on as in northern
Africa. The number of productive trees there is estimated to be anywhere
from ten million to twenty million, though the estimate is but little
better than a guess. At its full growth the date palm is a most
beautiful object. Usually the feathered tops of the trees are the only
foliage to relieve the harsh landscape. Like the bamboo, every part of
the tree is used. The leaves may be made into fans, or shredded and
woven into mats. The wood is used in making the framework of buildings,
and the waste material is very handy as fuel. A refreshing fermented
drink and a most vile liquor are prepared from the juice. But the fruit,
when properly prepared, is the chief food of many thousands of men and
beasts. Even the stones, or "pits," of the dried fruit are useful; those
which are not sent to Italy to be used for adulterating coffee are made
into an "oil-meal" for fodder.

Esparto grass, called "alfa" or "halfa" by the Arabs, is another unique
product of the Sahara. In spite of its name, it is not a grass but a
flowering plant whose stalk has a tough fibre useful in making cordage
and paper. When the plant turns brown and has become dry to the root,
the esparto picker gets busy.

By four o'clock in the morning he is at work, his heavy woollen baracan,
or blanket, wrapped tightly about him, for the air is not only chilly
but almost freezing cold. By sunrise the chill begins to disappear, and
a few brief moments is the only interval between piercing chill and
midsummer heat. The baracan is quickly shed and the fez, if the picker
is rich enough to possess one, is discarded for an esparto hat with rim
of mammoth proportions. Esparto grass sandals protect his feet.

Almost all the animal life of the Sahara is deadly, and the esparto
grass picker is constantly facing danger. The clump of esparto, into the
bottom of which he must reach to cut the mature stalks, is quite likely
to be the lair of a poisonous viper; and if the reptile sinks its fangs
into the flesh of the unfortunate picker, long weeks of suffering and
disability--perhaps death--are in store for him. Between the bite of a
rattler and that of an esparto viper there is little to choose.

The scorpion is another peril to the esparto picker. The great
rock-scorpion of the Sahara is about as ugly as the centipede of Arizona
and Mexico; in size it is also about as large--from six to ten inches
in length. Its sting, too, is about as dangerous as the fangs