Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 2.djvu/96

 76 NORTH-WEST AFRICA. very limited. The gum-tree, especially in the Wndy Lajal round about the Ubari oasis, yields an excelltmt gum, by no means despised by the Targui when there is a dearth of other aliments. But of still more importance in the economy of the country are the plants yielding fodder, such as luzeme, clover, and several varieties of melilotus (sweet clover). In Fozzan the date finds a thoroughly congenial home. According to the natives, it thrives best in the Hof ra district, and especially in the oasis in the centre of which lies the town of Traghcn. Nowhere else is it found growing in greater profusion, or with such dense masses of foliage. No less than three hundred varieties are reckoned in the whole country, of which over thirty occur in the single oasis of Murzuk. Forests springing spontaneously from the scattered date-stones are so numerous that their produce is left to the gazelles. In the oases the cultivated palms are crowded together in prodigious quantities, in that of Murzuk alone no less than a million being claimed by the Turkish Government, which also possesses large numbers in other plantations. In a country so destitute of other plants, it is impossible to overrate the economic importance of this marvellous plant, whose fruit, stem, branches, sprouts, fibre, sap, are all turned to account. Dates and cereals form the staple food of the settled communities, while for the nomads the date, with camel's milk, yields an all-satisfying and perfect nourishment. The domestic animals, including even the dogs, also consume this fruit, either as their chief food, or in the absence of their more customary aliment. It has been noticed that nearly all the inhabitants of Fezzan suffer from decayed teeth, the cause affecting them being attributed to the too exclusive use of the date, which, although greatly superior to that of the Tripolitan seaboard, is still inferior to the Egyptian and Algerian varieties. Fauna of Fezzan. The absence of pasturage prevents the native populations from occupying themselves with stock-breeding in a large way. The domestic animals are of extremely small size, and relatively no more numerous than wild animals, which find but a scanty supply of herbs and water. The " lion of the desert " does not prowl over the solitudes of Fezzan, where the wayfarer meets neither the panther nor the hyajna. Not even the jackal's nightly howl is heard round the A'illages and cam ping- grounds, which are infested only by tlie long-eared fennec fox. Gazelles and antelopes, described by Lyon under the name of " buffaloes," must be very rare, this game being nowhere exposed for stde in the market-places. A few vultures, wall falcons and ravens, swallows and sparrows, everywhere the constant associates of man, are almost the only birds seen in Fezzan, except during the summer months, when doves and wild duck arrive in larjre flocks from more southern regions where they have passed the winter. In the courts and farmj'ards are seen neither poultry nor pigeons. Goats and sheep degenerate, and nearly all those bred in the country are characterised by long bony frames, stiff tail, small head, and fine coats. The horned cattle.