oria, with pride, that her cousin
was immensely respected by the French Government. He had done much for
France in the far south, where his family influence was great, and he
had adjusted difficulties between the desert men and their rulers. "He
is more tolerant than I, to those through whom Allah has punished us for
our sins," said the woman of the Sahara. "I was brought up in an older
school; and though I may love one of the Roumis, as I have learned to
love thee, oh White Rose, I cannot love whole Christian nations.
Maieddine is wiser than I, yet I would not change my opinions for his;
unless, as I often think, he really----" she stopped suddenly, frowning
at herself. "This dreariness is not _our_ desert," she explained eagerly
to the girl, as the horses dragged the carriage over the sandy earth,
through whose hard brown surface the harsh, colourless blades of _drinn_
pricked like a few sparse hairs on the head of a shrivelled old man. "In
the Sahara, there are four kinds of desert, because Allah put four
angels in charge, giving each his own portion. The Angel of the Chebka
was cold of nature, with no kindness in his heart, and was jealous of
the others; so the Chebka is desolate, sown with sharp rocks which were
upheaved from under the earth before man came, and its dark ravines are
still haunted by evil spirits. The Angel of the Hameda was careless, and
forgot to pray for cool valleys and good water, so the Hameda hardened
into a great plateau of rock. The Angel of the Gaci was loved by a
houri, who appeared to him and danced on the firm sand of his desert.
Vanishing, she scattered many jewels, and fruits from the celestial
gardens which turned into beautifully coloured stones as they fell, and
there they have lain from that day to this. But best of all was the
Angel of the Erg, our desert--desert of the shifting dunes, never twice
the same, yet always more beautiful to-day than yesterday; treacherous
to strangers, but kind as the bosom of a mother to her children. The
first three angels were men, but the fourth and best is the angel woman
who sows the heaven with stars, for lamps to light her own desert, and
all the world beside, even the world of infidels."

M'Barka and Maieddine both talked a great deal of El Aghouat, which
M'Barka called the desert pearl, next in beauty to her own wild
Touggourt, and Maieddine laughingly likened the oasis-town to Paris. "It
is the Paris of our Sahara," he said, "and all the des