Page:The Burton Holmes lectures; (IA burtonholmeslect04holm).pdf/183

 HENCE STARTS THE SAHARAN LIMITED MAIL

THE NORTH SHORE OF THE SANDY SEA

with the authorities of the postal-service to carry us to Touggourt, allow us two days there, and bring us back to Biskra, all within the week. We hope to find strange things out there upon the desert, but surely nowhere shall we find more lovely scenes, more passively beautiful pictures, than those presented by these Biskran byways into which we turn as we retrace our steps toward the French quarter. Why suffer the discomforts and fatigue of a journey in the desert, you may ask,