works were sub-
mitted to the criticism of the populace.

The people of Mecca were naturally opposed to
the new doctrines, which ran counter to their familiar
beliefs in the Gods of the Kaaba, after whom many
of them were named in gratitude for intervention, and
which also threatened, if they prevailed, to ruin the
trade of the town, subsisting largely on the needs of
visitors to the religious capital.

If the fear of a blood-feud alone prevented the

150 THE DESERT GATEWAY

extermination of Islam with the sword, the opposition
found other means of persecution. The followers of
the new sect were first kept out of the precincts of the
Kaaba, and then were harassed by an organised boy-
cott, which reduced them almost to starvation. As
long as means lasted, those who were rich, like the
Prophet, shared their abundance with the poor
brethren, until all alike were hungering. When
their sufferings became well-nigh unendurable a
certain number of them fled to Abyssinia. The
Meccan authorities demanded their extradition, send-
ing envoys to escort them back. But the King was
not easily moved, saying that before he acted he
would like to know something of this new religion.
Mohammet specially wrote a Sura for this occasion,
and when the first part of it (Sura xix) was read to
him the Negus was moved to tears, and he resolved,
in spite of all representations, never to abandon these
people. And he remained a faithful friend of Moham-
met's until his death.

In Mecca these developments caused the greatest
consternation, for an invasion was feared from these
new friends of the Prophet. Among the further
measures of suppression everything was done to
render Mohammet an outlaw. Certain of the con-
verts retired to a ravine, where they existed under a
ban for two or three years.

Under the patronage of the Negus, Mohammet
had become dangerous as a political power, for about
this time the Abyssinians had gained success in a
frontier war, which the Meccans were persuaded
would be followed by an attack on themselves. To
avoid this another attempt was made to persuade the
refugees to come home, and a compromise was sug-
gested even to Mohammet himself. In this he gave

THE ONE TRUE GOD 151

an assent — which can only be regarded as disgraceful
— to the genuineness of certain of the goddesses of
the Kaaba, against whom Islam had previously pro-
tested, as a condition that the ban were withdrawn.

What pressure was exerted which led Mohammet
into one of the worst blunders of his career can never
be known. For once he misread the men he had to
deal with of his own party ; he admitted an element
of weakness into his religious claims, and brought
upon himself such discredit as put a stop to the
advance of his cause until events of such moment
occurred as to obliterate the disgrace. The truth was
that the sufferings of his followers had tried them ;
the fire of persecution had burned out the dross from
those who were in earnest, as it had rid the camp of
those who were false or weak or mere adventurers.
The sufferings they had endured for their faith had
made it dear to them. In a burst of enthusiasm these
men declared that they would not desert their worship
of the One True God. The goddesses, with all other
idols, should still be anathema to them. Fierce must
have been the discussion, and possibly for the first
time (but not for the last) the Prophet had proof that
the firmness of his own will was equalled by that of
Omar's.

In the end he gave way ; the verses of revelation
were withdrawn.* He had, he said, been subjected
to a temptation of the Devil. The event burnt itself
into his mind; and years later, when it is possible
that his followers no longer recalled it, he returned
to his apology: "We have not sent any apostle or
prophet before thee, but when he read Satan sug-
gested some error in his reading. But God shall
make void that which Satan hath suggested. "f From

* Sura liii, 19, 20. t Sura xxii, 51.

152 THE DESERT GATEWAY

this time his denunciation of idolatry becomes sterner
and sterner.

The refugees for the most part returned to
Abyssinia, and in Mecca the position was more em-
bittered than ever, although the opponents of Islam
felt that the event had brought such discredit in
Abyssinia on the fugitives and their friends that the
danger of invasion from that quarter had passed.

This brings us to the year lo of the mission, a
year which perhaps marked the depth of the suffering
and privation of the new sect, to which sorrow at the
loss of Khadijah, the Prophet's wife, was added.
Abu Talib also died at this time, and although he
refused to the last to say the words which would have
made him a Moslem, he faithfully stood by the ties
of blood to which his nephew owed so much.

It is often said of the Arabs that they are lacking
in faithfulness and fidelity. I have myself seen so
much evidence to the contrary that I believe my many
Arab friends when they tell me that when they give
their affection not even life itself can set a limit to its
constancy. "God is not pleased with thanklessness
in His servants,"* wrote the Prophet, and in his own
life he was true to his precept that faithfulness is part
of the teaching of Allah. To the end he referred with
gratitude and love to his first wife, and to have been
a friend or protege of hers was to be sure of the kind-
ness of the Prophet. No man in this world has ever
owed more to human constancy and faithfulness than
Mohammet himself.

It is probable that the death of Abu Talib exposed
Mohammet to such unrestrained persecution that he
left for Ta'if, only to be mobbed there by the idola-
trous populace. Fortunately, at this time the sacred

* Sura xxxix, 9.

"THE FLIGHT" i53

months began, the time of truce in the Arab year,
when the tribes laid down their arms, and universal
peace and immunity from attack, whether for revenge
or robbery, was recognised — an institution which
probably had alone preserved the strength and re-
sources of these warlike and bloodthirsty people. In
spring, in the month of sowing and the increase of
animals; and in three autumn months, when the
crops would be gathered and the caravans would set
out to dispose of produce, this reign of security and
peace was observed throughout Arabia in the days of
barbarity.

Mohammet, for the time secure, returned to the
outskirts of Mecca, where the great fair was being
held, and preached his gospel of the One God. Under
a shower of clods he stood up in the market-place —
how modern it sounds, with the memory of the first
days of Wesley and of Whitfield in mind, and, later
still, of the Salvation Army ! Inspired men, who
were not to be silenced by stones, and water from
the village fire-engine, by discordant brass bands,
even by the clanging of the church bells !

At this time envoys from Yathrib (now called
Medina, the "City of the Prophet") came to offer
Mohammet the protection of their city. Before he
decided on what is called "the Flight," legend says
that he was offered many bribes from the wealthy
chiefs of his native place. But here was a rare man
who at this time had no price. Actuated, I believe,
by a passionate desire to deliver his country from
the worship of idols, to call them to a nobler worship
of the One God (an enthusiasm for this worship
possessing his own soul), and, if they were ever
willing to listen, to raise them to a higher plane of
moral worth, Mohammet was unbribable.

154 THE DESERT GATEWAY

In addition to his religious mission, I believe
Mohammet was ambitious to remove the obstacles
to a national patriotism, of which he had become
conscious, and so fit the Arabs to take their place
as a powerful people by the side of the other nations,
whose prosperity and greatness he had seen in his
early travels. In his darkest hour, when ignominy
and failure met him on all sides, he refused to accept
any terms that would turn him aside from his great
mission, sincerely believing, I think, that he had
been accredited by Heaven.

Many conjectures have been made as to the
reasons which prepared the ground for Mohammet's
reception at Medina. It is a city about 250 miles
to the north of Mecca, and ten days' journey, of a
most desirable situation for the fertility of its soil
and its supply of water. Unlike Mecca, it favours
the cultivation of the palm. But its most important
point, in the sequel, proved to be that it lay in the
main route of the caravans going down to Mecca.

A considerable part of its inhabitants were Jews,
who claimed descent from settlers there in the time
of Moses. It is probable that a somewhat garbled
version of Mohammet's teaching had previously
reached the chief men of the place, and that while
certain Arabs had been influenced in his favour by
hearing him preach at Mecca, the Jews were not
against him owing to their belief that he worshipped
the Israelitish God, was the enemy of idolatry, and
believed in the resurrection of the dead. A small
number of enquirers had sought out Mohammet in
Mecca to ask as to the teaching of his religion and
its practices, and then returned to Medina, having
given a promise to the Prophet to abstain from
infanticide (the burying of girl infants alive), theft,

WELCOME TO MEDINA i55

adultery and lying, and to refer to him for further
guidance. This party grew to forty, and was always
spoken of as the Helpers; these men, with the help
of a missionary sent by Mohammet, spread their
faith, and in their early enthusiasm broke many
of their idols. In another year their number had
increased to seventy, and it was these, at a meeting
to consider the straits to which their Prophet was
reduced, who were unanimous in a resolution to bring
him to Medina.

Rumours of the Flight spread in Mecca, and a
faint idea seems to have occurred to the city leaders
of what it might mean for Mohammet and all his
followers to set up a community in the rival town.
They tried persuasion with the most important of
their fellow-citizens who were known to be amongst
the converts, but their action was feeble and in-
effective. In small groups these persecuted people
stole away, to be received with open arms at
Medina, where, with apostolic fervour, the Helpers
held their possessions in common with their new-
found brethren.

Almost the last to join the Flight was the
Prophet himself, who long stood out against the
advice of Abu Bakr to trust all to the faithfulness
of those who offered to shelter and protect him. It
was only when the news of his projected assassination
reached him that he consented to depart; and not
before the hue and cry had been started by the com-
mittee of cowards, a member of each tribe, who had
planned to murder him in concert, as a way of
escaping the tribal consequences. He dodged the
assassins, and laughed at their offer, as a reward
for his capture, of a hundred camels, from his
hiding-place in the security of the Cave, as it is

156 THE DESERT GATEWAY

always called, in Mount Rawr, to the south of Mecca.

In a beautiful passage he afterwards recorded how —
" God assisted him formerly, when the unbelievers
drove him forth out of Mecca, in company with a
second only (Abu Bakr), when they were both in the
cave; when he said unto his companion, ' Be not dis-
tressed; verily God is with us.' And God sent down
His tranquillity upon him, and strengthened him with
armies of angels, whom ye saw not."*

By an awful journey through three hundred
miles of dreariest desert, with dark ravines at in-
tervals, and in some parts stony wastes, Mohammet
reached Medina, exhausted, and nervously appre-
hensive. Finding his converts faithful, he soon
regained his strength, and began to examine his
position with the eye of a councillor and ruler. So
successful was he in this role that in a short time
he was accorded a veneration excelling that of many
monarchs.

But if he suffered the adulation of his court, he
resisted every temptation to material display, con-
stantly exhorting his followers against arrogance of
manner and aggrandisement, whether in the matter
of personal adornment or in the buildings they
erected for either sacred or secular use. If he was
a charlatan, his end was not private gain, for in
all things he shared the lot of his followers; and
when "stated alms " were added as a part of the
religious observance of Islam, he refused to use them
for his own needs, and forbade any member of his
family to profit by them. He claimed to be a "plain
Warner," "no more than an apostle."

To the end of his life Mohammet was poor, dying
in debt, a Jew holding his cuirass in pawn.

* Sura ix, 40.

A GOSPEL TO THE POOR i57

Many are the frugal maxims of the Koran, and
on every page his gospel is to the poor and meek,
with counsel to the mighty ones of the earth as to
their special faults and temptations which stand be-
tween them and eternal happiness.

And if Mohammet taught his people these many
virtues, he also practised them ; he showed meek-
ness and clemency, he was courteous and kind and
forgiving. He was not soft with himself, but dealt
out blame when his conscience accused him of any
falling from his standard, asking pardon for slights
to his fellow-men, or even to an importunate beggar,
and craving of God forgiveness for his sins. He
brought to his sovereign rule the same probity in
keeping his engagements as had distinguished him
in his simpler days.

Only once in the Koran, in spite of much pro-
vocation from those who taunted him and those who
contemned, did this man born of a fierce race betray
ungoverned anger; when a man practically called
him a liar and accused him of trying to foist on his
countrymen mere "fables of the ancients," his self-
control gave way, and with it his sense of humour,
for he descended to vulgar abuse, even to the street
boy's formula of "punching his enemy's beak," which
Sale so deliciously translates^ " We will stigmatise
him on the nose."* There is, however, a verse of
vulgar threats to the Jews rather suggestive of White-
chapel in Sura iv, 50.

After the Flight there is a great change in the
general tone of the Koran. Till then a voice had
been crying in the wilderness. With poetic fervour
the Prophet had called men to repentance and the
worship of the One God, the Compassionate, the

* Sura Ixviii, 16,

158 THE DESERT GATEWAY

Merciful. With impassioned eloquence he warned
men of the woe and punishments awaiting those who
persisted in wickedness, while promising to the "well-
doers " seven heavens of delight, leading to Paradise
and the Throne of God.

In the first fifty Suras of the Koran this man
seems to be concerned only to call men to turn from
the works of the Flesh and to cultivate the fruits
of the Spirit. Literally he cried out, with flashes of
prophetic insight, against idolatry, witchcraft, hatred,
variance, emulation, wrath, strife, envyings, murders,
drunkenness, revellings, and such like, as cancelling
the inheritance of the Kingdom of God, and pointed
these violent and barbarous people to the peaceable
fruits of righteousness — to avoid vain disputes, to
feed the poor, to protect the orphan, to guide the
erring, to put a true value upon wealth, to refrain
from backbiting, to be single-hearted in prayer, to
be warned by those "who make a show of devotion
but refuse to help the needy,"* to yield assent to
the good, to be truthful, "to ransom the captive,
and to feed in the day of famine the orphan who is
near of kin, or the poor that lieth in the dust,"f to
be steadfast and truthful, to give measure without
stint, to be true to trusts and engagements, and to
witness uprightly, to refrain from arrogance, and
above all things, to trust in Allah and submit to
His will.

This was the message of the early days of
Mohammet, and to my mind it is this inspiration
which is the true marvel of his whole life.

Out of this idolatrous race, to whom we are
assured no previous revelation of spiritual truth had
been given, this one man is raised. "We have

* Sura cvii, 6, 7. f Sura xc, 13, 14, 15.

FROM POET TO LEGISLATOR i59

given them no books of scripture wherein to exercise
themselves, nor have we sent unto them any warner
before thee."* Even in their Pagan rites they could
only say that they followed the customs of their
fathers.

These are the conditions we must keep in mind
if we would estimate the place of Mohammet as a
true Prophet of the One God.

Alas ! that when the time came, as it always has
come to those who are sent to kindle and hold up
a light of guidance for mankind, "to be tempted of
the devil" with the whisper, "All these things will
I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me,"
the Evil One gained another victory over the powers
of light.

With security and growing power at Medina,
Mohammet's kingdom became largely of this world,
and there was consequent degeneration in his mes-
sage, as in his whole life. Much of the poetry of
the Koran vanishes, though its form is retained.
Fervour for single-minded goodness and the worship
of God, and a deep appreciation of the beauty of
the natural world, which were rare if not unique as
he first conceived them — these are weakened.

The admonisher, the humble teacher, the reason-
able persuader, the man of peace, who would fight
only for defence, becomes the legislator and the
dictator. The aggressive sword succeeds the per-
suasive pen, prose takes the place of poetry, an
ignorant plagiarism of Arabian legend and Christian
and Jewish story is given — in his own incomparable
manner, however — instead of those first deliverances
of such potential freshness and force as eventually

* Sura xxxiv, 43.

i6o THE DESERT GATEWAY

to create the starting-point of a new epoch in the
world of philosophy and literature.*

It was in the early days of the settlement at
Medina that Mohammet perfected the details of his
religious system. The first mosque was built, a
simple place with a very imperfect roof, supported
by palm trunks, and with a mud floor. The proper
hours of prayer were fixed for all time, and the call
to prayer — how Bilal's fine voice must have thrilled
the town in these early days I — was instituted. Sooth-
sayers, who held a great sway over the people, were
forbidden, and in a short time this man who had
crept into the town as a fugitive was by common
consent made sole authority over tribal and indi-
vidual rights.

Khadijah being dead, Mohammet for the first
time started a regular harem, which he increased
until he possessed as many as nine wives. Most
writers have seen in this nothing but evidence of
gross passion ; but curiously enough the most severe
of modern critics of his life offers, concerning what
Carlyle in his lame apology calls "the sorest chapter
of all for us," an explanation less damaging to the
Prophet's character than had been previously held.
"Several of his alliances were political in character,
the Prophet being anxious to bind his chief followers
more and more closely to himself. This was doubt-
less his object in marrying the daughters of Abu
Bakr and Omar; while a political motive of a dif-
ferent sort is to be found in his alliances with the
daughters of political opponents and fallen enemies.

* Some critics condemn the repetitions of the Koran, but those
who know anything at first hand of the Eastern mind understand
how it is impressed by repetition. Even in the letters I get to-day
from Arab friends I find that to accentuate the meaning of a
sentence they repeat it.

FIRST USE OF THE SWORD i6i

The remainder are explained by his extreme anxiety
to have a son, and thereby escape a reproach to
which he was keenly sensitive." * To be sonless is,
to an Arab, to be without honour in the land, un-
worthy of respect, and to be unfollowed to the
grave.

The first trouble he had in Medina was from
the Jews, whom he had at first hoped to conciliate
by meeting their views in such matters as the mode
of killing meat and abstinence from pork. The early
prayers of Islam had been said with faces turned
towards Jerusalem. But the Jews never did any-
thing but prevaricate and temporise, often doing
lip-service while they were working subtly to under-
mine the Prophet's position. No confidence could
ever be established between the two peoples. Mo-
hammet was irritated to the quick when, with their
superior knowledge of the Bible, the Jews brought
to light his ignorance of it. And when at last he
found Jewish plots to murder him, all thought of
compromise was driven out by bitter hatred. It was
an easy step now which led to Mohammet's wicked
resolution to rid himself by extermination of foes
who, while they lacked the courage effectively to
oppose, were yet willing to sneer and aggravate.

There is no occasion to elaborate the history of
Islam and its Prophet from this point. One thing
is of especial interest, the growth of events which
led to the use of the sword. Up to this time there
is not a single word in the Koran which suggests
that it was ever in the Prophet's mind to establish
an empire by violent and aggressive conquest to
enforce his tenets. If he had succeeded at Mecca,

* " Mohammed," by D, S. Margoliouth.
L

i62 THE DESERT GATEWAY

possibly such an idea never would have occurred
to him.

" Invite men to the way of thy Lord with wisdom
and with kindly warning ; dispute with them in the
kindest manner; thy Lord knoweth best those who have
strayed from His way."*

Hunger is a stern master. After a few months
at Medina the strain on the Helpers in keeping so
many men detached from their ordinary work was
intolerable. The pinch of hunger and the disgrace
of nakedness began to press upon the refugees, who,
in spite of their willingness to work at menial tasks
were yet unable to earn a bare subsistence. What
a light it throws on the depths of privation to which
all this band of enthusiasts have sunk, to read that
Ali, the Prophet's son-in-law, was paid for carrying
water at the rate of a date a journey, and that when
he had earned sixteen dates he shared them with
Mohammet, who was pinched with hunger.

Two conspicuous instances of ignorance of com-
mon things stand out in the Prophet's clever life,
and one of these almost completed the starvation of
his people at this time. He forbade the artificial
fertilisation of the date, for some reason unknown
(possibly from the lack of knowledge of a Meccan
in things agricultural), and so brought ruin on the
year's crop. His other error, at a later time, forbade
the adjustment of the Arab lunar Calendar each
year, so that the twelve lunar months lost all relation
to the seasons, to the perplexity of all Mohammedans
to this day.

In all the extremities described, the Jews drove
home every advantage of the pawnbroker and usurer,
* Sura xvi, 126.

THE FIRST RAIDS 163

flaunting their own opulence. If anything could
exceed the hatred of the Moslems for the people of
Mecca, it was the hate they felt for the Jews.

And past the doors of men desperate with priva-
tions rich caravans were regularly passing with
treasures from the north for the citizens of Mecca,
or gold and produce from the city to pay for further
supplies. What a temptation to Arab flesh and
blood to take vengeance, and at the same time to
supply those bodily needs which would not be gain-
said. They had agreed in their first days at Medina
by solemn covenant to preclude the Meccans from
all friendly relations; it was a short step to give
them a taste of active resentment for the sufferings
they were responsible for. To convince the most
pious, who lived by the Koran, the sacred book was
debased by a new revelation :

" A sanction is given to those who, because they
have been unjustly persecuted, have taken up arms.
And verily God is well able to succour them :
Those who have been driven forth from their homes
wrongfully, only because they say, ' Our Lord is the
God. ' ... If God did not repel the violence of some
men by others, verily monasteries, and churches, and
synagogues, and the mosques of the Moslems, wherein
the Name of God is ever commemorated, would surely
be demolished." *

A plausible and cunningly devised message, the
threefold object of which is obvious. The virus
worked in the Arab blood; the knee was bent to
Baal; they determined to live by the sword, and by
the sword that day perished their highest ideal.

Poor success attended the first raids upon the

* Sura xxii, 40, 41.

i64 THE DESERT GATEWAY

Meccan caravans. To cover a further fall in the
moral standard, the Prophet worked himself up into a
fresh fury against the Mcccans, the while he contem-
plated the dishonour of sending an armed force
against a caravan which he heard had set out in the
immemorial faith, and without arms, in the sacred
month I

If Mohammet had no conscience to trouble him
over this misdeed — evidence seems to suggest that
he was thoroughly ashamed — the Jews used all their
venomous qualities to sting him. To ease the smart
he changed the prayer direction, with the Arab insult
of turning the back to Jerusalem, which brought
the faces of the devout towards the Meccan temple.
Ramadhan he substituted for the fast of the Day of
Atonement; Friday he made the sacred day, for no
reason but that it was not Saturday. In no one
thing were the Arabs to copy the Jews. Mohammet
even shaved his head so as to effect as great a change
as possible from his previous Jewish style of wearing
his hair.

Of these slights, the turning of the back on
Jerusalem was the most keenly felt, and the Jews
cringed, when they realised how this hatred would
affect them, where before they had jibed. Their
cringing only strengthened the deep resolve to destroy
them when the day came.

The Sura called "The Cow," a marvellous pro-
duction of a pagan mind, although so lacking in
the exalted qualities of the earlier messages, accen-
tuated the hatred for the people of Mecca. Ominous
were the words "Civil strife is worse than blood-
shed"; but with black thoughts in his mind, which
soon were to make carnage and assassination pos-
sible, this marvellous man was able to construct in

DEFEAT OF THE MECGANS 165

this Sura what was practically a code of laws by
which his followers have ever since been ruled. At
times he breaks away from the prosaic utterances in
flights of the most exalted praise of "the living, the
eternal God." In a few words, too, he established
what, to people of the East especially, is the inestim-
able blessing of abstinence from intoxicants, and he
abolished gambling and usury.

The people of Mecca sent out troops to avenge
the gathering misdeeds of the fugitives, in such
numbers that it is clear they contemplated making
an end of them.

Mohammet had secret warning ; organised his
forces, spoke eloquently to them of their grievances,
and alluringly of coming spoils — to the Arabs a
magic word — and marched out to meet the foe. At
the age of lifty-three he proved himself a great com-
mander by gaining the victory of Badr, the battle
which w^as of such immense importance to him.

The men of Medina, over whom he had reigned
so short a time, marched to the field a disciplined and
well-ordered army. The very exercises of daily
prayer in which they had followed him had drilled
them in precision (to fall out of line in concerted
prayer is to incur divine punishment), while they
profited by the mere bodily movements of devotion.

The autocrat with genius is the perfect com-
mander. Under such a leader, when men are
fighting not only for life, but for their faith, and
they hear the impassioned prayers of their com-
mander to their God, who has first revealed specially
to them a promise of help, victory over troops lack-
ing all these things is certain.

The Meccans were a disjointed horde, without
leadership, discipline, or any sort of quickening faith.

i66 THE DESERT GATEWAY

While the men of Islam slept during the night
with "sleep, a sign of security from Him, fallen
upon them," their enemy agitated themselves with
quarrels and fears. While these approached the
battle with the dread of death before them, the men
of Islam, so sincere was their faith, regarded death
on such a day as more to be desired than victory.

This was called the Day of Deliverance. In the
march towards the Kingdom of this World it was
rightly named. But it was in truth a day of bondage,
for the first generous payment made by the tempter
on that day sealed the enslavement. It now appeared
that God was on the side of the sword ; spoils were
His reward ; the march through blood over the whole
earth was in reality now begun. Well might the
Song of Victory* be called "The Spoils." It is a
dreary psalm that has booty for its theme and sings
the praise of "God and His Apostle."

Wealth and power were now in the hands of the
refugees and their friends, and almost the first use
they made of their strength was to harass the Jews
until they preferred to leave the city with their bare
lives, while their goodly possessions were regarded
by the Prophet as further spoils of war. The
Moslems appropriated the houses and property of
seven hundred of the wealthiest men of the town,
who were driven away, possibly to perish. At this
time critics of Mohammet were "removed," a word
from the sovereign being sufficient for the sycophant
who always is found listening for such suggestions
from rulers capable of making them. And further
caravan raiding added to the growing wealth of the
community.

There was one set-back : the defeat of Uhud ; but

* Sura viii.

THE ATTACK ON THE JEWS 167

although it looked serious at the time, it was of little
moment in the history of Islam at Medina. It drew
forth the Sura "Imran," another wearisome harangue,
alternately threatening and flattering the Prophet's
followers, rebutting all criticism of his own part in
the failure, and boasting of previous success. The
God who sent angels to their aid at Badr had equally
good intentions in alternating "days of successes
and reverses." From which it will be seen, what every
observer of modern prophets must be convinced of,
that it is impossible at any point to quench the
egotism of such men.

It was while he was waiting to redeem this failure
that he attacked the Jews of Nadir, three miles from
Medina, drove them out from their fortified position,
and took possession of their property and lands.
To cover this act, another dreary Sura was written,
in which the Jews are accused of cowardice.

" They will not fight against you in a body except
in fenced towns or from behind walls. Mighty is
their valour among themselves ! Thou thinkest them
united, but their hearts are divided."*

Naturally these raids roused the Jews of other
tribes, and an attempt at combination was made; a
treaty was settled with the Meccans within the
curtains of the Kaaba, in which the parties bound
themselves to oppose Mohammet. He was specially
enraged to hear that Jew and idolater had joined
forces, and, fearing the result, he took the advice
of vSalman the Persian, who had been a slave at
Medina, and dug the famous trench about which
so much is written in the Traditions of Islam. Some

* Sura lix, 14.

i68 THE DESERT GATEWAY

of his men disliked such an expedient for defence,
thinking it unworthy of fighting men. But the
Prophet, who was in all things practical, and never
bound by preconceived notions, himself took a
pick-axe and made a start with the trench. Three
thousand men worked continuously at it in three
relays. So that when the combined armies came
upon the city they found their advance effectively
checked. Secure behind the trench, the men of Islam
would not give fight to the mighty force outside
except to check the feeble and unsupported attempts
that were made to cross it.

Mohammet owed much at different times in his
life to the faithfulness, the courage, the cleverness
of men who were or had been slaves. In this matter
of the trench he owed to another slave the means
of resistance to an army strong enough to anni-
hilate all the force of Islam ; for it was this device
which ruined what proved to be the last and most
promising chance of his enemies to destroy him. No
wonder that he made it a chief merit in a Moslem
to set free his slaves, and ordered that they should
be treated with every kindness and consideration as
brothers in the faith.

When the Meccans returned home, defeated at
every point, Mohammet did not rest until he had
destroyed the Jews of Kuraizah, who had joined
them. Sa'd ben Mu'ahd was sent to punish them.
The men were decapitated, their goods seized, and
the women and children enslaved.

All the forces that seek the shelter of victorious
battalions now rallied to the increase of Islam, and
for a year expeditions were constantly sent out which
demonstrated in all directions that it was a wise
thing to make terms with this ever-growing power.

THE PROPHET AS RULER 169

The qualities of Mohammet as a ruler were severely
tested by internal strife between the Helpers and the
Refugees. The division of booty, or, in civilised
times, of legacy, is always the most fruitful source
of family division ; but the Prophet's skill was fully
equal to all the varied demands that test a ruler.
One day the disputants would have fallen upon each
other with the sword ; Omar was, of course, willing,
but Mohammet commanded peace and broke up the
camp in the heat of midday, divining that the soldiers
in their fatigue would forget the dispute, with the
result that Omar acknowledged the superior mind
of the leader.

We have now reached the year 628. The dream
of IMohammet's life is to gain his native town. In
the Sura of this time he sees a vision of the day
when —

** Ye shall surely enter the sacred Mosque, if God
will, in full security, having your heads shaved and
your hair cut.* Ye shall not fear; for He knoweth
what ye know not ; and He hath ordained you beside
this a speedy victory." f

The Meccans, hearing of his designs, sent him
word that they were determined to keep him outside
their city. They scorned his pacific hints, and defied
his threats. A treaty was, however, made which did
not reflect much credit on Mohammet, and nearly
lost him the allegiance of Omar. The Prophet did
all he could to impress Mecca with his wealth and
power, and with the reverence he still had for the
sacred Kaaba, to which Islam turned in prayer five
times a day ; declaring that the dearest wish of its

* The MosU m cuts off the hair from every purt of his body,
t Sura xlviii, 27.

170 THE DESERT GATEWAY

followers was to visit as pilgrims the House of God
in the month of Peace.

Some of the short-sighted Meccans were shocked
at the impiety of keeping men away who desired
to do honour to God and His Temple. Others were
beginning to think that it was a pity that Mecca
should not have a share in the growing glory and
wealth of the new religion ; there was even an in-
clination to boast that Mohammet was a citizen of
theirs; it was to argue themselves unknown, to treat
as an alien a man whom all the world seemed to be
joining to venerate.

By the treaty the Moslems were to be allowed to
visit Mecca next year on pilgrimage. The Kuriash
was to vacate it for three days, during which
Mohammet might use the Kaaba.

Another raid on a rich Jewish community marked
this time. Khaibar is a hundred miles distant from
Medina ; to attack it was the most ambitious of
the raids, therefore, and in speaking of the project
there was no mention of any object but spoils until
Ali pressed for a reason, when Mohammet spoke the
words which were so fraught with meaning to the
future : that the Moslems must now fight to extend
their religion !

It was a rich community, settled on the edge of
a fertile oasis which the Jews had cultivated with
industry and skill. The Moslems met with more
prolonged opposition (one may wonder why Mecca
did not strike at Medina when the troops were so
far away) than they expected, but eventually over-
powered the community.

The waste of decapitation having occurred to the
Prophet, he devised what afterwards became an
important institution, giving much impetus to the

THE FIRST SUBJECT CASTE 171

idea of the conquest of the world by a people who,
like the Arabs, while willing to fight were always
anxious to escape work. The lives of these Jews
were saved, and their landed property was not in-
terfered with ; they were to go on with their work,
and contribute annually half their produce. They
became a subject caste, and Mohammet was able to
take back his army intact for further warfare, leaving
only such officials as were necessary to collect the
impost, and see that the guarantees to the protected
community for their lives were respected. The spoils,
consisting of the personal possessions of these people,
were of tremendous value.

So scared were other Jewish communities with
the news of this conquest that they sent to offer the
tribute of half their crops. It was a specious plea
that these things were done to extend the religion
of Islam, for in taking a community under its pro-
tection a money payment, and not a religious test,
was sought, while at the same time the excuse was
thought good enough to warrant an attack by Islam
in any quarter.

The "real estate" and "personalty" of Islam
being now of great value, it is little wonder that
Mohammet began to have thoughts of world-con-
quest, which he initiated by letters to such foreign
rulers as he knew of, calling upon the whole world
to adopt his teaching. By some the letters were
ignored, while others — notably the King of Persia —
were enraged by the impertinence. One of the rulers
of Egypt sent presents, however, and the smaller
chiefs of Arabia temporised, knowing doubtless that
any man strong enough to enforce his wishes would
compel the homage of smaller rulers in that country.

In the seventh year (dating as Islam does from

172 THE DESERT GATEWAY

the Flight), according to the terms of the treaty,
Mohammet enters Mecca again in regal state, part
of the procession being taken at a gallop, to show
the Meccans that the Refugees were no longer under-
fed and worn as at Badr (the gallop is still practised
by pilgrims), and one of the instructions being to
enter the city with a cheerful countenance. The
pilgrimage was peacefully accomplished, and the
Prophet, well pleased with the impression he had
created, returned — for the present — to Medina.

The year 8 was marked by the folly of Islam
in throwing itself against the Roman Empire. The
spirit inspired in his soldiers by the Prophet is shown
by the fact that many of the men at the battle of Mutah
— a forlorn hope — at the moment of meeting the
mighty host deliberately lamed their horses to prevent
them from running away I

It was a broken remnant only that returned to
Medina to tell the tale, and these slunk away
ashamed from a populace which treated them as
deserters, until Mohammet loyally spoke in their
praise.

To cover defeat, Mohammet, as usual, planned a
new expedition, with a better hope of victory. The
time had come to strike at Mecca! On January i,
630 A.D. (the loth day of Ramadhan in the year 8),
it is declared that no less than 10,000 troops mustered
in Medina for the great expedition, before which all
opposition melted. Islam entered the city of Mecca
almost unchallenged. The idols of the Kaaba
were abolished and the statues surrounding it were
destroyed. The call to prayer, chanted by Bilal,
the first muezzin, rang out from the top of the
Kaaba !

This crowning success in no way disturbed the

THE RETURN TO MECCA i73

Prophet's instinct as a politician and a ruler. The
sanctity of the Kaaba was preserved; even its great
treasure of gold was untouched; the ceremonies were
to remain, with scarcely any alteration, except in
meaning. Mecca was for ever to be a sanctuary
from bloodshed. Clemency covered every right of
the citizens as Mohammet found them on the day
of entry ; not a single reprisal was to be made ;
even the houses the refugees had originally left —
including that of Khadijah — must not be reclaimed.
The hereditary holders of the keys of the Kaaba were
to retain their office.

Although the Prophet regarded Mecca as the best
spot on earth, his stay only lasted a fortnight, as he
wished to show his loyalty to his friends at Medina
by returning there to live and die — evidence again,
surely, of Mohammet's greatness of mind.

A new epoch was started. From this moment
the roots of the national idea which Mohammet had
for years had in his mind took firm hold. He estab-
lished a true brotherhood of man; not in a theory
which can chant on Sunday of "dearly beloved
brethren," and on Monday return to feudal ideas
or the practice of the snob. Every Moslem was
made equal, with an equality which is as genuine
to-day as it was when it was established.* The
people of Islam were to recognise that they were
members of one body, and that to injure one was to
injure all.

He checked the thirst for revenge, and used all

* I do not forget the reproof I got at Biskra when I spoke to
Taib slightingly of a negro boy I disliked, wondering why the
Arabs did not refuse to associate with him. " Sir," said Taib,
" he is a Moslem ! " in a tone which implied that that settled
the question.

174 THE DESERT GATEWAY

his power to stop the oppression of widows and
orphans. In inheritance sons were to share equally,
so that there should be no excuse for family
divisions; just as, by the abolition of tribal rights,
justice should be done to all, without shield or
favour.

It was a great conception for such a man to have,
that with equality of rights all privilege in the matter
of wrongdoing — which the tribal customs fostered —
should be abolished too. For the first time in Arabia
— and afterwards in many other primitive lands —
it was Mohammet who made it possible to check
crime and to punish it.

Mecca was fixed as the religious capital of Islam,
and a visit to it was now prescribed by Mohammet
as one of the stated religious duties of every Moslem,
as a preparation for Paradise. Is it possible that the
Prophet foresaw how this one condition would — by
creating a great rallying-point — hold together his
followers with an unswerving anchorage as nothing
else could have done ? That the gathering here every
year of men of almost all races and languages,
piously actuated by one motive, would weld together
with a permanent bond millions who might be of one
faith but would still have been alien to each other
but for this institution ?

The days of this wonderful man were closing in.
In the second year after taking Mecca he led the
pilgrimage himself (Abu Bakr had led it in the
previous year), and worked incessantly, with secre-
taries and without rest — like any modern Prime
Minister — in making the laws and regulations for
Islam, which are as rigidly kept to-day as in the
year they were devised. Nothing escaped him, and
we are told that so clearly did his people recognise

DEATH OF THE PROPHET i75

that all their future depended on his instruction that
he was incessantly questioned on all subjects, both
secular and spiritual ; and one can imagine the
tenacious subtlety and inquisitiveness of his Arab
interrogators ! Nothing was too trivial for them ;
even to the right way of slicing a melon they observed
and respected his dictates. In the enormous mass
of recorded matter in the traditions, written by those
who had heard him speak in ordinary conversation
or were themselves his questioners, there is evidence
of his wisdom and unfailing common sense, his
shrewdness, his fairness, his humour, his kindness.
He is said to have been almost always smiling — how
this recalls the cheerful countenance of every good
Arab we ever met !

He completed the Koran by laying down exact
laws of inheritance which are more than equitable —
they are fair and sensible, and especially as they
affect women, a long way in advance of the ideas
of pre-Islam times, when male heirs alone received
inheritance from parents, women and young boys
being excluded. Very humane were his orders as to
the treatment of slaves; the care of the poor and the
unfortunate was ensured by a hundred precepts.

All this burden had been too much for him. On
his return to Medina his natural buoyancy of spirit
had deserted him ; a morbidness like that of the
Wise King took possession of him, when he thought
the day of a man's death better than the day of his
birth, and the house of mourning better than the
house of rejoicing. Several times he visited the
cemetery at dead of night, and prayed earnestly for
departed souls, congratulating them on their felicity
as compared with the woes of the living.

The witty Ayesha, who ruled the harem and its

176 THE DESERT GATEWAY

master, tried to rouse him ; and when he asked her
if she would not rather die before him, so that the
Prophet of God might perform her obsequies, she
piquantly alluded — with assumed gaiety, no doubt —
to the fresh bride he would put in her place when he
got home !

On a Thursday he collapsed, and on Monday he
died, in Ayesha's chamber, the date being June 7,
632.

This same chamber was turned into a mortuary
chapel ; here to this day, built over it, is his venerated
tomb, with those of his two chief friends, Bakr and
Omar, and Ayesha herself — who lived thirty years
longer, to exert a great influence over the early
growth of Islam. In this chamber, too, is that empty
tomb which the believer thinks will be occupied by
the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will die,
they say, and be buried in Medina.

Marvellous was the inspiration this one man, with
a message aflame with faith in God and in a spiritual
sphere, left behind him. The simple shepherds and
spade labourers, Bedouins or wanderers in an arid
peninsula, of no effect in the world's politics since
the days of Abraham, except for a savage defiance
and a cunning elusion of any race that attempted to
trespass on their territory, and without any national
aim or cohesion, seem all at once to rise as one man,
a giant refreshed, with one mighty purpose, ready
to subjugate the world in the name of their new-
found God.

It was not in the power of brute force alone.

A significant fact, it always seems to me, is that
after his very first victory the Prophet sent a num-
ber of boys of Medina to take lessons in writing
from the clever men of Badr (as part payment of

MORE THAN BRUTE FORGE 177

ransom), pointing out to his people the great advan-
tages of learning.

One of the chief allurements of conquest to an
acquisitive people like the Arabs, was always, doubt-
less, the thought of the spoils of material wealth ;
but from Greece, Persia, Spain, India, they, with an
extraordinary receptivity and teachableness, brought
away the best that philosophy, letters, arts and crafts
had to teach.

At a time when Christian Europe was in a state
of rude barbarism, with literature almost extinct, the
Arabs created, especially at Bagdad, at Cordova,
Cairo, Delhi and Fost^t, brilliant centres of advanced
civilisation.

Europe is indebted, for the link which connects
ancient and modern literature, to those Arabs who
became known as the Saracens of Asia and the Moors
of Spain. These collected libraries but for which
classical literature must have been lost. Research
has shown that much that was known, for some
time before the Renaissance, of Greek philosophy,
of medicine, of mathematics, natural history, geo-
graphy, rhetoric and poetry, speaking generally,
came by the medium of Latin works derived from
the originals of the Arabian schools.

And surely it is to the Koran that we must look
as the source of this new movement to which the
world owes so much.

Still, it is left to us to deplore the overthrow of
Christian churches, with all they stood for, in the
East, by victorious Islam ; disagreeing with Carlyle,
who asserts that the Moslem always displaces "what
is worse, nothing that is better or good."

But we can still admire the genius of the man
whose immediate followers, keeping strictly to the
11

178 THE DESERT GATEWAY

institutions lie devised, could rule with so much good
sense, and such administrative ability and justice,
and even humanitarianism, the countries v^^hich their
prowess conquered.

To some who have studied Mohammet's life it
seems that if the early Christians had been true to
their first faith, and had not distracted the pagan
mind with quarrels and divisions, or elaborated, out
of the simple story of the Cross, such involved
doctrines as are still a stumbling block to the un-
sophisticated people of the southern world, this man,
who was so nearly a Christian, might have become a
true follower of Christ. What a different world it
would have been. Softened and encouraged by the
Atonement, and taught by divine compassion to
practise the nobler code of forgiveness of the Sermon
on the Mount, the light of this people, which after
six hundred years burnt low, would have continued
to shine in pristine brilliance over the whole earth, to
the end of time.

CHAPTER VIII

WHAT IS THE RELIGION OF ISLAM?

I FEEL inclined to begin this chapter with the words
of General Gordon as a text : "I like the Mussulman ;
he is not ashamed of his God; his life is a fairly
pure one."

Unlike most writers who have attempted to answer
the question, "What is the religion of Islam?" I
have gone for the answer to the Moslem himself, and
to the Koran, and not to the Christian critic and com-
mentator. I do not believe with one Christian writer
that "Islam is barbarism," any more than I do with
Locke, who holds that the Moslems are "heterodox
Christians." I would rather put it in this way :
"Islam is not an anti-Christian faith, but a half-Chris-
tian faith — a copy of the faith of Abraham and Moses
with an ill-informed mixture of Christian elements."

For my part, I found the Koran intensely interest-
ing, where most people (as Carlyle did) find it "a
wearisome, confused jumble, crude, incondite, end-
less iterations, long-windedness, entanglement, most
crude, incondite." This in itself is an attitude which
leads to that misunderstanding which must come
from want of sympathy. The most scholarly of Mos-
lems claim that the Koran is as systematically ar-
ranged, and is as harmonious as regards sense, as
any book can possibly be.

There is possibly in the world no other work
which has remained thirteen centuries with so pure

179

i8o THE DESERT GATEWAY

a text. By the forethought of the Prophet's suc-
cessors one recognised text was established, and all
others were destroyed, so that the message received
by the Prophet has been fulfilled — "We have surely
sent down the Koran, and we will certainly preserve
the same from corruption."

It is curious to notice how differently this won-
derful book affects different men. "Insupportable
stupidity," says Carlyle; while the whole gamut of
impression is within the experience of Goethe: "As
often as we approach it, it always proves repulsive
anew; gradually, however, it attracts, it astonishes,
and in the end forces into admiration."

It was certainly a fortunate thing, if Mohammet
was to be the medium of a plenary inspiration, that
he was born of a tribe renowned throughout Arabia
for the purity and eloquence of their language.

It was an immemorial tradition of the Arabs that
Kedar (the second son of Ishmael) and his posterity
originally settled in Hedjaz, the province in Arabia
which contains both Mecca and Medina. It was
from this patriarch that the tribe of Koreish, the
sovereigns of Mecca and the hereditary guardians
of the Kaaba, always claimed descent.

In the Koran, Mohammet upholds his claim to
the princely and priestly honours of his race on this
very ground — as an Ishmaelite of the stock of Beni
Kedar,* the Bedouins to whom there are many refer-
ences in the Old Testament.

It was certainly with the tribe of Koreish that
Mohammet spent his childhood, and from learning
their speech he gained the power to declaim with the
powerful and persuasive eloquence which has so
deeply affected the hearts of men. This tribe traded

* Genesis xxv, 13.

JUDAISM AND ISLAMISM i8i

with the Syrians.* They dwelt in tents of black
hair,f in the midst of the wilderness of Arabia, and
were known as skilful archers. +

Of course, writers with a religious bias, many of
whom have set out to prove that Mohammet was a
black monster of pretence and iniquity, have confuted
the desire to prove the Abrahamic genealogy of the
Prophet. To speak of a base and plebeian origin,
however, as Gibbon says, is an unskilful calumny of
Christians. His descent from Ishmael was a national
privilege of fable ; but if the first steps of the pedigree
are dark and doubtful, Mohammet could produce
many generations of pure and genuine nobility.

No Moslem denies the connection between
Islamism and Judaism ; indeed, they deem it their
highest honour to be "the followers of every true and
divinely commissioned Prophet." Claiming descent
from Ishmael the brother of Isaac, the Arabs are, of
course, cousins of the Jews, and Mohammet, who
always showed the greatest respect for Jews and
Christians (unless under a temporary vexation),
whom he called "the people of the Book," deemed
any race which had no Bible, or could not read, as
very inferior. He gave express permission to his
followers to consult the Israelites in all matters on
which he had not spoken to them, and to search in
the Jewish books for information on that of which
they were ignorant. The doctrine of Judaism, they
say, received its perfection from Mohammet ; Judaism
undoubtedly proceeded from a divine source, and
inculcated and taught the same truth as Islam — the
existence and unity of God.

The Moslems believe that according to the injunc-
tions of the Koran, confirmed by an exhaustive

* Jeremiah xlix, 28. t Canticles i, 5. | Isaiah xxi, 17.

i82 THE DESERT GATEWAY

examination of the Old Testament, they are right in
claiming that their Prophet was expressly foretold
by the patriarchs and prophets. By much compari-
son of texts in the Bible and the Koran I was able to
follow— in conversation with them — this contention,
if not to be convinced by it.

An instance of the Moslem's attempts to make the
Bible support the Prophet — I give it for what it is
worth — is the statement in the prophecy of Moses :
"The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir
unto them ; he shined forth from Mount Paran, and
he came with ten thousands of saints."* Ali and his
friends firmly believe that Paran means Islam.

A more serious claim still is the statement that it
was of Mohammet Christ himself prophesied when
he said (this is the Moslem's rendering of the text) :
"Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is expedient for
you I go away, for if I go not away, the Ahmed
(another way of spelling Mohammet) will not come to
you, but if I depart I will send Him unto you."-f
This is one of Mohammet's many obvious errors of
insufficient knowledge. As Rodwell says, Moham-
met had no doubt heard that Jesus had promised
a Paracletos. This title, understood by him, prob-
ably from the similarity of sound, as equivalent to
Periclytos, he applied to himself with reference
to his own name Mohammet {i.e. praised, glori-
fied), from the same root, and the same meaning
as Ahmed,

It must always be kept in mind that, so far as is
known, there was no Arabic version of the Old or
New Testament which would have been available to
Mohammet, or — allowing that he could not read —
to his friends. It is suggested that a man named

* Deut. xxxiii, 2. t St. John xvi, 7.

CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAMISM 183

Warakah, of Mecca, translated a gospel, or a part of
one, into Arabic. We might, by deduction, suppose
this to be the Gospel of the Nativity. Mohammet's
knowledge of the New Testament could only have
been slight, for he makes no direct reference to
baptism, the Lord's Supper, nor to the miracles or
parables of Jesus.

Speaking of the New Testament in the Koran,
he says :

" Of old we sent Noah and Abraham, and on their
seed conferred the gift of prophecy and the Book. . , .
Then we caused our apostles to follow in their foot-
steps ; and we caused Jesus, the Son of Mary, to
follow them, and we gave him the Evangel ; and we
put into the hearts of those who followed him kindness
and compassion ; but as to the monastic life, they in-
vented it themselves."*

This evangel, he probably thought, was a com-
plete book, something like the Koran, consisting of
a revelation made to Jesus by God. The answer of
the modern Mussulman to the obvious questions as
to their neglect of the teaching of Christ is that this
evangel mentioned by their Prophet has been lost,
and that the New Testament contains merely the
traditions of the apostles, unsupported — of course
— by any proof.

The thoughtful amongst our Arab friends de-
clared that there is no religion more friendly to
Christianity than Islam. The Prophet, Ali reminded
us, has made God say: "I will place those who
follow Jesus above those who believe not, until the
day of resurrection. Then to Me is your return, and
wherein ye differ I will decide between you."t

* Sura Ivii, 26, 27. t Sura iii, 48.

184 THE DESERT GATEWAY

This, AH said, would answer my questions as to
how we, Moslem and Christian, could stand together
and pray at the tomb of Sidi Okba.

"There is another verse," said Ali, "in which
the Prophet says, ' the Christians and others who
believe in God and the last day, and do that which
is right, shall have their reward with their Lord;
fear shall not come upon them, neither shall they
be grieved.'"* And a similar declaration was
amongst almost the last of Mohammet's inspired
words.

"It is firmly believed by learned Mussulmans,"
continued Ali, "that the English people sent a mission
to our Prophet inquiring into his teaching, and beg-
ging that one of his followers might be sent to
England. The envoy arrived too late, for Mohammet
was dead. An account of the religion of Islam was
sent to your country, but as the prophet was dead, you
declined to abandon your own religion. Your refusal
was accompanied by expressions of regard ; and for
this reason we have always thought the English, of
all ' the people of the books,' to be best inclined
towards us."

Christianity, said our Moslem friends, is superior
to Judaism. The mission of John the Baptist, they
agreed, is undoubtedly true. They believe, as, of
course, the Koran teaches, that Jesus was born of the
Virgin Mary, by an act of Divine will, and that he is
unquestionably " the Word of God " and the " Spirit
of God."

" Oh, ye people of the book ! overstep not bounds
in your religion, and of God speak only truth. The
Messiah, Jesus, Son of Mary, is only an Apostle of

* Sura ii, 59.

BELIEF ABOUT CHRIST 185

God, and his Word which he conveyed into Mary, and
a Spirit proceeding from Himself. Believe, therefore,
in God and His apostle, and say not " Three " (there
is a Trinity) : Forbear, it will be better for you. God
is only one God ! Far be it from His glory that He
should have a Son ! His, whatever is in the Heavens,
and whatever is in the earth ! And God is a sufficient
Guardian. The Messiah disdaineth not to be a servant
of God! "*

The Moslems state that the doctrine of the Trinity,
which is the greatest stumbling-block to their under-
standing of Christianity, crept corruptly into our
faith, after the Ap>ostIes, and that it is contrary to the
pure precepts of Christ.

They go further, and boldly claim — -I quote the
exact words of a highly cultivated Moslem — that
"one of the greatest merits of Islam is that it re-
established the unity of the Godhead, and revived
that pure religion inculcated by Christ Himself; it
constantly warned the then-called Christians of their
errors, and invited them to accept the true religion, a
religion preached by Christ."

Next to the difficulty to the Moslem mind of the
doctrine of the Trinity, is that of Transubstantiation ;
and, of course, the use of statuary in religious worship
is repellent. An Arab friend in Biskra who spoke
English, discussing the Roman Catholic Church said,
" Sir, I could not enter that place " — meaning the
little Catholic church in Biskra — "because of the
figures, which are forbidden to us by our Prophet.
And we do not like unmarried priests. Mohammet
was right when he said that every strong man was to
marry, and always forbade the Moslem to live a
monastic life. No man can develop iiis character in

* Sura iv, 169, 170.

i86 THE DESERT GATEWAY

quietness until he is married. And then our Prophet
said that we must not take men for lords beside God,*
meaning that we must not follow priests, and bishops,
and Popes, as others do, who presume to make new
doctrines, and to determine what things are lawful,
and what unlawful. Sir, I believe with one of our
great writers — I say it with what you call deference —
that the greatest of all boons conferred by Islam upon
Christianity is the spirit of resistance which it
breathed into Christians against the exorbitant power
of the Popes."

At the same time, the calamitous ignorance of
Mohammet concerning the life and teaching of Christ
is deplorable, when we consider how this ignorance
crippled everything that is best in his own message,
and has turned the eyes of countless millions away
from the Cross and the Atonement which revealed the
message of the love of God, a message so infinitely
greater than anything the Prophet had to deliver to
mankind. We are bound to admit that the divisions
that had sprung up amongst Christians by the
seventh century must be held accountable for a great
deal of this ignorance, and certainly for the Prophet's
pity for a religion admitting of much sectarian strife,
which obscured the gospel of peace and goodwill to
man. " Men have rent their great concern, one
among another, into sects," said Mohammet, " every
party rejoicing in that which is their own ; wherefore
leave them ... in their depths of error. "f

Of the Crucifixion, he had heard an explanation,
held by more than one agnostic sect, which he sets
forth in the third chapter of the Koran, asserting that
it was not Jesus Himself who was put to death on the
cross, but another person whom God had made like

* Sura iii, 57. t Sura xxiii, 55, 56.

THE LAST OF THE PROPHETS 187

Him, while He caught up Jesus into Heaven. He
was afterwards sent down again to the earth to
comfort His mother and the disciples, being taken
a second time into Heaven.

It is easy to see how the idea might grow in the
ill-informed mind of Mohammet that his creed was an
advance upon that of the Jews, and capable of bring-
ing agreement to the many sects of Christianity, as
he knew them, and reconciling Judaism and Chris-
tianity with Islam. He was, he said, the seal of the
Prophets, confirming the true mission of all previous
" sent ones " — of whom Jesus is the chief — from the
creation of the world up to his time ; and he firmly
believed, I think, that he brought all the revealed
religions of the earth to perfection. And as the one
Prophet of the great formula, which was always to
be on the lips of his followers — God is God, and
Mohammet is His Prophet — his intention was forever
to save Islam from division into sects.

It is in this claim that the germ of the Moslem's
overwhelming pride in his religion lies, and a great
deal of that dignity which marks his devotions ; and
here, too, is to be found the almost insurmountable
obstacle to his conversion to Christianity. To the
Moslem, apostasy is almost unthinkable; the matter
is not one for argument. " He who changes his re-
ligion— and is obstinate in his error — kill him," said
the Prophet. A female apostate may not be killed,
but she may be imprisoned, and it is ground for
divorce on either side. The Will of a male a[)ostate
is not valid ; a boy under age may be confined until he
come of age.

There seems little doubt that the one passion that
possessed the soul of Mohammet at the beginning of
his mission was to call his countrymen from idolatry

i88 THE DESERT GATEWAY

to the worship of the one God — the living, all power-
ful Being who had set aflame his own soul in rever-
ence and worship. In the name of Allah, the Com-
passionate, the Merciful, he called men to "flee the
wrath to come." While wandering in the mountains,
a solitary devotee, he had for years thought much
about spiritual matters — about life, death, and the
Judgment — so that when the passion of his soul
became articulate, the innumerable subjects dealt with
in the Koran flowed easily from a well-stored mind.

For a definition of Mohammet's religion, in ac-
cordance with my plan, I will go to a Mohammedan.
This is how he defines it in his own words:

" Our Faith includes belief in God, His angels. His
revelation in the Koran, His prophets, the Resurrection
and the Day of Judgment, and God's absolute decrees.
Our practice includes prayer (with purifications before-
hand, almsgiving, fasting, and the pilgrimage to Mecca.

" The Koran always speaks in a tone of awe and
reverence of the Deity, to whom it never attributes
human frailties and passions ; and throughout there
is a total absence of such expressions and narratives
as might not be deemed suitable for the perusal of
modest youth.

" Tlie religion established by the Koran is a stern
and severe monotheism ; it has nothing abstract and
indistinct in its primary notion of the Godhead.
Allah, so far from being a mere philosophic first cause,
regulating the universe by established laws, is an ever-
working, ever-present energy.

"It is a religion, moreover, stripped of all con-
troversy, and which, proposing no mystery to offer
violence to reason, restricts the imagination of men
to the being satisfied with a plain, invariable worship,
notwithstanding the fiery passions and blind zeal that

ETHICS OF THE KORAN 189

so often transported them beyond themselves. Lastly,
it is a religion from which all worship of saints and
martyrs, relics and images, all mystery and meta-
physical subtlety, all monastic seclusion and enthusi-
astic penance are banished."

Seeing how seldom the Moslem can be got to put
his own version of his faith into words, this is in-
teresting; we can, of course, judge of its justice and
worth by our own knowledge.

Of the ethics of the Koran we know that injustice,
falsehood, revenge, calumny, mockery, avarice, pro-
digality, debauchery, mistrust and suspicion are
inveighed against as ungodly and wicked; while
benevolence, liberality, modesty, forbearance, pa-
tience, decency, love of peace and truth, and, above
all, trusting in God and submitting to His will, are
considered as the pillars of true piety and the prin-
cipal signs of a believer.

It is often said that this is a religion of mere
formalism ; that it depends on acts and ignores prin-
ciple; that if, for instance, the position of the body
is right in its devotions, nothing is thought or said of
the attitude of the soul. My own experience was that
the believing Moslem is a man whose piety finds ex-
pression in all his daily life. Nothing is more clear
in the Koran than that the Prophet meant his fol-
lowers to "believe and do that which is right."*

It should never be forgotten that he drew a
contrast between the conduct of his pagan and that
of his believing son-in-law, to the latter's discredit.

In one of the flashes w-hich light up the dreary
waste of one of the last of his utterances Mohammet
says :

" There is no piety in turning your faces towards
* Sura xxxii, 19.

iQo THE DESERT GATEWAY

the east or the west, but he is pious who believeth in
God, and the last day, and the angels, and the scrip-
tures, and the prophets ; who for the love of God
disburseth his wealth to his kindred, and to the
orphans, and the needy, and the wayfarer, and those
Avho ask, and for ransoming ; who observeth prayer,
and payeth the legal alms, and is of those who are
faithful to their engagements when they have engaged
in them, and patient under ills and hardships, and in
time of trouble ; these are they who are just, and these
are they who fear the Lord."*

All through the Koran he preaches the duty of
charity, but those "who give that which they give,
their hearts thrilled with dread, because they must
return unto their Lord, these hasten after good and
are the first to win it."t

As I have shown, the definite religious acts en-
joined are prayer, alms, fasting and the pilgrimage
to Mecca. Little needs to be said to supplement
what I have already written incidentally about all
four of these duties.

The prayers, as originally fixed, were seven, but
as this number was inconvenient, five were ordered :
(i) at dawn, or the last hour of the night before
sunrise; (2) at daybreak, or between sunrise or noon ;
(3) after midday; (4) between that and sunset; (5)
after sunset; (6) after the departure of twilight; and
(7) after midnight. The second and seventh are
the ones that are not imperative — indeed they are
seldom made — but the others are obligatory. It is
allowable, however, to perform the second and third
together, as well as the fourth and fifth, and this is
generally done at Biskra. In this case there are still
five prayers, though only three acts of worship.

* Sura ii, 172. t Sura xxiii, 62, 63.

THE "DIRTY ARAB" 191

The attitudes are shown in my photographs of
the Great Prayer. They require considerable agility,
and the performance of them five times a day has
great physical advantages. The suppleness of the
old men is wonderful. AH, to tease me, often
challenged me to go through the motions, which I
found a great strain, although I am not yet old.

If a man is ill, and cannot raise himself, he must
pray lying on his right side. If he is travelling in
a dangerous place, or if he is at war, he may cut
short his prayers.* He must always turn his face
towards Mecca, which in the mosques is shown bv
a niche, called the Mehrab ; the door opening into
the minaret shows it to those outside. And as the
Moslem makes his prayers wherever he happens to
be at the time, he carries a plan, if he is likely to
travel far, by which he can calculate the direction
of the heavens, and so fix the right position.

The ablutions are definitely stated, and are im-
perative before prayer; also before the handling of
the Koran, if the body has been rendered technically
unclean by certain acts.

It is curious that we English should speak of
the "dirty Arab," considering the exact regulations
as to cleansing under which the Moslems live.
Where we say "Cleanliness is next to godliness,"
Mohammet declared, "The practice of religion is
founded on cleanliness"; it is the key of prayer,
and without it no man will be heard of God. But,
says one of the chief of the fathers of Islam, mere
washing is only one of the four degrees of purifica-
tion. They must also cleanse the members of the
body from all wickedness and unjust actions; they
must wash their hearts, that they may be cleansed

• Sura iv, 102.

192 THE DESERT GATEWAY

from all blamable inclinations and odious vices; and,
lastly, the secret thoughts must be purged from
everything that would divert their attendance on God.
And he adds that the body is but an outward shell
in respect to the heart, which is as the kernel. In
his devotions, again, the Moslem is reminded that
it is the inward disposition of the heart which is
the spirit of prayer ; no outward observances will
avail if performed without reverence and hope.

There are two sorts of ablution — the great and
the small. The small ablution is as follows : The
opening invocation is, "In the name of God the
Compassionate, my intention is to make my ablutions
before making my prayer." Taking a handful of
water, the Moslem turns it three times from the right
hand into the left, and back. If he wears a ring
he takes great care to wash underneath it. He then
gargles with a mouthful of water three times, and
three times expels water from the nostrils. Three
times he makes a cup with his two hands, fills it,
washes his face from the forehead to the chin, passing
by the eyes, then by one ear and the other. He
next washes three times, alternately, both arms to
the elbow, beginning with the right arm. Once
only he dips the hands, joined at the finger-tips,
into the water, carries them to the forehead, where
he separates them, to make them slip to the nape
of the neck; reunites them at the forehead, washes
his ears and the back part of the neck. Finally, he
washes his feet to the ankles, beginning with the
right foot, passing with care between the toes, which
he washes thoroughly ; then he purifies his fingers.
This operation is only done once.

Often we saw men by the sides of the seguars
going through this ceremony, after which they would

A TREMENDOUS SCRUBBING 193

make the prayer with the greatest concentration of
mind, our presence apparently being of no account.

The great ablution is imposed under certain con-
ditions fixed by the law after various defilements in
men and women, and is, in short, an elaborate way
of taking a bath. It is for this reason that in Moslem
countries public baths are so numerous.

In Biskra alone there are half a dozen hammams,
or baths, both for men and women. As these are
open to Europeans I took the opportunity of having
a ceremonial bath at Hammam Cherif, opposite the
Casino. I took Taib as an interpreter, but his good
offices did not save me from the most tremendous
scrubbing to which I was ever subjected in my life.
It was a case of " Damned be he who first cries,
Hold ! Enough ! " and I confess I lost in the contest,
for the skin of my back was not tough enough to
hold out against the exhaustless vigour of the Arab
operator. When I got home I was glad to have a
soothing ointment applied to my flayed body.

The darkness of these baths is one of the religious
requirements, meeting the Arab sense of modesty;
and it needs a good nerve, on a first visit, to go
into a very large hot chamber where numbers of
mysterious Arab men are all the time coming in to
perform — most of them declining the help of the
bathmen — the great ablution. This consists of every-
thing done in the smaller ablution ; on completing
which the man pours a bowl of water on his head
three times, and on his right and then his left
shoulder three times. Many times he goes to the
great copper in the bath to refill his bowl, and
pours the hot water over the front of his body from
the height of the chest, rubbing himself with his
hands meanwhile, so that not the smallest portion

N

194 THE DESERT GATEWAY

of his body remains unpurified, finishing with his
feet as in the Uttle ablution.

The Arab beUeves the hammam to be a favourite
resort of the genii.

The modern Arab greatly appreciates the use of
soap in his cleanings. Great was Taib's delight
when I signified that he was to have a bath at my
expense ; his endurance (or the thickness of his skin)
was greater than mine, for he came away tres tres
content.

All through the ablutions the Moslem recites
prayers or pious ejaculations, such as, when washing
the nostrils, "Oh, my God, if I am pleasing in Thy
sight, perfume me with the odours of Paradise ! "
The nostrils are washed because it is supposed that
the devil resides in the nose during the night.

If every kind of impurity has been avoided since
the last prayer, the washings are not necessary for
the new prayer. The ablutions were highly extolled
by the Prophet, who said (this is traditional), "On
the Day of Resurrection men shall come with bright
faces, hands and feet, and there will be jewels where
the waters of washing have reached."

It was a pert comment to Mohammet by the early
Moslems who lived the nomad life of the desert,
"You tell us to wash, perhaps you will also tell us
where to find the water." The answer was that, if
they found no water, they were to press their open
hands on fine, clean sand,* or, failing that, to rub
the hands over a smooth stone, and then over the
parts of the body named, saying, " It was my in-
tention to wash."

The Arabs, as a rule, have beautifully shaped
hands and feet, and as their cleanliness does not

* Sura V, 9.

ARAB TOILET i95

end with the bare washing, they carefully cleanse
and pare their nails. They have also very fine teeth,
which they keep clean and white. In formally
rinsing the mouth they clean the teeth with the
forefinger of the right hand. The wood of the olive
tree is good for cleansing the teeth and giving a
sweet odour to the mouth, and was used by
Mohammet, who was particular in the choice of his
toothpicks. A dentifrice, scented with musk, has
been used from time immemorial.

The Arab keeps what hair he has well combed,
and regularly trims his beard. Almost all hair is
shaved from the body, and what cannot be shaved
is pulled out, as under the arms.

As the backs of my hands are unusually hairy,
I fear I caused much anxiety to my Arab friends.
It can be imagined how, before I was aware of their
customs, I was much tried by the constant efforts —
surreptitiously made — of the small boys to pull these
hairs out by the roots. It was meant kindly, but I
became wary, and dodged their generous attentions.

But to cover my hands exposed me to misunder-
standing, for this, I discovered, was the custom of
an inferior when in the presence of a person worthy
of respect. Arab-like, no word of these things was
spoken to me by the urchins. The hairs they simply
regarded with pity and some aversion. At the
covering of my hands they laughed at what they
thought my playful modesty !

CHAPTER IX

ARAB BETROTHAL AND MARRIAGE, AND THE

POSITION OF THE WOMEN OF ISLAM. THE

OULED NAIL QUESTION

Among the many pleasant youths at Biskra who offer
their services to the visitor is Zackery, a quiet, de-
pendable boy, whose home is at the village blanc, at
El Kantara. To see Zackery smile, and to hear his
invariable "Oh ! " musical and long-drawn-out when
he is teased, is a delight.

The season before our visit, when he was fifteen
years old, Zackery had enjoyed the great luck of
being engaged by Lord Rothschild. The boy has
considerable native skill in natural history, and
seeing a gentleman standing near the gardens with
a net in his hand, he approached him with that
familiar air which in any but an Arab boy would
be offensive, and, taking the net, said he could catch
butterflies and moths (and small animals too) very
well. Without more ado Lord Rothschild (for he it
was) engaged the boy, who, I believe, served him
well, so that he was afterwards taken on the long
expedition into the desert which was organised
chiefly for natural history purposes.

When the question of payment arose, the delight
of Zackery may be imagined when he found that he
was to receive the fabulous sum — to an Arab boy —
of fifteen francs a day. The result was that, with
other good engagements, he found himself at the end
of the season the possessor of 1,200 francs !

196

A TIMID CHILD-BRIDE 197

"And what did you do with the money,
Zackery ? " I asked.

"Oh! I went home to the village blanc,'' he
replied, "and" (with an indefinable swagger) "the
first thing I did was to ask my parents to arrange
for me to buy a wife ! "

"And what was the price?"

"Well, a boy like me generally would pay about
three hundred francs. But as I was rich, my father
offered four hundred and fifty for a very nice girl,
so pretty, and of a good family. My mother told
me how pretty she was, and like an ostrich's egg.*
She was 14 years old; and when she came from
her parents she cried."

"Poor little thing," my wife and I replied. "And
what did you do ? "

"Oh, I slapped her! "

"You scamp! Why, in England, if a boy hit
his wife, her father would most likely thrash him I "

"Oh ! " very long-drawn and incredulous.

At dusk one afternoon we were returning to
Biskra with Taib, and happened to pass the door of
his house. He went in for a moment, and, on re-
turning to us, locked the door. We remarked on
this, and asked if his mother was within.

"Oh, yes," he replied, "I always lock my women
in at five o'clock ! "

We murmured disapproval, and asked if it was

* This comparison of a girl of beautiful complexion to an
ostrich's egg was puzzling until Ali explained that Mohammet speaks
of the maidens of Paradise with large black eyes, " and resembling
the eggs of an ostrich, proter ted with feathers from the dust "
(Sura xxxvii, 47), nothing bring so beautiful to an Arab as for
a woman's skin to be the colour of an ostrich egg when quite
clean.

198 THE DESERT GATEWAY

not an unkind thing to do, especially when his mother
was old.

Very gently, but conclusively, he said, " C'est
rhabitude."

"But," said my wife, "they must be so dull and
unhappy to be always veiled or kept indoors, especi-
ally with so little to do."

"Mais non, madame, c'est I'hahitude! "

And never would he make any other reply on
this question of the treatment of women.

There is considerable excitement at the hotel, for
Yussef, one of the guides, is, after several delays
(caused by his difficulty in making up the necessary
price of his bride — three hundred francs), actually
at last going to be married. He explains to me that,
as he has few relatives, and has been married twice
before (one wife died and the other he repudiated for
extravagance and for taking his money and goods
and giving them to her own people), there will be no
festivities to which he can ask his men friends. But,
as the bride's women relatives are having a party,
he invites my wife and some Canadian ladies, to
whom he has acted as guide, to go to the party and
see the bride.

The following is my wife's account of what
happened on this visit, and also describes a visit to
the wives of a marabout, and gives an Arab lady's
account of an Arab betrothal, with her remarks on
the position of women : —

"At nine o'clock in the evening Ahmed, one of
Yussef's brothers, will come for us and conduct us
to the bride's parents' house. The time comes and
we set out. When we leave the well-lit streets of the
French quarter of Biskra and enter the native town,

THE BRIDAL NIGHT i99

it is so dark we are glad of each other's company
and assistance on the uneven road.

"The house proves to be one of the usual type,
built of mud, but is somewhat superior in having
properly constructed upper rooms entered from a
wide roof. We stumble up the tiny staircase, lit by
a candle in the hand of one of the women, to whose
care Ahmed leaves us now, as, of course, he is not
allowed to go further into the women's part of the
house.

" Having crossed the roof, we enter a low door-
way, and there, on a sort of couch made on the floor,
sits the bride, ready to receive us in her bridal dress,
and decked with her jewels. How young she looks,
and how shy and pretty. She is but sixteen, and
to-night will have to leave her parents to live with
a man she has never seen, who is many years older
than herself, and has already been twice married.

"Her mother and three or four other women are
helping to entertain us ; they show great anxiety that
we should each have a cushion to sit on — even to
using the two handsome nuptial cushions on whicli
the bride and bridegroom will sit after the marriage
ceremony.

"The room is lit by several candles held by the
women, who sit on the floor; and for the first time
I heard their curious cries of joy — the ' You-you,'
made by reverberation against the palms of their
hands. It is very shrill and penetrating, almost
more than one can bear in such a small space. Alter-
nating with it were marriage songs — two women
sitting together, first one singing a verse and then
the other answering her.

"The mother meanwhile was encouraging the
little bride to show us her necklaces, ear-rings, brace-

200 THE DESERT GATEWAY

lets, and anklets. The latter, of heavy silver, were
pressed open till they would go round our ankles
encased in boots. These boots seemed to give the
women great amusement, and they evidently pitied
us for having to wear anything so ugly in place of
the beautiful anklets which on their slim limbs make
such a musical jingle as they move about.

"As none of the women understood French, con-
versation was restricted to nods and smiles, but at
the mention of the word ' Yussef ' it was pretty to
see the shy movement of the bride to cover her face
in the delicate silver-patterned veil which fell at each
side of her head. In addition to the veil, a scarf
of crimson and gold was twisted round her dark hair.
The single robe forming her dress was fastened at
each shoulder with large silver pins or brooches,
secured like a Scotch plaid brooch. It was held round
the waist with a handsome gold-embroidered girdle.

"Any rings or jewellery we happened to be wear-
ing were quickly noticed and made the subject of
what was evidently admiring comment, especially
if there were any diamonds to be seen ! Privately,
I am sure these women thought we made a poor
show, as the Arab woman is loaded with quantity if
not with quality.

"We found it hard to tear ourselves away from
these gentle and friendly women, but the voice of
Ahmed without reminded us that he was waiting to
take us back to the hotel ; so, leaving the equivalent
of a ' wedding present ' in the hands of the beautiful
bride, and regretting our inability to wish her happi-
ness in a language she could understand, we made
our adieux and rejoined Ahmed, to whom, as he
understood French, we could express our admiration
of the bride and delight in our visit.

A MARABOUT'S WIVES 201

"On another day I visited the household of the
marabout of Chetma, an oasis about five miles from
Biskra. The women's rooms were at the top of the
house, opening on to a fiat roof. As soon as I
appeared a beautiful smiling woman took me by the
arm and led me to a sort of divan, on which a native
blanket of bright colours was spread. While the
others were talking to me in dumb show and showing
me their babies, my hostess disappeared, to return
in a few minutes carrying a large, handsome, brass
tray on which were dates, honey — a great luxury to
Arabs — and shelled walnuts. These she pressed me
to partake of. It would have been the worst of bad
manners to refuse, so I ate a few dates, dipped in
the honey — which one might call painting the rose.

"My fountain pen, watch and rings were objects
of great curiosity. I wished I could understand
what they said to each other about them, and
also about my hair, which, being fair, seemed to
surprise them. I never saw any but very dark, often
jet-black, hair among the Arab women. To make
their hair look more luxuriant they plait into it coarse
wool, sometimes the same colour, or sometimes with
red in it, which gives a very gay effect. The
thick plaits thus formed are bulged out on each side
over the ears, under the head-dress. I understood
from them that the wearing of false hair is forbidden
by Mohammet. The ear-rings, which they all wear,
are often such large circles that they could be worn
on the wrist, and have to be supported by chains
from the head-dress.

"Having eaten as many of the dates as politeness
required, I made my adieux by saying the only
Arabic word I knew, meaning ' Thank you ! ' several
times, and turned to take up my sunshade. It felt

202 THE DESERT GATEWAY

curiously heavy, and looking for the cause, behold,
the women had slipped into it, behind my back, all
the dates and walnuts I had left on the tray ! In
spite of my protests, the marabout himself, who had
appeared again to conduct me downstairs, added
several stalks of the delicious dates for which Chetma
is famous.

"It was not until I had the privilege of making
the acquaintance of All's married sister, Nakhla,
who spoke French, that I could ask any questions
about marriage celebrations, and incidentally find
out — what I was so anxious to know — how the Arab
women themselves look upon the dreadful conditions
under which they live.

"The marriage customs vary somewhat among
different tribes, and are modified according to the
wealth of the families; but the main features are the
same, and are those which were followed at Nakhla's
own wedding, and will be again on Ali's marriage,
which is being arranged to take place shortly.

"The first thing the parents of a son of marriage-
able age have to consider is — how much can they give
for a wife, and, secondly, where can a girl sufficiently
well-born and beautiful be found for their son ? In
Ali's particular case, his mother finally decides to go
and see the daughter of a marabout at a distant oasis,
of whom she has heard a good report. On her arrival
the girl is subjected to a close scrutiny — and whose
eyes are sharper than those of a mother-in-law ?

"If her looks are pleasing, her health good, and
her character for obedience, submission (and cookery)
established, the young man then for the first time
hears that he must marry, and that a bride has been
chosen for him who is described as beautiful and
charming.

BARGAINING FOR A WIFE 203

"The son bows to the will of his father, and goes
to dream of his fiancee, or, as Ali did, sadly to
ruminate on his fate.

"The father then calls together his neighbours,
chooses a fat sheep from his flock^ and with all the
accessaries for a feast in charge of a servant, starts
with the cortege for the house of the bride's father,
who is warned of his approach by a third person.
The bridegroom stays at home, of course, in partial
retirement.

"Long and ceremonious greetings are exchanged,
but at last all are seated (including those who are
legally required to be present, of whom mention is
made later on), and with dignified and characteristic
reserve conversation is made on every subject but the
all-important one. In the midst of it, as if by the
merest chance, the girl is asked in marriage of her
father, and the conditions of the marriage are dis-
cussed.

" If the father of the bride is of an avaricious dis-
position, he withholds his consent in the hope of
obtaining a larger sum for his daughter, and there
is then a great risk of the proud and fiery temper
of the Arab getting the upper hand and all negotia-
tions being broken off, with the inevitable result of
an everlasting enmity generated between the families.

" If all goes smoothly and the price is fixed (which
may be anything from 200 to 2,000 francs), presents
for the grandmother, mother and sisters of the bride
are produced. One can imagine how anxiously the
womenfolk are watching, through the chinks, for the
termination of the negotiations, and how, when all
is amicably settled, they hasten to prepare the kous-
kous, and roast the sheep, which is now killed.

"When the feast is ready, the oldest man, or the

204 THE DESERT GATEWAY

man of highest position, present, invokes the bless-
ing of Heaven and declares the union of the betrothed
accompHshed.

"From this moment the marriage, in the eyes of
Mussuhnan magistrates, is legally made, and neither
of the parties may now obtain the annulling of the
contract without paying a sum equal to half the price
paid for the bride. This was the old custom ; but
Nakhla explained to me that of late years (since the
French took the country) it has been the custom
for the Kaid to draw up a written certificate of the
marriage. Her parents had no document, however.

"A few days after this the price fixed on is re-
ceived by the bride's parents, care having been taken
to make an exact list of the expenses already gone to,
such as the feast, the presents, etc., in order to re-
claim the amount in case of divorce later. The men
of the two families, with the exception of the bride-
groom, then proceed to the nearest bazaars, and with
childish enjoyment buy what yet remains to be pro-
vided of the trousseau and the jewellery which it is
the father's duty to bestow on his daughter.

"It seems hard lines that the bride should have
no choice in the clothes provided ; and when I asked
Ali if she might not object to a dress for being, say,
too thick or heavy, he replied, ' In that case I should
tell her, " It will be good to keep you warm when the
cold wind blows ! " ' which is as good as saying ' The
matter is no business of yours ! '

"The purchasers are careful to keep within the
sum fixed to be spent, the amount being previously
levied on the marriage gift. The next day the bride-
groom's father, accompanied by his wives, children
and neighbours, mounted on camels and mules,
appears again at the dwelling of the bride's father.

A BRIDAL JOURNEY 205

having in his train siieep, fowls and goats to malce
the bridal feast. As soon as the party comes in
sight the joyous ' You-you ' of the women is heard,
and all is bustle and hurry to prepare the feast.

"In the meantime the bride's toilet is being made.

"The Arabs have a proverb which says, * A girl
is marriageable as soon as she begins to look in a
mirror.' Hence the bride may be as young as twelve
years, but more usually she is from fifteen to
sixteen.

"She may shed a few tears, but they are quickly
dried as she sees the jewels for her adornment. Her
eyes are darkened with kohla, the eyebrows are
joined together by a black line of paint — thought to
be very beautiful by Orientals — the lips reddened,
the hair smoothed with pomade made of henna, which
is also used to colour the nails of the hands. The
' melhafa,' a garment in one piece, is knotted round
the body, and a white veil, fixed on the head, falls
at each side and quite envelops her.

"The evening passes with joyous song and music.

"The next morning a mule or camel, decorated
with gay saddle cloths, is led up, and the bride,
covered by her veil, mounts and starts on the journey
to her future husband, who impatiently awaits her
coming. This journey, under a radiant sun, with
their hearts full of gaiety and happiness, is made
the occasion of much display.

"The bridegroom, affecting a calm indifference,
is waiting at some distance from the paternal house
surrounded by his friends.

"The bride is brought, closely veiled, to the
threshold of her new home. Her mother-in-law re-
ceives her there and offers her a bowl of butter, into
which she plunges her hand, and, withdrawing it,

2o6 THE DESERT GATEWAY

plasters with butter the doorposts of the house, or
the supports of the tent. The exact meaning of this
custom seems to have been lost, but it is supposed
to bring down the blessing of Heaven on the new
household. It must be remembered that the bride-
groom's fete is taking place away from the house,
and only the female relatives receive the bride.

"The evening is passed in rejoicing; guns are
fired, crackers exploded, songs and stories recited,
while the music of the flutes and drums is incessant.

"Sometimes these celebrations take place in the
palm garden of the bridegroom's family. During
the days of them he is required to bear himself very
modestly, his greatest friend directing everything
for him.

"As was said of a bridegroom we heard of, ' Yes,
he is very shy, but he is glad in his heart.' During
the honeymoon he must hardly be seen in the streets
or in the cafes.

"At last the friends disperse, and for the bride
an anxious moment arrives. Alone in her room she
awaits her husband, who will now see her unveiled
for the first time ! On his entrance a curious
ceremony takes place. The husband gives to his
wife a piece of money varying from ten to two francs,
according to his means; then, sitting by her side
on one of the nuptial cushions, he makes her take
off one by one her bracelets, ear-rings and necklaces
which have contributed to her beauty. Is it that
' beauty unadorned ' may be estimated at its real
worth ? If the woman is not pleasing to him the
man may at this moment decline the marriage and
send the girl home. But this is not often done, for
the ill-feeling created by such an act would be very
deep and aggravated.

SECLUSION AND THE VEIL 207

"In some countries (and, alas! several of our
friends admitted the practice) the husband, to
establish his supremacy, takes with him to this first
interview a stick, which he places near his wife ; and
one is certain no words are needed to explain its
significance.

"It was no uncommon sight in Biskra to see the
friends of the bridegroom being invited to join in
and being carried off to the festivities. Men playing
drums and hautboys went from house to house, each
new guest joining in the procession as invited.

"I sometimes talked to Nakhla about the women,
but there never could be any agreement between
us. Her own case was a very sad one, illustrating
the facility for divorce which, like almost every other
custom in this land, bears hardly on the women.
A patient smile would come across her handsome
face, a smile as nearly akin to tears as to laughter,
and she would say, ' Madame, it is our custom. If
my husband keeps me within doors, and takes care
that I am closely veiled so that no man may see
me, it is because he loves me and is jealous of my
good name.* If he were careless of this, it would
be unkind, and my heart would ache ! ' "

This seclusion and the veil are ordered in the
Koran. It shows the power of the Prophet's slightest
word, that all the millions of women of Islam should
be thus cruelly burdened because of a little jealousy
on his part of Ayesha ; and of that exaggerated idea
of his own importance which came upon him in
the days of his worldly success, when he put his

* Sura xxxiii, 59. " That they may be known to be matrons of
reputation." — Sale's translation.

2o8 THE DESERT GATEWAY

own wives into a category apart from other women'^
and ordered them to "abide stilTin your houses."

What a pity that Mohammet could not have been
content at the time with the veiHng of his pretty
young wife, and with the shutting up of his own
harem, instead of adding the fateful words which
bind for ever the "wives of all the faithful."

Those lamentable restrictions are, however, but a
part of the deep-rooted idea in the Arab mind that
the woman is but an addition to the goods and
chattels of a man, important only as she ministers
to his pleasure.

Many writers are satisfied that after Mohammet
the position of women was worse than before. But
what, may be asked, are the veil and the seclusion
in comparison with all that is revealed of the value
set upon women under conditions where female chil-
dren were buried alive? And, as also in pre-Islamic
times, a man's wives descended to his sons with
other property !

But still, I think it was to the natural kindness
of the Prophet's mind, and not to any real appre-
ciation of the true worth of women, that any im-
provement was due. "Woman," he said, "was made
of a crooked rib, and if you try to straighten her
she breaks." In sterner moods he said, "I have not
left any calamity more detrimental to mankind than
women." Still he advises kindness: "Either keep
them with kindness, or in kindness part from them " ;t
and although he allows chastisement, J he never
himself punished, in spite of much provocation, any
of his wives with the rod. He wished the men to
reprove their wives only indoors — one of the many

* Sura xxxiii, 32, 33, 59. t Sura Ixv, 2..

I Sura iv, 38.

CONDITIONS OF MARRIAGE 209

small thin^rs \vhich indicate, to my mind, that
Mohammet was what the schoolboy calls "a decent
sort."

The superiority of men over women is declared
in the Koran in the most precise language. "The
men are a step above them."* "Men are superior
to women on account of the qualities with which
God hath gifted the one above the other, and on
account of the outlay they make from their substance
for them."t

The fine for slaying a woman is only half that
for slaying a man, "because the rank of a woman
is lower than that of a man, so also are her faculties
and uses." At the same time the many critics of
Islam who declare that it is doubtful if women are
accredited even with souls are disproved again and
again, as I have shown. "Whoso doth the things
that are right, whether male or female, and he or
she a believer — these shall enter Paradise." t

Marriage is regarded as a religious act, and it
may not (in theory, as with us) be taken in hand
inadvisedly, lightly, or wantonly. There are eleven
conditions to be observed. The first is ability to
support a wife. Marriage with persons in extremis
is not allowed, or with persons seriously ill or in
any way physically unfit; there must be a marriage
gift (it is understood that "marriage" is always the
union of a man with a woman, and never the reverse),
and at the ceremony the representative of the woman,
having the right to contract a marriage for her,
must be present. The presence of witnesses is re-
quired, consisting of persons having the right to
exercise authority, such as father, brother, guardian,
patron, or the Arab Kaid, who contracts marriages

* Sura ii, 228. t Sura iv, 38. X ^"''^ '^' ■^'•

0

210 THE DESERT GATEWAY

for orphans who lack representatives. The marriage
must be contracted in the presence of at least two
witnesses, free men, pious, and of age. If the
marriage is consummated without the fulfilling of
these conditions it may be annulled by the law. But
it must be remembered that a father has the right
to insist on the marriage of a daughter, and his
authority over sons is very great, and almost un-
questioned— an undutiful son being very rare.

Actual divorce by the man is rare amongst
Moslems, the Koran having made it difficult, by a
subtle rule intended to outwit the Arab who used to
put his wife away from him and yet prevent her
from having a proper release. But by subterfuges
of reasoning, not at all creditable, the Moslem still
gets rid of his wife very easily, and on very slight
pretext, by a process called repudiation, which bears
with great injustice and cruelty on the woman. If
he tires of her for any reason, or merely wishes to
replace her, he drives her away with a formula of
repudiation ; and if, in this hopeless case, she wishes
a proper release, she can only get it by the money
he paid for her, or a part of it, called a "compen-
sating gift," being returned to him. To use a vul-
garism, "the man has it both ways."

Divorce for the woman is of two sorts, by
"release," and by the law — for her, of course, there
is no "repudiation." By release, a wife may rebuy
her liberty with the aid of the compensating gift,
usually the giving up of her marriage portion, if
her husband will consent fairly. The woman may
apply to the law for divorce without the man's con-
sent, if she proves he is physically unfit or unwilling
for the married state, if he ill-treats her or beats her
without reason, if he refuses her food, lodgings or

DIVORCE 211

clothes, or there is any illegality in the marriage
ceremony.

If the woman discovers a previous wooing on
the part of the husband, even though the other lady
neither refused nor accepted him, this is recognised
as a ground for divorce — all previous betrothal being
legal obstacle to marriage ; and it is forbidden by
express stipulation to promise marriage to a woman
who is awaiting the time to expire for her legal
release from the husband who has repudiated her.

The children of the divorced belong to their father,
but their education and the maternal care of their
infancy is especially confided to the mother. A
divorced woman takes her children with her, and
cares for them until they are grown up, but the
expenses must be borne by the father. If, however,
the divorced wife enters upon another marriage, the
father has the right to demand his children of her.
To the credit of the Mussulman is the fact that he
never allows that a mother may be deprived of her
children in any circumstances but these.

This dark picture of marriage, as it affects the
women, I must in justice relieve by pointing to some
bright spots, for in our own experience we found
some happy homes, where good men — the husbands
of one wife — were caring for and protecting their
wives and children, where sons were cherishing their
widowed mothers with great tenderness, and where
women were living quiet lives secure in the love and
respect of their husbands and children.

The love between mothers and sons is, indeed,
often very deep. It is not a reputable thing to
repudiate a wife, and there are many Arab men of
gentle character to whom personal reputation and
true piety are of the first value.

212 THE DESERT GATEWAY

Unfortunately, to the bulk of the men of Islam,
freedom to follow natural inclination in this matter
is their last and most savagely guarded fort of
paganism, against which civilisation (as the French
Government is well aware) as yet dare not turn
its guns.

The greatest work the Prophet did for women,
after abolishing the barbarous custom of burying
female children alive, was to secure for them what
had always before been doubtful — the right of in-
heriting and holding property, and in insisting on
justice being done to the widow and orphan. It is
not lawful for a Moslem to be heir of a wife without
her will, and the mean trick of retaining them
by constant repetition of a technical marriage after
divorce, just previous to the day on which the woman
would be free, so that they were not really wives,
yet could not be free until the dowry had been re-
turned, is strongly condemned.*

The property of husband and of wife is regulated
by common right. Marriage, instead of annulling
a woman's right, gives her a civil status, assuring
her a marriage portion, and leaves her to the enjoy-
ment of her personal property without compelling
her to contribute to the expenses of the household.
The husband may prevent her, however, from using
more than a third of her fortune in works of bene-
volence and charity- — another thrust, I imagine, at
any possible power of a priesthood, which Mohammet
did everything possible to thwart.

When a Moslem wife becomes a widow she is
maintained by charges on the husband's successor,
and receives by right a portion, defined in the Koran,
of her husband's, as of her father's, property.

* Sura iv, 23.

A MOSLEM'S WIVES 213

Mohammet also set a limit for the first time on
the number of wives. A believer may not have
more than four wives, or if he has slaves, the
number, including his wives, must not be more than
four.* If he cannot make decent provision for more,
he must have only one wife.

Since the French occupation of Algeria something
has been done to put a stop to polygamy by taking
away from any man who indulges in it all civil
rights ; and as this applies to all the Arab officials
and their assistants, through whom the country
is governed, and all officers in the native regiments,
there are, on the surface, signs of advance.

Ali's amused surprise when I asked him to gain
admission for a lady staying at our hotel to the harem
of the Bach Aghar, the Chief of the official Arabs,
may be imagined ! The lady had come on by way
of Tangiers, where the harems are sornetimes very
" thronged."

But there can be no interference with the illimit-
able loophole which admits dependent women, by the
sanction of the Koran — " God desireth to make your
burden light: for man hath been created weak"t—
and I fear in this matter there has been little advance
in principle or sentiment, on which alone can any
real improvement be established.

This must lead to the consideration of another
phase of the woman question, on which not one word
can be found in favour of the Arabs involved in it.
The fact that in a small town like Biskra there are two
of the native streets occupied chiefly by women of
the Ouled Nail tribe admits, so far as I can see, of
no explanation favourable to the men of this race;
of whom the Talmud says that nine parts of sexual

* Sura iv, 3. t Sura iv, 33.

214 THE DESERT GATEWAY

passion have been given to the Arabs and only one
to the rest of the world.

I have had reason to mention several of the mis-
leading ideas, very unfavourable to the Arab people,
which have been disseminated by English writers
with little experience of their actual lives, until they
have become the accepted dicta of stay-at-home folk.

In this particular matter, however, the proverbial
opinion has, so far as I have read it, always been too
lenient. In these lands, it is true, the illegitimate
child is almost unknown as compared with our own
country. But the accepted idea is that this merit,
with the belief that the streets are free from the parade
which is the reproach of our own cities and towns,
should prevent a polyandrous people like the English
from casting stones at the polygamous Moslems.

But what are the facts ? Here is a people who
adopt very early marriage,* to whom what stands
for divorce is made easy ; who are not restricted
at any one time to a single wife, and yet amongst
whom, at the same time, prostitution exists without
— so far as I could gather — a trace of scandal or
shame.

I thought at one time that possibly the stream of
cosmopolitan visitors to Biskra might have some-
thing to do with the extent and quality of this
quarter, but the fact that at places as remote from the
track of the tourist as Touggourt (i8o miles south of
Biskra, in the desert) and Bou Saada, to the north,
there are exactly similar streets, disproves this.

These women, called Alm^es, who have made by
their conduct the name of the Ouled Nail tribe so

* Since writing this I have had a letter from our young school-
boy friend Bendriss, giving me a commission to buy for him a
ring for his marriage I

• 41, JIM,

THE DANCING GIRL 215

infamous, come from the district between Bou Saada
on the north and the Ziban on the south. They are
very dark in complexion, the eyebrows being con-
nected and several small signs being made on their
faces by tattooing; they are much darkened under
the eyes, and their colour is heightened by the
application of grease-paint. They wear their black
hair plaited and brought over the ears and generally
bejewelled. Often round their heads they wear a
very gay little shawl. They are below medium
height, and owing to the way their bright-coloured
dresses, of the simplest cut, are bunched out round
the waist, and are shortened to display their silver
anklets, they have a somewhat stunted appearance.

In the matter of dress the Almees never depart
from that which is perfectly proper and decent ; in
the dance they are as fully clothed as in the street.
The ordinary decolletee gown of the English lady
would astonish them, as much as it does the Arab
man. They wear an abundance of jewellery, mostly
of silver, but there is one of them who struts about
in a sort of trellised armour, which consists chiefly
of English sovereigns, linked skilfully together. Lest
this should be thought too compromising, however,
I must state that this girl knew nothing of the
history of these coins except that their credit was
perfect, and that she admired the St. George and
the Dragon side of this coin more than the design
of the French twenty-franc pieces ! After dancing
in the caf^ one evening she approached a French
gentleman of my acquaintance, who speaks Arabic,
and requested him to ask me to give her an English
sovereign for the requisite twenty-five francs, to be
added to her armour.

There is no more attempt at secrecy in the making

2i6 THE DESERT GATEWAY

of their toilet by the Almc'es— it is often performed
with a hand-mirror and other requisites on their
doorsteps on a sunny morning — than there is of the
purpose of their revoltingly suggestive and ungainly
dancing in the Arab cafes in the evenings, and the
sitting with the lighted candle at the doorways at
night, conscienceless objects of comment to the noisy
crowds passing up and down.

And what an exciting scene of pulsating, nervous
life this quarter of Biskra is when nightfall has
caused the little electric street lights to twinkle, the
candles to flicker by the doorways, the dancing caf^s
to wake up to crowded activity, the while the weirdly
exciting music of the hautboys and the drums makes
an accompaniment to the babble, of which the ex-
plosive Arabic chatter of the men and youths as
they strut critically up and down is the chief element.

The guides now appear with their European
patrons, both men and women, some curious, and
others obviously alarmed by the strange scene, the
significance of which they only partly comprehend.
Without any sign of self-consciousness, your guide,
a mere lad perhaps, will point out to you the special
charms of this or that Almee, stooping to lift a
hand so that you may see the bracelets, or will call
your attention to the beauty of the suite of barbaric
jewellery worn upon the head or across the breast.

All the time the visitor of sensitive temperament
feels that he is walking as it were on the heated crust
of a volcano, which in an instant may flare up or
explode with the overwhelming force of human
passion burning underneath. True, there is a patrol
of six French soldiers always on the move, but their
bare bayonets seem like Mrs. Partington's mop, as,
indeed, several times they proved to be during our

A MURDER OF PASSION 217

stay, when the Atlantic of unbridled passion over-
whelmed such trifling resistance.

Remember that Biskra is a gateway of the Sahara,
and that here resort men who know little or nothing
of any sort of civilisation, coming from tribes who
have changed little, if at all, from the old customs
of Arabia, the same men whom the prophet Isaiah
described as barbarous, in whose tents David, when
he wanted peace, found it woe to dwell, for they hated
peace.* What elemental human forces are stored
up in the minds of these dwellers in the vast and
awful desert, to flash and burst at the first contact
with human life in the populous oasis !

Is it surprising, for instance, that sometimes these
undefended women are murdered in the small,
isolated chambers up the steep, dark stairs, for the
sake of the gold and silver they display as part of
their allurement?

One night during our stay an Arab of the desert
demanded admission and was refused. Black-browed
and in deadly silence he went away, to return in the
deserted hour of the early morning, force an entrance,
and with supple Arab hands strangle the girl in blind
passion. Scorning, this man, to touch her posses-
sions, for his passion was not that of greed, he fled
away across the desert again, to find one day the grip
of the law upon him as he stood in the distant market
of Touggourt.

Never once did I gain the slightest clue to the
attitude of the conscience of the Arab man in this
matter. Unless the Almee can be called a slave, in
the sense of the Koran's use of the word (and I do
not believe it), the teaching of Islamf is as clearly
against it all as is that of the Christian Scriptures.

* Psalm cxx, 5, 6, 7. t Sura xxiv, 2, 3.

2i8 THE DESERT GATEWAY

Ali would not discuss the subject, and always led us
through the town by any way rather than down
the Ouled Nail streets. Another Arab friend begged
us to forget it. But in every other way I found no
sign of reticence or reserve, but a simple acceptance,
as if the matter called for no comment.

I believe that when the Arab is irreligious, he, with
the utmost frankness, admits no restraint of any sort
on his conduct, in this or in any other matter, and
only concerns himself not to be "found out" when
there is a question of legal punishment. When he
is bad, he is very bad indeed. But on the other
hand, the pious Moslem is a man who tries to observe
the laws of life laid down by his Prophet. And I
must add that Mohammet constantly refers to this
weakness of man, and treats it as one to be regarded
leniently.

It would be very misleading if I did not state that,
outside these two streets, which are easily avoided,
the visitor need not fear any obtrusion of this
debasing feature of Eastern life.

How deceptive and complicated a thing is human
nature; how strangely mixed are its motives, and
how curiously elusive it is of the assorting and
labelling by which we try to fix each other's place
in the departments of a moral code ! How infinitely
greater is it than many of the paltry categories under
which we think we can register it; and how utterly
worse ! Who, indeed, can know the spirit of man ?

On the railway station at Biskra one day I saw
a little scene which will give pause to one's ordinary
clear-clipped judgments of the sort so precious to
the complacent ego. A tall young Arab of the tribe
of Ouled Nail was leaving Biskra, to which, with
his mother, he had been paying a short visit. He

AN AMAZING MARRIAGE 219

was taking back with him one of the Almees, a girl
named Zora, who had been in Biskra for two or
three years and was well known as being prettier than
most of her companions, with the intention of marry-
ing her — a not uncommon event, although it is
strictly forbidden to marry a woman of mauvais vie.

Here is this girl, after such an amazing episode
in her career, quietly dressed and fully veiled, being
carefully chaperoned by the man's mother, while
several of the Almees, with tears of sorrow at the
parting pouring down their unveiled and painted
faces, are clinging to her and caressing her with every
sign of childlike affection, while they press upon her
presents of all sorts !

The train moves off ; the girls stand almost
petrified with grief; then with those rending sobs,
the pain of which only children know, they turn
again to the town. Truly there may be "a jewel of
gold in a swine's snout."

CHAPTER X

THE DANCING DERVISH AND THE MARABOUT

Of the dervish dances, a great deal has been written
by visitors to the East, and in sensational fiction the
thrilhng horrors of these exhibitions are painted with
the most lurid of "local colour."

In Biskra, of course, there is a demand for this
sort of thing, and as money will buy almost anything
in these countries, where it is so scarce, the guides
can arrange a dervish performance any evening for
about twenty francs. On Friday, the Arab Sabbath,
a performance is given whether tourists — and their
money — are forthcoming or not.

I was a great puzzle to Tai'b and the other guides
in never showing the least anxiety to see a profes-
sional exhibition of the mad dances. They would
take me in the daytime to see the room in which
the show is given, and would do everything possible
to excite my curiosity. But I was slow to respond;
for one thing I had ccmceived so much affection for
my Arab friends, and so much respect for their
religious devotion, that I detested the idea of seeing
any of their race engaged in practices which, in the
name of religion, degrade human beings.

One evening, however, a party was made up from
our hotel, consisting of some older people and two
or three girls, under the guidance of Yussef.

The room used by the dervishes is small, with
one short form for visitors to sit upon, so that the

220

GRASPING RED-HOT IRON 221

red-hot brazier for the heating of the instruments
is quite close to them, and the space for the dancing
is so Hmited that everything that is done is under
their observation, as far as the dimness of the light
will allow.

The younger members of this party had gone in
fear and trembling, and the interior of the mysterious
chamber did nothing to allay their nervous appre-
hensions.

A dervish and his boy subject arrived, and the
latter was given at once a sort of snuff to inhale.
The brazier was stirred into greater fierceness and
iron bars were pushed into it. The boy, apparently
under some sort of hypnotic control, began to dance,
at first in a quiet way, gradually increasing his in-
fatuated movements until he attained a frenzy which
completely possessed him. His turban gave way
and streamed round him, dropping to the floor, while
he shook his head madly from side to side, his
"Mohammet," or pig-tail, at the back of his other-
wise shaven head, waving wildly and dishevelled in
the air and adding to his uncouth appearance, the
one garment he wore twirling like the skirt of a
ballet dancer.

It was when the possession seemed complete that
he, at a whispered suggestion from the dervish,
pulled the red-hot iron bars from the fire and pushed
them close up under his arms, where he held them
tight. Snatching them again in his bare hand, he
plunged them into the fire again until they were red,
then, holding out his garment, he drew the red-hot
iron across his chest.

Dancing himself again into a frenzy, he took a
sword and thrust the point through his cheek, leaving
a clean-cut hole from which no blood could be seen

222 THE DESERT GATEWAY

to flow; then, taking a long pin — like a lady's hat-
pin— he pushed this through his eyelids, with as little
apparent effect.

Upon the skull of the boy the dervish now directed
heavy blows with a stick, the while he danced with
a fury which increased until he fell exhausted to the
floor, a sign that the performance was over.

This boy did not eat a sheet of glass, as is often
done at these performances, when the boys engaged
will crunch and swallow the glass with apparent
enjoyment.

Early in the performance one of the English girls
present had become so revolted and alarmed that she
fled out of the room into the street, where the fear
that possessed her of the tumult and noise of the Arab
quarter at night was as great as of the frenzied
creature with the red-hot bars inside. She was
between the devil and the deep sea. However,
Yussef comforted her, and under his persuasion she
came inside the door of the room again, where she
stood with her eyes resolutely closed until her friends
were ready to escort her home.

Our friend Ali never relished any allusion to this
matter on our part, declaring that the dervishes were
not of necessity good Moslems. "That," he said,
"is not a true exhibition of Islam. These men im-
pose upon the common people, but others despise
them."

Then, with quiet sadness, he remarked, "At all
times, and amongst every people, too frequently has
weakness been imposed upon by credulity, and en-
thusiasm by the charlatan, by those who profane the
most holy faith ! "

There always have been mystics in the East, where
the inclination to a solitary and contemplative life

ARRIVING AT THE UKKVISH hLlIi JN THE KIVER BED, WITH
NATIVE SOLDIER CARRYING THE SACRED FLAG

PREPARING COFFEE AT THE DERVISH FETE

A DERVISH FfeTE 223

is very deep ; and the dervishes, when they are not
mere artistes, have been men who hoped by a con-
dition of ecstasy to obtain a closer relation to God.
The word dervish means poor, and they are a sort
of mendicant friars. Even the friends of Mohammet
started monastic orders, which he condemned, ordain-
ing that the good things of life were not to be for-
bidden,* and the orthodox have always opposed such
orders.

All the dervishes in Biskra are not in the ranks
of public performers, however, and several times
great fetes were organised, which took no account of
the tourist, but were manifestations of religious zeal
among the poor natives, Arab and negro, led by
holy men whom the people respected.

There was no question of payment to these
dervishes ; on the contrary, they had exerted them-
selves in the same way as a Sunday School superin-
tendent does in England when he solicits contribu-
tions for the annual treat. The dervish had gathered
all the means for a great free feast — kous-kous, roast
meat and bread — to which the Arab shop-keepers had
contributed provisions and the well-to-do Moslems
money.

Such a feast as this was that given one day at
the marabout of Sidi Zerzour, the little mosque in
the river-bed. This mosque is the subject of great
veneration in Biskra. Here the religious recluse
Zerzour lived many years since, in a little hut, and
such were his powers that his frail habitation, set
in the middle of the river-bed, was never touched
or harmed in any way by the great floods of water
which at times rushed down from the mountains and
turned the river into a mighty stream. Here Zerzour

* Sura V, 89, 90.

224 THE DESERT GATEWAY

dwelt for many years, quietly defying the forces of
nature, "secure from rash assault" by virtue, as the
folk believed, of his spiritual power. When he died,
the mosque, or marabout, following the usual custom,
was built on the site of his hut, and he w^as buried
there ; and for well over a hundred years this mosque
has enjoyed the same immunity from the powers of
the great flood.

About three years since one of the periodic floods
swept down the river-bed with such awful force and
suddenness that some ten men and boys of Biskra
were overtaken and drowned, and the French
masonry higher up the river was torn to pieces
as though it had been a child's toy. But again
the flood divided before the mosque and it was
untouched.

Ali vouched for these facts, which were confirmed
by French residents. Asked for an explanation, he
spread out his hands and said, "I cannot explain;
I can only say that the floods have come, and with
all the damage done, the rushing w-aters went past the
marabout without touching it." *

In the river-bed many hundreds of Moslems
gathered, coming in groups as shown in my photo-
graphs, wdth banners waving ; native soldiers,
negroes, Arabs of every sort, w^ith such elderly
women as are allowed, because of their age, to set
aside the veil. Even groups of the Ouled Nai'l came
to dance ! It was a whole-day feast ; when all the
people had assembled there must have been at

* A curious point about these floods is the way the water pours
into the desert, as though this were indeed a sea. In a great
treacherous circle round the point at which the stream enters the
sand, while the water seems to disappear it creates a quicksand,
and woe betide the man or beast who sets fool upon it. Many are
the stories of the victims of this circle of horror and death.

SIGNS OF FANATICISM 225

least a thousand present, and as the day advanced
religious fervour ran very high.

I have a fair experience of the "treat religious,"
and I dare swear that the fame of this particular
festival for the lavish generosity of its free provisions
had something to do with the assembling of this great
concourse. A whole ox was slain and roasted, and
the kous-kous was prepared in the largest of
"coppers," while the coffee flowed in incessant
streams.

In the morning there was dancing, of the pretty
and restrained sort practised by the religious women ;
and but for the shrill you-youing of one of the men,
who at intervals called aloud to Allah to send rain,
the need of which was felt by those Arabs around
Biskra engaged in agriculture, the celebration was
quiet and uneventful. But towards afternoon ex-
citement grew, and when a dervish appeared with
his companions there were signs of fanaticism leading
to murmured threats and an occasional growl against
our presence, and objections especially to our
cameras ; and when a great negro began to brandish
a thick stick at us, I thought it well to put the kodak
out of sight.

The dervish performance was much the same as
I have already described — the red-hot irons, the
sword cuts, the eyelid piercing, and so on. One
performance, however, which raised the enthusiasm
of the crowd was to my mind such a manifest trick
of the cunning old dervish as to show the extent of
the credulity on which these men play.

Taking a handful of sand from the river-bed, he
put it into the hood of his burnous; then, going
towards the brazier, he dipped his hand again into
his hood and threw the sand on to the fire, when a

p

226 THE DESERT GATEWAY

dense smoke and a smell of incense rose up, to the
wondering murmurs of the people. If the sand had
been thrown into the fire direct from the ground,
how much more effective would the trick have been !
These dervish performances always lead to a great
deal of argument. With regard to the hot iron, a
doctor present on this occasion asserted that if the
metal is sufficiently hot the trick can be done with
perfect security.

We were reminded of a story of King Edward
and the late Lord Playfair. The professor was taking
the King — at that time Prince of Wales — through
a modern factory, and when they came to a great
cauldron of boiling lead, Playfair said :

"Sir, if you have faith in science, you will plunge
your right hand into that cauldron of boiling lead
and ladle it out into the cold water which is stand-
ing by."

"Are you serious?" asked the Prince.
"Perfectly," was the reply.

"If you tell me to do it, I will," said the Prince.

"I do tell you," rejoined Playfair, and the Prince,

after he had washed his hand in ammonia to get rid

of any greasy secretion that might be on it, ladled

out the scalding liquid with perfect impunity.

As this subject of the dervish performances so
generally leads to considerable discussion, I am not
anxious to add another to the many opinions of lay-
men. In the year 1909, Dr. W. Langdon Brown,
M.D. (Cantab.), F.R.C.P., visited North Africa and
took the opportunity of watching these performances
with the practised eye of a physician ; and he has
been good enough to allow me to give his opinion.

Dr. Langdon Brown saw a religious demonstra-
tion of the same sect as that which practises at Biskra

SWALLOWING CRUNCHED GLASS 227

— the Aissouias. As I did not see the glass eating,
I will quote his description of this detail, for the rest
giving only the doctor's deductions from the whole
exhibition.

"Seated on the floor were about fifty men and
boys of all ages. The tom-toms kept up an ever-
increasing crescendo. The excitement spread, and the
boys spun round in their places like teetotums. A
weird, high-pitched, vibrating sound, curiously ex-
citing in its efifect, filled the room. It was produced
by rapid oscillations of the tongue in the mouth,
while they uttered a long, shrill cry.

"Several young men rose, and, sobbing, rushed
to the high priest, a fine, dignified old man, who
stood on the outskirts of the ring. In turn he drew
each youth to his shoulder and whispered in his
ear. They kissed his shoulder and returned with
flashing eyes. A junior priest entered with some
broken glass, which he put into my hands to test.
It was in curved pieces, like broken wine bottles.
On seeing this the youths rushed towards him on
hands and knees, and roared like wild animals for
the glass. He dropped it into their mouths, and they
crunched it up and swallowed it ; then they opened
their mouths and bellowed for more. Yet I could
see no lacerations and no blood. Not until all the
glass was devoured was their mad hunger appeased;
then they fell on their faces and remained as if in
a trance.

"Though rather horrible, the whole performance
had great interest to the medical mind. The idea
that it is a fraud practised to get money from tourists
may be dismissed; there is no compulsion (in
Kairouan) to pay anything at all. Most medical
men who have seen the performance incline to the

228 THE DESERT GATEWAY

view that an hysterical condition is produced by the
rcHgious excitement, during which the acts are
carried out in response to hypnotic suggestion from
the priest. The absence of bleeding from serious
wounds is adduced as evidence of a profound
hysterical anaemia of the part.

"The chief difficulty which presents itself to my
mind is how the after-effects of eating glass are
escaped. That broken glass can be swallowed with-
out pain by a hypnotised person is easily understood,
but I cannot understand hypnosis preventing internal
lacerations. I saw nothing to convince me that
the subjects really felt any pain at all during the
rites."*

Sitting in the gardens one morning, we were
joined by a lad whom I had seen the day before
carrying a banner in a dervish procession. He was
a boy whom I disliked, for I knew he was a rogue,
but this morning he looked so dazed and woe-
begone that I took more notice of him than usual.
In answering my questions he seemed so like a
person only half-recovered from a trance that it
occurred to me that perhaps the dervish dance
accounted for his condition.

"Yes! " he had danced the night before.

"What is the hole in your cheek?"

"The sword made it ! "

"Do you like to dance?"

"Yes, monsieur ! "

"Does it give you any pain to do these things?"

"No, monsieur."

" Do you get money for it ? "

"Yes, the dervish gives me money."

* " The Fanatics of Kairouan," in Si. Bartholomew' s Hosfital
Journal, Sept., 1909.

WHAT IS A MARABOUT? 229

The hole in the lad's cheek was a perfectly dry
one, without a sign of blood or inflammation.

Later in the day I asked Taib why the dervish
marabout chose such a bad boy for the dance.

"Oh ! " he replied, "it does not matter if the boy
is good or bad ! The dervish tries many boys, and
if he finds one who is suitable he employs him ; and
if a boy wants money — and does not care to work,
like this one — he will often go and offer himself. No,
sir, I could not do it. Not many boys can."

" Do you like to see the dances, Taib ? "

"Yes, sir ! " (Taiib is proud of his English, which
is growing under my tuition).

"Do you think them pleasing to Allah?"

"Oh, yes, sir; the marabout arranges the dances
to please Allah."

The marabout gets little or no encouragement from
the Koran, the Prophet having had a great dislike
of anything likely to lead to priestcraft in any form.
The natural need of the help of religious men in
those simple people of the East has, however, given
a place to marabouts of different orders, while the
necessity of some sort of government of the church
has led to the setting apart of certain men to perform
the different offices. In towns and villages there is
a parish allotted to each mosque, and the people may
claim service of the "clergy" for marriages and
funerals.

The term " marabout " is, however, of the widest
application, and takes in every man who in any way
devotes himself to religion, from ollicers of the
church, and a dignified scholar of holy life like the
minister of Old Biskra, to the crazed old creature
who dwells apart or roams in or about the squares

230 THE DESERT GATEWAY

and market-places, deeming it meritorious to live
by alms.

A notorious man of this sort is a marabout of
ebony skin, who has a tiny hut near the Hotel Royale,
and always wears a mighty turban of vivid green.
He has a great vogue with Moslem women as a
fortune-teller, and can often be seen surrounded by
a party of them, who have come in from the country
to consult him. The theory is that this man never
takes money on any pretext, and only receives such
provisions as are necessary for bare subsistence. But
one day I caught a gratified woman, after the seance,
dropping into his burnous hood the coppers which
apparently she must not offer to him direct ! Ali
constantly frowned upon this man. "He is not
good," he said; "and the Prophet did not approve
of fortune-telling, saying, Since you have embraced
Islam you must not consult such men."

It is generally held, according to a tradition
of Ayesha, that there is an exalted name of Allah,
which was known only to the Prophet, but might
afterwards be communicated to other persons of great
merit. Mohammet declared that whoever could call
upon God by this name should obtain all his desires.
Some of the marabouts spend much time in en-
deavouring to ascertain what the name really is; and
sometimes one of them, declaring that he has dis-
covered the secret, finds no difficulty in gaining great
influence, which often extends over a considerable
area of the country.

It is under the influence of clever marabouts that
some of the great dervish sects have grown up, exert-
ing enormous power in the Islamic world, and some-
times leading to revolts and war, as in Egypt during
late years. Seeing how marvellously the influence

"NO, THANK YOU" 231

of a man who distinguishes himself in Islam can
spread, it may be hoped that one day a truly great
and good leader will arise who will hold a beneficent
sway, and bring in true reform in many ways,
especially doing something to improve the lot of
women, and, by breaking down the bonds of bigotry,
open the way to a fuller and nobler creed.

A very amusing nigger boy from Touggourt,
who established himself in Biskra as an adventure
in gaining a livelihood from the tourists, was Moham-
met. We knew him first from his coming up to us
to ask, in good French, if we would please tell him
what "No, thank you," meant. He had tried to sell
some native goods to a young lady in the gardens
and she said "No, thank you" to all his offers, "the
prettiest thing he had ever heard spoken ! " When
we told him the meaning of the words he joined in
our amusement at the thought of an Arab admiring
words of such an import. The admiration was
certainly genuine, for, for days he walked about —
this great muscular nigger with a mouth out of pro-
portion even to his gigantic frame — imitating the
sweet tones of the pretty English girl, saying to him-
self in delicate accents, "No, thank you ! " and always
greeting us with the words whenever we met. Until
at last we labelled him with the words for a nick-
name, which I fancy will stick to him for many a
day, as it met with general approval.

This boy wore, tied inside his fez, a charm sewed
in a little square leather case. One day, after he
had been sent by a friend of ours who had some-
times employed him as a guide, to get change for a
franc, and had appropriated the money to his own
use, his patron, to punish him, took his fez and tore

232 THE DESERT GATEWAY

out the charm, saying that when he returned the franc
he should have it again. Almost from that moment
the nigger's spirits drooped, and for some days it
was quite pitiful to see him, for he declared he had
a constant headache and everything went ill with
him ! At last he earned a franc and recovered his
charm, to his great delight, his headache vanishing
and prosperity coming back to him. He had origin-
ally bought the charm of a marabout with a reputation
for this sort of thing, giving quite a large sum for it.

The Arabs have a universal belief in the merit
of talismans, and it can be easily seen that a marabout
who becomes known for the dispensing of effective
charms is in the way of gaining a considerable in-
come, hence the temptation to chicanery.

Every child wears at least one of the little leather
bags containing a charm ; some have as many as
four or five, the little girls seeming to require more
than the boys. Grown-up people, unlike the chil-
dren, wear them out of sight.

It will not do to assume that superstitions like
this, especially as they apply to children, are con-
fined to the benighted East.

Almost the first newspaper I saw on arriving in
England from Africa contained a report upon the
result of the medical inspection of children attending
the elementary schools in Wimbledon.

"Among the younger children," it said, "it is very
common to find concealed a string of beads round
the neck, usually consisting of pale blue beads or
coral. These are not removed day or night, and
are sometimes stated to keep away infection, colds,
and especially ' quinsy.' One person attributes
measles to a child having removed the beads. The

CHARMS AND TALISMANS 233

custom appears to be a prehistoric one, and in some
parts of England practically every baby brought to
hospital is wearing such beads."

And our own cook, having a son in the navy,
seriously bought for him a skein of blood-red silk
(she went out in the middle of the day to be sure
of choosing, in the daylight, the right colour), so
that by wearing it round his neck the unpleasant
weakness of nose-bleeding might be cured, "as the
other sailors didn't like him making a mess of their
nice clean decks."

The charms are worn by the Arabs for widely
dififerent purposes.

"To keep away the Devil at night," smilingly
replied Sardoc, one of our boy friends, answering
our questions about the amulet which wagged from
the top of his fez. Round his neck he wore another
to keep the Evil One away in the daytime.

To preserve the sight, to ensure against want, to
keep off the genii of hurt and mischief, to protect
against snake-bites, and many other things, they are
worn. Even the animals— especially the camels —
wear them round their necks.

A friend of mine found an amulet having, we
imagined, a general application, for in addition to
a verse of the Koran written on parchment, there
were single grains of every sort of corn grown in
Algeria !

The bleached bones of the camel, which are of
special value as charms, are frequently seen tied to
the trunks of the palm-trees, while the skull is much
treasured, and is often put over the doors of Moslem
dwellings, or fixed to the trunks of special trees.

Ali gave to my wife, at the end of our stay, as
the rarest thing he could command to stamp our

234 THE DESERT GATEWAY

friendship, a small silver hand of Fatima, of ancient
workmanship, made by a famous marabout, which
his father had brought from the holy city of Mecca
itself — a treasure, indeed, which was to bring every
blessing of health and good fortune !

The Prophet believed in charms, especially to
avert the evil eye, which was a special dread of his ;
when asked if spells might be used for it, he said :
"Yes, for if there is anything in the world that would
overcome fate it would be an evil eye ! " To meet
a lame person is to encounter it. It is said that
Mohammet knew a part of the Lord's Prayer, and
used it as a charm for this purpose. The claw of a
porcupine, enclosed within a silver case, is reputed
to be an unfailing preservative against the evil eye.

Lieut.-Col. Villot says that "a talisman against
the sting of a scorpion is to carry round the neck,
wrapped in a piece of cloth, the hair of a little child
four months and ten days old. And to ensure
against a fever the Arabs write on the shell of an
egg a certain formula in Arabic — words with no sense
— and place the egg on the cinders of a lire until it
is cooked, when they eat the egg, and gather up the
shell, carefully placing it all in a blue rag, which
is carried constantly on the person." I did not meet
with these talismans.

The evil spirits, against whom charms are worn,
take many shapes, but particularly that of frogs or
toads, and their favourite machination is to flash a
poisonous ray, or still worse, inject a venomous fluid,
into the eyes of those unfortunate beings who attract
their attention. The frequency with which maladies
of the eyes occur in the Sahara gives credence to these
ideas. It is against these enemies, specially, that
charms are worn.

A CHARM FOR WEAK EYES 235

As an example of these charms I will give — of
many I collected — the one used against ophthalmia.
It began with the invocation : —

"In the name of the God of mercy and pity, may
the Almightv be propitious to our Lord Mohammet,
and his family and companions."

Then the verse from the Koran : " We have
covered their eves with a veil and they cannot see."

Ending with the formula, "In the name of Allah !
By Allah ! There is no other God but Allah ! There
is no help but in Allah alone ! "

In many cases a magic square is given, this being
one : —

492

3 5 7
8 I 6

which makes fifteen from top to bottom or right to
left, this being much esteemed as a formula.

Yellow ink is the most effective in some cases,
while other disorders yield to red and blue; and the
charm should be written by a special man of reputa-
tion, on parchment, enclosed in a leather sheath, or
silk bag, and the whole worn as an amulet roimd the
neck, or attached in some way to the clothes.

CHAPTER XI

MANY SMALLER MATTERS. LAST DAYS, AND
A SAD FAREWELL

There are several very pretty and interesting walks
from Biskra, one of the most delightful being to
Sidi B'kat (or Becker). Crossing the Boulevard
Carnot, you take the road leading by the left side of
the house of the Bach Aghar. The palms and the
rippling water, and the sudden opening on the north
to the mountains, with the pretty village leading to
Vieux Biskra, make the objective of a charming little
excursion.

The mosque of Sidi B'kat is particularly interest-
ing, the church itself being more highly decorated
and better kept than any other in the oasis; and
connected with it is a school, in which a number of
youths of the gentle class are being trained in re-
ligious matters, especially, of course, in the study
of the Koran. It is expected, if you enter the school
(which is on the roof) and talk with the pupils or
teachers, that you will leave a small contribution for
the marabout (the general support of the mosque and
school), and you may be sure your gift will be re-
ceived with a gracious courtesy. Do not go on
Thursday, for then there is a general conge for the
lads; or on Friday, for that is the Sabbath holiday.

All Arab education, without religion, is an
anomaly. All consideration of knowledge is know-
ledge of Allah, Beyond this learning is considered

236

EDUCATION AND RELIGION 237

almost superfluous, or even dangerous. The re-
ligious leaders in Islam who teach are of two classes
— those of an ascetic and spiritual life, who educate
their pupils in religious thought, and those who, by
a careful and minute study of the Koran, the tradi-
tions, and the numerous Arabic works of divinity,
have attained a high reputation for scholarship. In
this school at Sidi B'kat the youths are being trained
in both these classes.

These lads are called "seekers after knowledge,"
or, as we should put it, "students of divinity," as
they may possibly become marabouts. The full
course in such a school would be grammatical inflec-
tion, syntax, logic, arithmetic, algebra, rhetoric and
versification, jurisprudence, scholastic theology, com-
mentaries on the Koran, treatises on exegesis, and the
principles and rules of the interpretation of the laws
of Islam, and the traditions and commentaries thereon.

In the junior schools the children learn their
alphabet and the numerical value of each letter ; then
they learn, and write down, the ninety-nine "ex-
cellent names of Allah." Having mastered the
spelling of words, they proceed to learn the first Sura
of the Koran, then go on, gradually, through the
whole book. Those who have seen the children's
classes, and heard their droning as they learn the
chapters from their printed boards, will realise how
little understanding there is of the meaning of the
book at this stage.

Having finished the Koran, his first great re-
ligious duty, the pupil goes on to the elements of
grammar, with a few simple rules of arithmetic. The
elementary schoolmaster is generally a man of little
learning.

Another pretty village is Sidi Lhassan, about four

238 THE DESERT GATEWAY

miles away, through Vieux Biskra, turning to the
left. There is a picturesque mosque here; but the
great charm is that, by walking on through the
village, one comes to the open desert, and if you
have previously missed, owing to the sand storms,
the mirage which is one of the pleasures of the drive
to Sidi Okba, you will enjoy seeing the very fine one
appearing across the desert from this point.

The mirage is best seen about noon, when an
immense lake of water, with palm trees, and even
the suggestion of buildings, and the minaret of a
mosque, are clearly enough seen to prove how easily
thereby travellers in the desert might be tempted to
follow the illusion. The Prophet used the mirage
as an illustration in the Koran, saying that the works
of unbelievers "are like the vapours [or Serdh,
mirage, false appearance] which the thirsty traveller
thinketh to be water, until when he cometh thereto
he findeth it to be nothing."*

A walk to Beni Mora (a little over a mile) will take
you to a little oasis of delicious-smelling mimosa
trees and the only green grass to be found near
Biskra. How often did we spend a morning in this
little paradise, with a book, or chatting with the
different members of the Arab family who do the
whole work of the nursery gardens there for fifty
francs a month ! One of the boys there has a voice
of such musical sweetness as haunts us to this day.

There is a very delightful oasis, hardly known
at all to tourists, to be found in the river bed, past
the French cemetery. Here the bird-life which
abounds is very interesting, and there are nice, sandy
walks amongst the beautiful tamarisk bushes, which
lead to the streams of water coming down from the

* Sura xxiv, 39.

EXCURSIONS FROM BISKRA 239

source, quite warm, in which, any fine day, a number
of Arab men will be found busily engaged on the
family "wash." Think of a climate so dry that the
man's own garments are washed, hung out, and worn
again within two or three hours !

These are walks that can be taken without an
Arab guide.

There are many other places further afield which
can be visited, and where it will be advisable to
take an Arab, as the natives speak only their own
language. You can go on mules and camels to
Tolga (twenty miles), staying at the decent hotel
for a night. The people are very primitive and
hospitable. Some tourists undergo the trial of the
long drive by diligence to Touggourt (about 170
miles), the simplest and least expensive journey into
the desert. You can drive (four miles) to the sand-
dunes, and the drive to the Col de S'fa takes you to a
glorious sunset view.

It is necessary always to arrange to be back in
Biskra, as a matter of safety, at nightfall. The bad
Arab is very bad, and for a gain of five francs the
stealthy villain will stop, under the cover of darkness,
at little.

A certain visitor to Biskra last season caused great
trouble to honest Arabs by refusing to recognise the
possible existence of dishonest ones. He was fond
of walking, and would insist, in spite of warning,
on going long distances which landed him in remote
villages at nightfall. The good men of those vil-
lages, on more than one occasion, would not let him
return to Biskra alone. One evening three of the
chief men of Filiach insisted on coming back with
him and seeing him safely inside his hotel. To
his surprise, when he took out his purse they refused

240 THE DESERT GATEWAY

any sort of recompense. The ^ood Arab is very
good. As AH said to me, " If harm had come to
this man on the way back, the law would have
dealt heavily with the whole male population of
Filiach ! It is a bad road; I, as you know, always
carry a revolver at night."

With reasonable care there is nothing to fear; but
it should be remembered that most of these people
live very near to hunger and destitution.

The Arab children on these walks can be very
troublesome. Great discretion must be shown in
giving them (as everyone is tempted to) sweets, nuts,
and especially coins. I have known a gathering
crowd of impish youngsters increase to at least a
hundred and follow two good-natured but indiscreet
folk as far as Vieux Biskra. I found it a magic
formula, in getting rid of the importunate, to lift the
right hand with the forefinger raised, and while shak-
ing it from right to left, to say Macache ! (No!) or
Makansch ! (None !). It is the Arab's own way, and
with Arabs very effective. The momentary shock of
it, coming from a European, was enough sometimes
in itself to give one the chance of getting away.

Very amusing, as I have before said, is the Arab's
idea of economy. He is not without charity, but his
horror of prodigality exceeds it. Ali took us one day
to see his family garden, which, like all gardens here,
is in charge of a guardian — with a gun — who has a
small mud hut in one corner. The man attended us
and answered many questions about the network of
little canals watering the palms, and other details, and
eventually, at Ali's command, swarmed up a tall palm
tree and slid down to earth again from the top by

SWAGGER ON A FRANC 241

means of one of the branches, which bent with him
until he was about ten feet from the earth, when he
dropped, to our great astonishment, just to show
"how it was done." In leaving I slipped a franc
into the man's hand, hoping — but in vain — that his
master's sharp Arab eye had not noticed what the
coin was.

"Oh, sir, you gave him too much! Allah says
' Be not profuse.' * Now the man will neglect his
work and swagger for days in the cafes."

Poor wretch ; I expect it was a small fortune. But
who could begrudge him the little swagger it might
possibly represent ?

And, as I reminded Ali, the Koran also says, "Be
not niggardly ."f

I have spoken of Messoud, who was going to
"walk about for three months." His patron talked
to him on a second occasion about thrift.

"Sir," he answered, "if when I wake in the morn-
ing I have twopence, then I am perfectly happy. I
spend a halfpenny for a piece of bread for breakfast,
a halfpenny in the middle of the day, then I have a
penny left. Shall I have no faith that Allah will send
me what is necessary before night?"

Does not the Koran say, "The heaven hath sus-
tenance for you " ? J

The Arabs are liars — much as the Irish are; like
them they can be anything rather than ungracious,
and they are even more sagacious and penetrating in
the way they can divine what you would like them to
say. The Prophet hated nothing more than lying,
and whenever he knew that any of his followers had

* Sura vi, 142. t Sura xxv, 67. :f Sura li, 3?.

242 THE DESERT GATEWAY

erred in this respect he would hold himself aloof from
them until assured of repentance. It is said that
Mohammet stated, " When a servant of God tells a
lie, his guardian angels move away from him to the
distance of a mile, because of the badness of its
smell."

The Arabs are so fond of verbal jokes, especially
if they have a personal application, that the Prophet
thought it necessary to warn them : " Do not joke with
your brother Moslem to hurt him." And many a
punning joke did we have in Biskra. Mohammet
enjoyed a jest himself, and I am sure would have
appreciated that English want of humour which en-
ables us to name an ugly cul-de-sac in one of our
slums "Paradise Court," or the "dullest of no
thoroughfares," like that in which Miss Tox lived,
"Princess Place." The Prophet teased his followers
once: "You really must not call your slaves Yasar
(abundance), Rabah (gain), NajTh (prosperous), Aflah
(felicitous). Think what your grand visitors will say
if you call for one of these servants and he be not in ;
you will be told that abundance, or felicity, and so on,
are not in your dwelling."

On a certain evening, when the stars were shining
with that brilliance which is known only to the
southern skies, two or three Arab boys, including
Taib and Zackery, were sitting very quietlv on the
seats in the garden facing the hotel. A friend and I
joined the group, and as the stars were mentioned we
gave the lads a brief outline of the heavenly system.
With quiet respect they listened to what we had to
say, and although Taib was evidently incredulous,
and Zackery with a winning smile made his usual
comment (the long-drawn Oh !), which did not mean

SHOOTING STARS AS DARTS 243

assent, but suggested rather that messieurs were
"pulling his leg," they heard us to the end.

Taib's reply was very characteristic of the Arab
mind, so placidly secure in an absorbing pride, which
the casual observer so little suspects, and yet so
tolerant of the things that European folk babble of so
grandly (and with such ignorance) in the name of
learning and of science. Taught in the Koran almost
exclusively, that sole source of true knowledge direct
from God, these people can afford to be tolerant of
and quiet with folk like us, who think we can find the
great things of Nature out for ourselves, and are bold
in our assertiveness, and inclined — even the best of
us — to that pride of bearing which ought to mark
"God's Englishmen."

"Sir, Ce n'est pas possible! " was Taib's gentle
conclusion. "God made seven solid heavens, one
above the other. The moon was hung by Allah from
the lower heaven as a burning lamp, and the stars
were hung to adorn the lowest heaven with lights and
to direct travellers through the forests and over the
desert and the sea, and to stone the devil with."

"Haven't you seen the shooting stars? " he con-
tinued. "They are thrown by the angels, who keep
guard, when a devil approaches too near to heaven."

"Oh, no, sir," pointing to the sky, "the lights are
all hung from heaven. What you say is impossible!
And those are wrong, too, who say the weather
is ruled by the moon or stars, for it comes from
Allah ! "

And in the Koran there is warrant for each of
Taib's statements. Mohammet condemned those who
studied the stars for any other purpose than those the
boy stated.

But, curiously enough, in spite of this, modern

244 THE DESERT GATEWAY

astronomy is indebted to those Arabs who were called
Saracens for the introduction of exact observations
of the heavens.

In Islam every man has his own star, which first
appears when he is born, and when it goes out he
dies. It grows paler and paler, till none sees it but
he, and then he knows that his end will be very soon.

Moslems believe that the earth was created smooth
and flat, and to keep it firm God put the mountains
on it as stakes. The sun is like a traveller who goeth
every day to his place of rest. "For the moon have
we appointed certain mansions, until she change and
be like the old branch of a palm tree."* The man-
sions are the twenty-eight constellations, through one
of which the moon passes every night. The yellow
and drooping branch of the palm tree may well
suggest the crescent moon.

One habit of English folk which filled Arab
friends with sorrow was that of constant comment on
the weather, and especially our grumbling. The
poorest guide, insufficiently clad, and possibly
hungry, would quietly resist our adverse remarks.

"Ugh!" we would say, "what a cold wind!"
Or, after one of the rare falls of rain, "What shock-
ing mud ! "

"But monsieur surely knows that Allah sends the
wind and the rain ! " would be the invariable reply.

During the whole of the winter — an exceptionally
trying one, from the prolonged cold winds — I never
heard an Arab utter a grumbling word at the weather.
And yet, of course, after the terrible heat of summer, f

* Sura xxxvi, 39.
t Writing to us on July 4th, 1910, Ali said : " In Biskra the
heat is very great. The temperature is at 47 to 49 degrees centi-

ARAB HATRED OF WIND 245

these bitter blasts from the high snow-covered moun-
tains at the north must be much more trying to them
than to us Enghsh grumblers, after the rigours of
"an alleged summer" at home.

But if the Arab does not grumble about it, I think
no one knows the depth of his dislike, and even actual
fear, of certain winds. For the slightest breeze he
will cover up his mouth and nostrils, and will make
it the reason for postponing a journey. I was con-
vinced that much of this dislike is founded on
religious grounds, and this Ali confirmed.

A very deep impression had been made on
Mohammet's mind by the story of the hot and suffo-
cating wind by which the tribe of Ad had been
destroyed. It blew seven days and seven nights,
killing these people as it entered their nostrils and
passed through their bodies. He went in dread of a
recurrence of such a judgment on the earth. Ayesha
related that when a wind was blowing from the same
quarter the Prophet would turn pale and walk to and
fro outside his house, his alarm lasting till the storm
subsided. When she expressed surprise he said,
"Oh, Ayesha, peradventure these winds will be like
those which destroyed Ad."

Wednesday is the day of ill-luck to Moslems,* the
day on which judgments are sent upon the wicked. It
was on a Wednesday that this cruel wind began to
blow; and to this day a wind on a Wednesday is an
occasion of dread. The muffling up of the face is an

grade [about ii6 to 119 degrees Fahrenheit] in the shade. The
Hotel Sahara is shut. The French are all gone, and many of
the Mussulmans are gone to the hills ; no one remains here except
the very poor and those who — like myself — can support the great
heat. Biskra is now very silent : no sound, no French music, only
Arab flutes playing all night in the grande allie of the gardens."
* Sura xli, 15.

246 THE DESERT GATEWAY

immemorial custom, strongly confirmed by Moham-
met. On one of his expeditions, passing through the
ill-fated valley of the tribe which had been so severely
blighted, he muffled his face, and, calling upon his
followers to do the same, galloped away at full speed.

On the diligence one day an American and a
Frenchman, who were passengers, not being able to
forget a strident commercialism, talked long and loud
about trusts and monopolies. Ali was travelling with
me, and as the talk proceeded became grave with
that impenetrable expression which certainly has a
suggestion of haughtiness in it.

"What sort of men are these?" he said to me
later. "Do they not know how wicked it is for any
man to monopolise the necessities of life? Moham-
met said, ' Those who keep back grain in order to sell
at a high price are cursed.' "

I said nothing, but felt ashamed, in the face of
this reproof, that some great truths should be so much
more respected by these men of Islam, whom I had
heard English people dismiss as "barbarians, every
one of them," than by the great civilised nations of
the West.

The sand diviner is an institution with whom the
romantic writer makes great play. A "fortune"
for half a franc is a cheap form of amusement, and
most ladies among the visitors to Biskra indulged in
it. Occasionally the "diviner " had good luck, but I
was always surprised that, considering the powers of
penetration of the Arabs, the thing was not better
done. If these men would only confine themselves
to character reading, they would astonish and amuse
their patrons much more than by undertaking to

ABOUT DATES 247

divine the future. I saw no single sign of that mar-
vellous penetration by which the English girl be-
comes spellbound, after a seance, of which one reads
in fiction. Nor have I heard of any important fore-
cast being verified; which seems a pity, considering
the beauty of the bridegrooms and the magnitude of
the fortunes so generously held in store by that
future whose secrets are literally supposed to be
written in a peck of sand.

Biskra is famous for its dates, and naturally one
hears a good deal about the culture of the palms from
Arab acquaintances. The harvest was in full swing
when we arrived in November, and it was very
interesting to visit the gardens where the fruit was
being gathered, and especially to see the great cara-
vans of camels laden with dates in boxes and skins
which came in every day from the distant oases of the
desert. All the great camel yards were full at night,
and many of the caravans had to bivouac in the open
spaces.

The varieties of dates grown in Africa are infinite
in number, and the crop of the trees, of course, varies
in value. I believe, from different inquiries, I am
right in saying that the average yield per tree is worth
about eight francs, although a very special tree will
sometimes produce over thirty francs worth of dates.
As there are about 300,000 trees in the Biskra oasis,
it is easy to understand how important the crop is to
the population. In 1909 it was a failure, and dire
indeed was the distress among the Arabs of the whole
country, actual starvation overtaking many of them.
Many were driven to highway robbery by their
sufferings. The diligence to Tolga was stopped,
and when the terrified passengers offered their money

248 THE DESERT GATEWAY

the Arabs said they wanted only any food the vehicle
might be carrying.

The French Government exacts a tax of half a
franc for each tree bearing an average yield, an easy
way of raising toll from a primitive race, and a just
one, considering the service to irrigation which the
Government renders.

For all Mohammet's marvellous power over the
Arabs, Nature has proved too strong even for his con-
trol in some things. He prohibited the raising of
money on the security of a coming crop of dates.
But as the life of the Arab is a day-to-day affair, it
follows that he cannot wait for anything to mature on
which money can be raised. Here is the Jew's oppor-
tunity. The yield of almost every date tree becomes
the property of the Hebrew capitalist long before
harvest, for the reason that he has been walling to
advance half the value (or rather of a price agreed
upon, which is greatly in favour of the buyer), the
other half to be paid on gathering.

I only met one or two Arabs who were superior
to this arrangement, and they were rich men, because
they were able to sell their own dates in the best
market.

The palm tree lives several centuries. It is of two
sexes, and the sex shows itself in the spring at the
moment when the blossoms begin to open. It is re-
produced by suckers, which are always of the same
sex as the tree from which they proceed, and it is
planted in March. In April the blossoms open, and
the fertilisation of the female tree takes place. In
some cases a man climbs to the top of the female tree
and shakes over it the blossoms of the male palm.
When the operation is to be done more carefully the
necessary portion of the male blossom is inserted into

THE PALM TREE 249

the other flower, and this is kept in place by a light
ligature, which is soon snapped by the growth of the
fertilised flower. One man alone can fertilise fifty
palm trees or more in one day. One male palm sup-
plies fertilisation for two hundred trees. The female
palm (called Nakhla) is the symbol of grace and
beauty to an Arab, who often gives this name to a
daughter.

A certain number of the branches of each tree
wither every year, turn yellow, and droop to the
ground; these are cut off and are valued as fuel.

The palm tree is known to have only one disease ;
this is caused by a big larval insect with a black head
and white body. It attacks, by choice, the finest
trees. The remedy employed is made of water, salt,
ashes and earth, which are heated and placed in the
top of the tree in such a manner that the mixture will
penetrate into the heart of the tree.

If a tree is getting old and infertile a cut is made
in the bark and it is "bled." If it has become quite
infertile, the whole top of the tree is cut off ; soon new
branches appear, and the tree becomes capable of
bearing fruit again. When the old tree is cut the sap
that first issues is gathered, and it makes an agree-
able drink, either fresh or fermented.

At Biskra there are trees that have been operated
upon in the drastic manner described as often as three
times, but it is the exception for a tree to survive it
more than twice.

A palm tree sells for from five to a hundred francs.
In the Oued Souf district the price of a tree is as
high sometimes as 200 to 250 francs; while at Sidi
Okba, being further north, and where the water
supply is poor and irregular, the price is low. The
Biskra date fresh from the tree is a delicacy which you

250 THE DESERT GATEWAY

must go to Biskra to enjoy. But for sweetness the
little black date that comes from Touggourt excels all
others.

The date which to the Moslem is worth its weight
in gold is that which comes from Medina. It is in
itself a very delicious date, and when brought back by
a pilgrim from the Holy City is highly appreciated.
The Medina date was the favourite food of Moham-
met, who always broke his fast with it.

A French company many years ago took in hand
the scientific management of the water sources of
Southern Algeria. Biskra and other places greatly
benefit from their efforts, and they have created, by
their knowledge of water sources never before sus-
pected, entirely new oases in the desert. At Filiach
— a nice walk — their work of development may be
seen in operation.

In the Koran, naturally, the date palm is often
mentioned. When the Prophet wished to find a
simile to express a trifle, or less, he frequently spoke
(so often as to bore one) of "the skin of a date stone."

" Shall they have a place in the Kingdom who
would noft bestow on their fellow men even the dent
in a date stone ? " *

is another of the several variations of the same idea.
But in Biskra you will often see children with a
number of date stones in a bottle of cloudy-looking
water, which they constantly shake, doubtless with
the intention of adding to the quality of the liquid !
They declared that it was tres douce. And nearly
always in the market-place there were a number of
children grubbing in the mud and refuse for dis-
carded date stones, which they told us were to be

* Sura iv, 56.

KINDNESS TO THE POOR 251

given to the camels to eat ! Who would not sigh
for half the digestive power of the camel, a quality
to be prouder of than those belauded internal water-
bags of which so much is written in the school
lesson-books.

In Christendom we often read of kings washing
the feet of the poor. In Islam the same religious
sentiment leads men of high estate to perform acts
of personal service to the lowly and unfortunate, this
custom having a further effect in reducing the signs
of social difference between them. I remarked on
this to Ali, who agreed, and, as usual, went at once
to the root of the matter.

"Our Prophet always identified himself with the
p)oor and needy. In his own days of want at
Medina, if anyone, pitying his pale face, sent a
present of food, he immediately shared it with ' the
people of the shed ' — the homeless refugees who had
followed him from Mecca and who had no shelter but
the poorly-built mosque with the leaking roof and
the mud floor." To the end of his life Mohammet
would do the most menial work for himself — tar his
own camel, and brand with his own hands the camels
and sheep given as alms. It is the usual thing with
a Moslem going on a journey to ride on the same
camel as his servant, or slave, and walk by turn.
Omar, even after he succeeded the Prophet, used to
lead by the nose-string, in the burning sand and
scorching wind, the camel mounted by his slave,
whose turn it was to ride. Fafima used to sit with
the female slaves and grind the wheat equally.

Next to the date in importance, in the Sahara,
is, of course, the camel. It figures in all the litera-

252 THE DESERT GATEWAY

ture of the East, and supplies figures of speech which
are on every tongue. The stories about it are endless.

Passing a caravan of camels, AH took hold of one
of them, and when it lifted its nose, showing what
looks like a split, he said to us, "Look, that is the
camel's smile. When God created the first camel,
the beast was lonely, and a genie whispered to him
that God was going to create for him a spouse, and
he smiled so broadly that his nose split down the
middle; and it has remained so ever since ! "

The site of the first mosque of Islam was deter-
mined by the place at which the Prophet's camel,
Al Kaswa, halted of her own accord. Bedouin tribes
are often guided in their migrations by the instincts
of their camels ; so the Prophet often trusted to the
judgment of his. He always insisted that the
creation of an animal so marvellously adapted to
the necessities of the East showed the perfect wisdom
of God. "Consider the camels"* was a favourite
text to the unbelievers.

In the native market at Biskra you will always
find camel's milk on sale. The flesh is considered a
delicacy. To the Jews camel's flesh is forbidden, t
and when the Prophet tried to make an agreement
with the Jews as to food, while he made the swine
anathema, he did not venture to strain the Arabs'
predilections so far as to prohibit the camel.

The camel is used for sacrifice on great occasions,
especially on the pilgrimage to Mecca, "when ye
slay them standing on their feet in right order,"|
meaning that one of the forelegs is doubled up and
tied, w^hich is the manner of hindering camels from
leaving the camp. The law of Islam is that the

*Sura Ixxxviii, 17 (Sale's translation).

t Levit. xi, 4. J Sura xxii, 37 (Sale's translation).

GENII, GOOD AND BAD 253

person leading a string of camels is responsible for
anything they may injure or tread down. It is
eligible to cut the animal's throat in slaying it, but
it is more desirable to spear it in the hollow of the
throat near the breast bone, where there are three
blood vessels combined. This was the custom of
Mohammet.

Very interesting are the Arab ideas of jinns or
genii, who, they are taught by the Koran, are an
intermediate order of creatures, capable of salvation
as men are, who eat and drink and are propagated
and die. Some of them are good, and some are very
bad, being mischievous, reprobate, and infidels. To
them were sent prophets of their own race to deliver
Mohammet's message. They are said to become
possessed of the secrets of the future by surrep-
titiously stealing behind the veil.

The genii become invisible at pleasure by a rapid
extension or rarefaction of the particles that com-
pose them ; or they can suddenly disappear into the
air or the earth. They are, however, not all of
one species; there are, in addition to the genii, an
order of fairies, certain kinds of giants, and fates.

Some of the jinns have the power to appear in the
form of snakes, so that the Prophet gave an order
that snakes and scorpions are only to be killed out-
right if they intrude on a man's prayers. On other
occasions a Moslem must require them first to depart,
and if they refuse, then he may kill them. It is
related that Ayesha, having killed a serpent in her
chamber, was alarmed by a dream, and fearing that
it might be a Moslem jinn, she gave in alms, as an
expiation, a sum equal to the price of the blood of
a believer.

254 THE DESERT GATEWAY

A special Sura of the Koran was given as a charm
against one's enemies, whether Satan, jinn, or man :
"I fly for refuge unto the Lord of men, the King of
men, the God of men, that He may deHver me from
the mischief of the steahhily withdrawing whisperer
[the devil w'ho withdraweth when a man mentions
God], who whispereth evil suggestions into the breasts
of men, against genii and men."*

A pious Moslem almost always, when he mentions
the name of Mohammet, says, "On whom be the
blessing [or peace] of God ! " In trouble and affliction
they say to themselves, and to each other, "We are
God's, and unto Him shall we surely return ! "
Before reading in the Koran they say, "I have
recourse unto God." Our friends never spoke of
future plans without saying, "If Allah will ! "

Those who know the nomad Arabs say that they
are possessed of a love for the desert that is passion-
ate and inextinguishable. They love that perfect
solitude where even the birds, more afraid of the
desolation than of man, come to rest close to the
caravans. We have ourselves heard much of "the
call of the desert " of late years, and many a man —
and woman — weary of the stress of life in our crowded
and over-strenuous communities, has gone out, fas-
cinated by the idea of overtaking the secret charm
which breathes in the vast and silent plains, to come
back reinvigorated in body and restored in mind.

In Biskra it is quite a simple matter to arrange for

a desert caravan. Messoud ben Akli, the charming

Kabyle who keeps a shop for the sale of native goods

in the Rue Berthe (on the left-hand side going

• Sura cxiv.

HORSE, BOW, AND WIFE 255

towards the statue of Cardinal Lavigerie), and is, as
I and many friends proved again and again, in every-
way reliable, has great experience in the organising
of caravans. His patrons return from their expe-
ditions delighted with the foresight with which every
detail has been arranged, with the men he sends,
their attention to bodily necessities, and their social
qualities, which make the encampment every evening
gay with song and dance and all the quips and cranks
by which happy folk can create a genial atmosphere
for those around them.

In coming out of any house or building, the
Moslem turns towards Mecca; he does not mention
the fact, and it may be some time before the in-
stinctive turn which he makes is even noticed. After
having prayed at a tomb, or left any sort of offering
at a shrine or holy tree, he will never look back, for
some reason which I could not get explained.

The adult Moslem does not play at any game of
which violent exertion or rapid movement is a feature.
There is a tennis court by the river bed, made for the
military officers, I believe. The Arabs mimic with
delight, and much exactness, the cries of those who
play the game ; but when I asked Ali if he played he
quietly said, "Such games are for the young, or
for Christians if they care for them ; the Prophet
said that all amusements are vain for a Moslem
except three — the breaking of his horse, the drawing
of his bow, and the enjoyment of the society of
his wives."

I have mentioned the extent to which they play
dominoes, and their marvellous skill, which, to an
ordinary European, seems something like divination.

256 THE DESERT GATEWAY

The Arabs are extremely fond of travelling.
"Will you take me to London?" is a question I was
asked many times. One day an Arab lad, to whom
I had scarcely spoken a word, and who knew little
French, addressing me as "vSidi," tried for some time
in vain to make me understand what he had to say.
At last, in despair, I gave him a piece of paper and
a pencil, and he wrote, very badly, "Vous et moi
k Londres ? " AH is to come to us in England when
his "economies" have provided the means. A com-
mon Arab saying is, "Voyaging is victory ! "

To the tent-dwellers the dog is a necessary evil for
their protection, for few Arabs like dogs. Who can
ever forget the sound of the nomads' dogs at night
at the tents across the river-bed at Biskra? I only
knew one Arab who kept a dog as a pet. Ali would
not touch a dog on any account. Mohammet detested
dogs (notwithstanding the "dog of the cave " to which
I have referred), and was on the point of making an
order for their general extinction. They are "unclean"
animals, and when one of them drinks out of a vessel
it must be washed seven times, the first cleaning to
be with earth. Moslems, like many Europeans,
believe that when a dog howls near a house it fore-
tells death, for dogs can distinguish the awful form
of Azrael, the Angel of Death. In Norfolk I have
heard of exactly the same superstition, except for the
name of the angel, firmly believed in by the poor folk.

Dogs, however, may be lawfully trained to hunt.
The sign that the training is complete is that the dog
catches the game three times without killing it. The
dog (also the hawk) must always be let slip with the
ejaculation, "In the name of Allah, the Great Allah ! "
otherwise the game seized by it is not lawful food;

J/N

J!oii,:a„ll. Bhti

A FALCONKK

KINDNESS TO ANIMALS 257

which words must also be pronounced over all animals
when killed for food, to make the meat lawful.

The love of horses is deeply inbred in all Arabs;
the inherited passion of the Prophet for them is still
shared by all his race.

Mohammet, to his credit, taught the duty of kind-
ness to dumb creatures at a time when such teaching
was new. Let Christians ponder that the Moslem is
forbidden to employ living birds as a target for
marksmen !

I have heard that in some Moslem lands, such as
Morocco, there is great cruelty to animals. At Biskra
I saw little of this, finding that the Arabs were quite
aware of the fact that it was wrong for them to ill-
treat their camels and mules, that their Prophet had
forbidden all cruelty. It is even related that when
some of his people had set fire to an ant-hill Moham-
met insisted on its being extinguished.

The long manes and tails of the Arab horses,
which we so admire but never copy, are due to
Mohammet's humane order that they were to be left
uncut, the tail as the natural protection against flies.
Horses must not be hit on the cheek by a good
Moslem.

Ali told us several amusing stories of animals.
When we asked him if animals went to heaven he
said, "The question was considered by Allah a long
time ago, and all the animals were asked if they
wished to enter Paradise. They at once all said yes,
except the donkeys. These were cautious, and asked
if little boys went to heaven. The answer being yes,
they replied, ' In that case, with all respect, we prefer
to go to — the other place ! ' "

Up to Mohammet's time it had been the custom
to tie a man's camel to his grave, where it was left to

R

258 THE DESERT GATEWAY

perish of want. This he aboHshed. The evil eye
had been propitiated by the blinding of a certain
number of the flock or herd; this cruel custom, too,
he stopped, as well as the tying of burning torches
to the tails of cattle to conjure rain from the heavens.
He also forbade that the Arabs should draw blood
from a live camel for human consumption. When
pressed for food on the long marches, as one of the
last resorts, they had drawn the camels' blood, and,
mixing it with chopped-up camels' hair, had cooked
it in skins as a sort of sausage.

Having established Friday as the holy day (he
did not desire to copy the Sabbath altogether), the
Prophet proceeded to glorify it, saying it was
appointed by the command of God, while at the same
time he made the conditions of it fairly easy. In all
his arrangements for Islam Mohammet never ignored
the importance of trade. Even on the great pilgrim-
age the Moslems may turn their travels to profit, if
the chance comes.

The believers must assemble in the mosque on
Fridays and recite two rik'ahs of prayers and listen
to the oration at the time of midday prayer.

Friday is the best day on which the sun rises, the
day on which Adam was taken into Paradise, and
turned out of it, the day on which he repented, and
died. It will also be the day of the Resurrection.
There is a certain hour on Friday (known only to
Allah) on which a Moslem obtains all the good he
asks of Allah ; from which it will follow that the
pious will pray all day, and the wily amongst the
marabouts will lay claim to such profitable divine
knowledge.

After making the stated prayers the Moslem may

ARAB LOVE OF NATURE 259

use the rest of the day in trade and ordinary worldly
occupations, although it will be better if he refrains.
In any case he should "oft remember God." *

There is a very human element in the story told
of Mohammet (to which he himself possibly refers in
the Koran) ; he was preaching one day when a pro-
cession— was it a circus, I wonder? — went by, with
trumpets and drums. This was too much for the
Arab mind ; the congregation almost to a man fled
from the mosque. Mohammet's next text was, "The
reward that is with God is better than any sport or
merchandise. And God is the best provider." f
Which might suggest that there was travelling with
the circus one of those "cheap-jacks" in whom
country-folk delight.

The Arab has a deep appreciation of the beauties
of nature, which is fostered by many splendid pass-
ages in the Koran ; the song to the sun and his noon-
day brightness, and to his redness at the hour of
sunset; the glory of the mountains and the sea; the
beauty of the sky; the wonder of the birds, "subject
to God in heaven's vault." A wonderful psalm on the
benefits of God is that called "The Merciful" (Sura
Iv). Here, from another psalm, is a beautiful
passage :

" It Is God who sendeth the winds and upHfteth the
clouds, and, as He pleaseth, spreadeth them on high,
and breaketh them up ; and thou mayest see the rain
issuing from their midst; and when He poureth it down
on such of His servants as He pleaseth, lo ! they are
filled with joy.

" Even they who before it was sent down to them
were in mute despair." |

* Sura Ixii, lo. t Sura Ixii, ii. Sura xxx, 47, 48.

26o THE DESERT GATEWAY

The following words of a Moslem writer show
this love of nature : " I will never recline beneath the
shade of a spreading tree, and view the fields gay
with flowers, the corn waving in rich luxuriance, or
see the distant forests, without joyfully remembering
that it is my God and heavenly protector who has
thus clothed the creation in beauty."

The dress of the Arab is no more a matter of
chance or fashion than the other details by which his
life is regulated and controlled. Until I had gained
some knowledge of the rules to which all Moslems
conform, even in their clothes there were many
puzzles. In the winter the shivering Arab, still clad
in the thin cotton garments which sufficed in summer,
looks with longing upon the warm clothes of the
European, and, Arab-like, does not hesitate to ask
for them to be transferred to his own wardrobe. I
used to tease the lads by offering to give them my
hat ; which engendered more disgust sometimes than
even their good manners could cover. The Arabs
will wear any garment you like to give them except
a hat ; never once did I see even the poorest Arab
in any sort of European headgear. The fez or
turban, or both, are absolutely universal.

The European trousers tried them most, for on no
account must they wear long garments, of any sort,
coming below the ankles. It is a sign of unforgivable
pride. Fancy the plight of a boy of four feet ten,
say, in trying to wear unaltered the trousers of a
man of six feet, and to conform to this ruling at
the same time ! They did it, however, and, whatever
the result in other directions, the ankles were always
free by four or five inches.

The Moslem must not wear gold ornaments, and

^ THE TURBAN 261

he ought not to wear silver, other than a silver
signet ring on the little finger, and all rings are for-
bidden on the middle fingers. The Prophet once
wore a gold ring, but it distracted his attention when
preaching, so he discarded it for a silver ring, which
has ever since been the correct wear. These restric-
tions do not applv to women. The Prophet always
preferred plain clothes, would not wear silk, and was
once so worried by a new spotted garment that he
would not wear it again.

At a first glance one would not suppose, as is the
case, that the Arab garments are designed almost
entirely "to defend you from the sun."* But AH
and all our friends were firm that this was so. With-
out their form of covering the head, they declared,
the sun in summer would kill them ; and as the custom
seems to have come down almost from the beginning
of time, experience must have dictated it, I should
imagine. Sometimes the turban is as long as twenty-
four yards ; those worn in Africa, however, are not
so long as this. It is made a sign of authority and
honour. The addition of the rope of camel's hair is
generally the sign of social position, as it is very
costly — reckoning by the Arab standard — a heavy
rope costing as much as ^5. There are said to be
no less than a thousand ways of binding the turban ;
and as different races are at once distinguished by the
style of binding, so is the character of each individual
wearer betrayed by the manner of wearing it.

There is no express injunction from the Prophet
about binding the head, but it is generally held to be
more modest and correct for a man. In the case of
women there is an imperative law, for Ayesha relates
that Mohammet said, "God accepts not the prayer of

* Sura xvi, 83.

262 THE DESERT GATEWAY

an adult woman unless she cover her head." For a
man it is generally thought that it is abominable to
say the prayers with the head uncovered, if from
laziness; but it may be done from humility. It is a
sign of great disrespect to receive a visitor with head
uncovered.

The men have their hair shaved in three different
ways, some having about an inch (or a little more)
taken off the edge of the hair all round the head, so
that the turban will cover all the hair; others have
the head clean shaved; while others, again, have all
the hair shaved except a long lock on the very centre
of the crown — a virtual pig-tail — which is also very
carefully tucked up and covered by the turban. The
use of this tail, called a "Mahommed," is not clear.
There is an old idea that the Angel of Death will,
on the last day, bear all true believers by this tuft
to Paradise. By others it is said that it was grown
to save the Moslem, should he fall into the infidel's
power, and be scalped or decapitated, from having his
mouth or beard exposed to defilement by an impure
hand.

Mohammet wore a beard, but there is a general
feeling that the patriarchal ornament may well be left
to the Jews. When the Arab is old, however, he
ceases to shave his beard, but he never neglects to
keep it trimmed. But the Arab ridicules the European
who shaves off his moustache. If you displease them,
they think they are very scathing in asking you,
"Why, then, do you shave your upper lip? "

A curious point is that little bells, as ornaments
for children, in any form, are strictly forbidden.
"There is a devil in every bell," they say. To my
cost I discovered this when I offered a small boy
friend a pair of horse-reins. The child shrank from

THE SHADOW OF PARTING 263

the thing, and the father was hard put to it to get
out of a dilemma in manners without teUing the
direct truth — which the Arab never does if the ex-
planation of a native belief is entailed. It was some
time before I found the truth — and made amends.

Henna is used very largely, especially on festive
and great religious occasions. Taib did not as a rule
stain his nails, but one day he appeared with clear
evidence that he had dipped his right hand, thumb
first, deep into a bowl of henna. He pleasantly
evaded all explanation, and when driven hard by a
friend who did not know him as well as we did, he
actually declared (with some remembrance apparently
of a medical fact gathered from a patron) that it was
iodine that he had used, for rheumatism !

The women constantly stain both the hands, and
sometimes the feet, and religious men dye their hair
and beards with henna, as the Prophet did. Indeed,
the use of this juice of the Eastern privet is a religious
custom.

Three or four weeks before our delightful stay in
the oasis came to an end the shadow of parting was
over us. A strange and almost inexplicable change
came upon our most intimate Arab friends, which
gave us much pain, for we were entirely at a loss to
understand the meaning of the subtle ingenuity by
which they seemed to vanish from our ken and their
quietness on the rare occasions of our meeting. There
seemed to be no question of offence, but just a gradual
diminishing of that charming spirit of friendliness
which had so immeasurably added to our happiness.

At last the morning came when the early train
would bear us away from the desert and bring to an
end the delightful dream-life we had been privileged

264 THE DESERT GATEWAY

to live for so long. We had left our little parting
gifts at the homes of our vanished friends the night
before, with messages of farewell, and thought we
should disappear "in silence and unseen." To our
great joy, however, here on the station were our chief
friends, full of quiet affection for us still, and
evidently as sorrowful at the parting as we were.

It was Ali who put into words the ideas which
had been in the Arab mind, and had found expression
in actions so strange to us. With the palms of his
hands down, he said, "Little by little I have with-
drawn myself, so that the parting should not be so
painful. You leave us here alone, and go to the
great free land, tres grande, tres riche. And we, we
are always sad, very sad ! Our country is not our
own ! Good-bye ! One day I will come to you in
the great London. Write to me. Good-bye!"

And the small boys reported in Biskra — we heard
from a friend whom we left there and have met since
in England — that "Madame cried when the train took
her away ! "

We have had many letters since our return which
have brought us great enjoyment. "Count me always
your friend," says one, "as I count you." "You
have in me a faithful and sincere friend, who will
never forget you." "Your letter comes as a draught
of fresh water to one who is parched with thirst in
the desert, and by my word of honour and the head
of my Prophet I will never forget you." With many
other sentiments, expressed in the fervid poetic
language of the South, in the sincerity of which we
choose to place our faith.

APPENDIX

There arise certain questions of climate, means of travel,
clothing, and costs on which I wish to add a few words
to help those who may be projecting a journey to the
desert.

First as to climate : I do not think Biskra (or any
other desert town) is suitable for people who are actually
ill. The dryness of the air is certainly a wonderful thing,
the sunshine is glorious, and the thought of strong
sulphur baths is an attraction ; but the risk of cold winds
in January and part of February must be considered ;
and the baths are at present so primitive and so far away
as to put them out of court for a really delicate person.
The lack of an English doctor, and of a modern chemist,
is also a serious drawback. These remarks do not apply,
however, to anyone in average health.

For those who are merely " off colour," or in want
of a stimulating change, I believe no journey they could
take would do so much for them. This book, I hope, has
shown what inspiration and happiness one may get
amongst the native folk, in a climate which is marvellously
revitalising to the brain and nerves. From October to
Christmas, and from the end of February to May, nothing
could be more perfect. The only warning necessary
applies to the first few days of a stay : always remember
that there is a great contrast between the hot sunshine
and the cool shade, or you will get a " desert cold," a
very bad variety indeed.

In the matter of clothes, nothing out of the way is
required. Woollen undergarments should always be

265

266 APPENDIX

worn, and for the rest, clothes such as one wears for a
fine summer in England. It will be of interest to ladies
to know that the laundry is a very expensive item, owing
to the excessive hardness of the water. Some garments
which at home would cost fourpence to wash, in Biskra
cost fifteenpence.

The cost of living is moderate and the food very good,
considering the difficulties in the matter of supply. The
water supply is excellent and reliable.

The hotels are excellent. I have said we preferred the
Hotel Sahara; we liked the management, and the position
opposite the gardens is, to my mind, a great attraction.
The most sumptuous (and most expensive) hotel is the
Palace, to which the Casino is attached. The Royale is
the largest hotel, to which the greater number of tourists
go; it is slightly more expensive than the Sahara, and has
the advantage of a very fine flat roof and the famous
minaret. In the same class with the Sahara are the
Victoria, the Ziban, and the Oasis, from all of which
we heard good reports. A smaller, new hotel, the
Excelsior, standing in its own grounds, offers special
advantages. It may be taken that terms will range from
ten francs a day (for a long stay) at the majority of these
houses, to twenty or twenty-five francs at the Palace.

As to the means of getting to Algeria : it should be
generally known that a most useful and well-managed
inquiry office in London is at the free service of the
public. A letter to the manager. Daily Mail Travel
Bureau, 130, Fleet Street, London, brings by return of
post full details of routes, times, fares, hotels, etc., with
personal information intelligently bearing upon each
inquiry. This bureau has opened a fine new office in
Paris — 12, Boulevard des Capucines, which will be a great
convenience to travellers.

Messrs. Thomas Cook and Son, of Ludgate Circus,
London, of course, supply all travel information, and
their through tickets are indispensable. Their agents

APPENDIX 267

meet one at all chief points of the journey (except in
Algiers itself), and their offices are found in every im-
portant city on the Continent.

In Algiers every consideration and courtesy will be
found at the Universal Tourist Office, 3, Boulevard
de la R^publique, facing the harbour.

The shortest route to Biskra is by way of Dover,
Calais, Paris, Marseilles, Algiers, thence by train — from
twelve to eighteen hours. The cost right through is
£10 IIS. 2d. first-class; ;^7 7s. 8d. second-class. The
second-class trains are quite comfortable. Many now
prefer to travel from Paris to Genoa, where two lines of
larger steamships are available for crossing the Mediter-
ranean— a sea with evil tempers which belie its fair name ;
indeed, the Gulf of Lyons should be coupled with the
Bay of Biscay. By the shortest route you may, by
travelling right through, reach Biskra from London in
three-and-a-half days. Going by Genoa there is the extra
train journey, and the boats take some twelve hours
longer ; that is, Marseilles— Algiers, twenty-five hours ;
Genoa — Algiers, thirty-six. The cost is a little more.
Personally I prefer not to venture on such a sea in any
boats smaller than those going from the Italian port. If
you like the sea, you may join these boats at Southampton,
and reach Algiers by sea in six days.

These two lines of steamers are excellent in every
way, as I know from personal experience. The Nord-
deutscher Lloyd boats go every fortnight from Genoa to
Algiers ; they are splendid vessels, capably managed, and
the catering is luxurious. Through rates from London,
vifi Dover, Calais, Paris, Genoa, Algiers, first-class
;^io los. lod.; second-class (quite nice) ;^7 7s. id. The
London office is Keller, Wallis and Co., 26, Cockspur
Street, Charing Cross.

The other line, which is excellent in every way and
somewhat cheaper, is the Nederland Royal Mail Line,
of which the boats leave Southampton every alternate

268 APPENDIX

Tuesday for Algiers, and leave Algiers every fortnight for
Genoa. Rates : Southampton to Algiers by sea, first-
class £io IDS. (it must be remembered that this includes
living for a week); second-class £6 ids. The London
address is H. V. Elkins, 2, Panton Street, Haymarket.

A few days may be spent very pleasurably in Algiers,
where is the old Arab quarter and the beautifully-planned
French city. In the town the Hotel des Etrangcrs is
comfortable, and moderate in its charges; if the bustle and
noise of the town are objected to, I strongly recommend
the charming and beautifully situated boarding-house
called the Olivage, three miles up the hill at Mustapha
Superieur. It is easily reached by the electric tram,
which also passes the famous Hotel St. George, one of
the most delightful and luxurious hotels anywhere to be
found. Out of the town, too, is the Hotel Beau S^jour,
very moderate in its terms. The H6tel Continentale com-
mands a view of the glorious bay, and is away from the
noise of the tram line.

INDEX

Abdallah, 9

Ablutions, rules for, 191

Abraham, 64, 104

Abyssinia, king of, his interest in

Mohammet, 130
Achmed, " poor," 30
Ahmed, a guide, 6
Ali ben Messoud, 10, 60, 75, 94
Ali, Mohammet's son-in-law, its
Alms, 57

Amputation, Arab dislike of, 119
Angels, recording, 33
Animals, kindness to, taught by
Mohammet, 257
„ stories of, 257

Anklets, 71

Arrogance, Arab dislike of, 33
Astronomy, Arab system of, 243
Ayesha, Mohammet's wife, 176

„ a tradition of, 230
Azrael, the Angel of Death, 129

B

Bakr, Abu, 147

Barley, of the Prophet, 64

Baths {hammams), 193

Batouch, 7

Bench, " sitters on," 75

Bendriss, 41

Beni Mora, oasis of, 238

Betrothal, Arab, 202

Bible, Mohammet's knowledge of

the, 182
Biers, roi
Bilal, 107
Biskra, Arab market at, 7

,, baths at, 193

,, climate of, 265

„ farewell to, 263
fete at, 58

,, first impressions of, i

„ gardens at, 21

„ Great Fast at, 44

„ hotels at, 266

„ how to get to, 266

„ last days at, 236

„ sunset at, 18

B'kat, Sidi, village of, 236

Blind, the, 9

Bookshop, a native, 11

Bride, the bridegroom's provision

for, 79
Bridge, " al Sirat," 133
Brotherhood in Paradise, 136
Brown, Dr. Langdon, on dervish

performances, 226

Cakes, Arab, 92
Calendar, Moslem, 45
Call to prayer, 15
Camel, the, 251

Celibacy, Mohammet's condemna-
tion of, 79
Chants, Arab, 98
Charms, 232, 254
Cherib, Ahmed, 6
Chetma, 201
Christianity, difficulty of Moslem

conversion to, 187
„ friendliness of Islam

to, 183, 184
Christians, Arab affection for, 53
Cigarettes, Arab love of, 5
Circumcision, 66
Cleanliness, Arab, 195
Coffee, Arab love of, 61
Col de S'fa, the, 239
Collection at the Great Prayer, 56
Contentment, Arab, 244
Crucifixion, Mohammet's explana-
tion of the, 186

Dates, 247

Death, Moslem ideas of, 120
Deliverance, day of, 167
Deportment, Arab, 31, 33
Dervish, the dancing, 220
Desert, a Frenchman's love of the, 96

„ excursions to the, 254
Dignity, Arab, 35
Divorce in Islam, 210
Dogs, Arab dislike of, 256

969

270

INDEX

Dress, Arab, 260

Dying, services to the, 121

B

Economy, Arab ideas of, 240, 241
Education, Arab, 237
Edward, King, story of, 226
Ethics of the Koran, 189
Europeans, Arab contempt for, 28
Eyes, Arab hatred of blue, 128

Fast of Ramadhan, 44

Fanaticism, Arab, 225

Fatima, 8

Feast, the Great, 52, 58

Fidelity, Arab, 152

Filiach, 239

" Flight, tlie," 155

Flute, the Arab, 98

Fontaine-Chaude, 119

Formalism, rules against, 189

Friday, establishment of, as Holy

Day, 258
Friendship, Arab, 80
Frugality, Arab, 61
Funerals, Arab, 123

Gambling, 62

Games which Arabs do not play, 255

Garden, a palm, 72

Genii, 64, 99

„ resurrection of, 131, 253
Glass, eating, 226
Graves, how dug, 124

H

Hair, first cutting of, 65

„ shaving of, 262
Hands, language of, 41
Handshaking, 29
Harem, Mohammet's, 160
Hell, the Moslem, 139
Henna, use of, 263
Horses, Arab love of, 257
Hospitality, Arab, 70
Houses, how to enter, 68

„ interior of, 69
Hiunour, Arab, 4

Idols, 81

Images, 8r

Imam, office of, 54

Immortality, Moslem ideas of, 129

Iron and genii, 99

,, grasping red-hot, 225
Irrigation of the Biskra oasis, 73
Islam, Europe's debt to, 177

,, the religion of, 188
Israfll, the Angel of Judgment, 131

Jean-Jean, Madame, 3
Jesus Christ, 132

,, „ why Mohammet was

not a follower of, 178
Jewellery, Arab women's, 71
Jews, Arab hatred of, 96, 161, 167,

168
Judaism and Islam, i8i
Judge, an Arab, 80

Khadijah, Mohammet's wife, 144
Koran, deterioration in tone of, 158
„ ethics of, 189
,, inception of, 146
„ opinions concerning, 179
„ repetitions of, i6o
Kous-kous, loa

Lamb, killing of a, for the feast, 65
Landon, the Jardin, 83
Larbi and his flute, 86
Lhassan, Sidi, village of, 237
Lying, sense in which Arabs are
addicted to, 24I

M

Manners, Arab, 24, 72
Marabout, a mad, 15, 95
Marabouts, 229
Market, the Arab, 6, 7
Marriage, an Arab, 199

„ customs, Arab, 202

Martyrs, souls of, 120
M'cid, 90

INDEX

271

Mecca, Kaaba at, 143

„ Mohammet's return to, 173
„ opposition to Mohammet at,

149, 169
„ pilgrimage to, established,

174

Medicine-men, rlS

Medina, 153, 154, 162

Meekness, Arab, 34

Messoud ben Akli, 254

Messoud, on Providence, 241
,, on work, 25

Mimicry, Arab love of, 26

Minarets, 107

Mirage, the, 238

Modesty, Arab, 32, 34

Mohammet, as ruler, 157
birth of, 142
death of, 176
early character of, 144
first visions of, 145
influence of, 141
Koran completed by, 175

Monker, a terrible angel, 126

Moimtains, Arab idea of, 244

Mourning, x\rab, 127

Mozabites, the, 36

Muezzin, the, 107

Musk, 13, 14

Mutton, Feast of, 63

N

Nakhla, Ali ben Messoud's sister,

202
Naklr, a terrible angel, 126
Nature, Arab love of, 259
Neighbours, duty to, 74
Nicknames among Arabs, 30
Night of Power, the, 46
Noah, 132

Observation, Arab powers of, 34
Okba, Sidi, 94
Omar, 148, 151
Ould-Biskra, story of, 17
Ouled Nails, 67, 213

Palm gardens, 72, 249

Paradise described in the Koran,

134
„ women in, 137, 209

Parting, a sad, 264
Pestilence, 120
Philosophy, Arab, 21

Pictures, Arab dislike of, 81
Prayer, attitudes of, 19, 191

„ call to, 15

„ direction of, 164
'Vj „ on Friday, 258

„ right clothes for, 54

„ the Great, 48, 191
Pride, Arab, 34
Politeness, Arab, 112
Poor, the, 57, 140, 251
Pope, Mohammet's opposition to

the, 186
Pork, Arab hatred of, 41
Puns, Arab love of, 242

R

Ramadhan, 44, 64

Roman Empire and Islam, 172

Rosary, the, 31

Sahara Hotel, 3

Sand diviners, 246

Sassi, 25, 27

Scent, Arab fondness for, 13

Scribes, 1 1

Sickness, Arabs in, 117

Sidi Okba, 94

Sidrah tree, the, 47

Simplicity, Arab, 60

Slaves, Islam's indebtedness to, 168

Smaiin, 40

Sneezing, 30

Suicide condemned in the Koran,

120
Sunset, a glorious, 16

Talb, 5. 35. 65, 67, 74. 93. 242

Talb's sisters, 69, gt

Ta'if, Mohammet driven from, 152

Talib, Abu, 149

Talismans, 232

Temperance, Arab, 6r

Tolga, 239

Touaregs, the, r6

Touggourt, 239

Transubstantiation, Arab attitude

towards doctrine of, 185
Travelling, Arabs and, 25f
Tree, the Holy, 83
Trinity, Arab attitude towards

doctrine of, 185
Trusts, commercial, forbidden, 246
Turban, the, 261

272

INDEX

Veil, the, and Arab women, 207
Vice, European, at Biskra, 63

W

Wailing forbidden by tlie Prophet,

127
Walking, Arab ideas concerning, 33
Wall between heaven and hell, 138
Water supply, regulation of, 73
Weather, Arabs' quiet endurance of,

244
Wednesday, the unlucky day, 245
Whistling among Arabs, 29
Wind, Arab hatred of, 98, 245
Wine, Arabs and, 61, 108, 116, 165
Wives, number of, 213

Women and inheritance, 212
,, and the veil, 207, 208
„ death of, in child-bearing,

129
,, in Paradise, 136
Work, Arab ideas of, 22
„ Messoud on, 25

Yawning, Arab dislike of, 30
Year, the Moslem, 46
Yussef, 198

Zackcry, 196, 242
Zam-zam, the waters of, 122
Zerzour, the Feast of Sidi, 223

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