The Project Gutenberg EBook of Lippincott's Magazine, Vol. 22, September,
1878, by Various

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Title: Lippincott's Magazine, Vol. 22, September, 1878

Author: Various

Release Date: August 5, 2007 [EBook #22250]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIPPINCOTT'S, VOL. 22, 1878 ***

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LIPPINCOTT'S MAGAZINE

OF

_POPULAR LITERATURE AND SCIENCE._

SEPTEMBER, 1878.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1878, by J. B.
LIPPINCOTT & CO., in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at
Washington.

Transcriber's note: Minor typos have been corrected and footnotes
moved to the end of the article.

OUR VISIT TO THE DESERT.

[Illustration: CONSTANTINE.]

One of the most interesting and amusing episodes in our many
Mediterranean and North African wanderings was a visit to the Sahara.
Although we penetrated but a short distance into the Great Desert, we
were there introduced to aspects of Nature and to phases of life wholly
new and strange to us.

We had been spending the winter in Algiers, and were unwilling to return
to Europe without seeing something more of the African continent. When,
therefore, the sunny winter gave place to still more sunny spring, we
set out upon our travels--first, eastward by sea to Philippeville, and
then southward to the desert.

The French colony of Algeria, as every one knows, stretches along the
African coast from Morocco to Tunis, and from the Mediterranean
southward to the desert. It is divided into three provinces--Oran,
Algiers and Constantine, the central one being the most important and
that from which the whole country takes its name. From either of these
provinces it is possible to penetrate inland to the Sahara, but this is
done most easily from the eastern settlement, Constantine. We therefore
made choice of this route, and on a bright morning early in April
started from Algiers for Philippeville. The voyage along the coast
affords some glimpses of fine scenery. The Bay of Bougie especially,
surrounded as i