"SNOW IN SAHARA"

Evening Post, Issue 26, 31 January 1935, Page 14

"SNOW IN SAHARA"

THE COLD OF THE DESERT

CLIMATIC CURIOSITIES

TRAVELLER'S ACCOUNT

(Written for "The Post" by F. W, Turkert, C.M.G., A.M.1.C.E.)

. A cable mesa age published in "The Post" yesterday reported that "snow fell in the oasis of Bu-Saada, a freezing temperature replacing the customary torridity." Thi3 referenco recalls my own experien>co there.

One usually thinks of Africa generally and the Sahara Desert particularly as the hotteut part of the globe, but though torrid heat is felt there it can also be very cold. ;. On December 6, 1926,1 motored tsyuumetalled; tracks across the desert .'torn another oasis, Biskra, to Bu-Saada, over 200 kilometres. Our open car had a windscreen in front of each seat. I wore thick flannel pyjamas under my ordinary clothes, a- great-«oat which I considered adequate in Canada and Sweden, a mackintosh over the great-coat, a jthick scarf a la Balaclava round my [head, kept in place by a felt hat, also a lap rug wrapped > round my legs. Nevertheless I got so stiff with the cold that when I got out of; the car I positively crackled. My wife had] double underclothing, a fur coat, and a mackintosh, with rug of course, and scarf. My daughter and her girl friend wore all the underclothing they had with them, as well as all the wraps, and in the afternoon they were so chilled and exhausted by the cold and wind, though it was a beautifully fine day, that they sat on the floor Of the ciar with their heads held below the level of the doors and completely enveloped in their mackintoshes, heads and all. They had lost all interest in scenery, etc.

At Bu-Saada the foreign, traveller is catered for at a fine concrete hotel, the "Trans-Atlantique," ,steam heated and electric-lighted throughout, though tho oasis is nearly 100 miles from any railway. ■■■ ■ . ■.' ■:■■ ■ ■ ■ ■ .■ . . - That our experience of cold was not unusual is proved by two main points; firstly, the steam heat in the hotel, and (secondly the clothes worn by the native inhabitants. The material of the flowing robes in which'the Ajabs were clad was. as thick as. a blanket and much closer woven, and from what I saw of: their houses, in the majority of which there was no furniture, not even a box, and no clothes pegs, the one suit has to serve all the year round. Their heads and faces are swathed in numerous folds of cloth, so that all that is visible is their eyes,' unless- under shelter. When inside ? or in the lee of a building, they unwind a.few turns. The oasis, apart from the cold, ia quite interesting.

WATER USED TO THE LIMIT. The oasis no doubt owes its existence to a very small creek which comes out of the mountains to the north and which is utilised to the utmost. It is •used.for turning a mill, for drinking, for washing, and then for irrigating to the absolute limit. ; I do not know that the above order, is adhered to. In fact I know it is not, but the water is. made to work till it is all exhausted. And I think it can safely be said that not one more date palm could be grown than is now grown, and where the last palm rears, its feathery head the desert, cold and torrid by turns, meets it without the slightest .suggestion of tapering off. Within the width of a mud wall everywhere the character changes from fertility to the last,word, in sterility. From what we had seen of the Bedouins in other oases, and in caravans, we had not expected to see anyone washing, but we did see men washing with their feet, in water below the town through which it had already acted as main drain and which produced a stench that the camels could lean against. It makes'you wonder why wash at all, and explains why all the undyed clothes, or nearly all, looked like an unshorn merino ram. The town—save .the mark-7-was bu}lt on a rock slope so as not to occupy, with anything so useless as a house or street, land which might grow food. As a result of this rocky, sloping site the place is much pleasanter both to the ,oye and the nose than other oases on, the flat. There is a small French garrison, and if, the fort which frowns down on the oasis is not the one which figures in that heroic defence described by P. G. Wren in "Beau Geste," I'm no judge of description, i The whole surroundings fit the book, and the Spahis and soldiers of the Legion strutting or lounging about and the bugle calls ringing through the clear air made the scene quite a stirring one. An added spice of adventuro was the obvious nervousness of our chauffeur when, earlier in tho day, out of the boundless desert, he had seen a gallojing troop of horsemen and had muttered "Tuaregs." We wondered if that night wo were to be witnesses of a surprise attack. But the Tuaregs either had other fish to, fry or knew that wehad the legs of them. Alfonse stepped:on the petrol for a kilometre or two and then settled down again. It is remarkable:, .how much hard country there is in the desert, only about 40 or 50 per cent, being sand. The trail naturally follows the Tocky parts and in a'whole uay's travel to Bu-Saada we only had two difficulties, and only once had we to get out, dig away the sand, and push to get started again. _ './

BUSINESS IN THE MARKET. . The open market was a most interesting sight, the variety of things sold being astonishing. The following rough list is taken from my diary:— Figs, pomegranates, dates, corn, chaff, charcoal, stew (warmed on a charcoal brazier), peas, cloth, chillies, sheep, goats, camels, donkeys, fowls, mugs, vanity cases, boots, old socks, pans, crockery, etc., etc. Corn was being gold by bushel measure, the, buyer demanding more ,and more, the seller carefully pouring a; few more grains on to the top of the little mountain of corn and pressing it down with his hands, and pouring on moro until not another grain would stick,, then the buyer gravely nodded and that lot was poured into his basket, a practical demonstrati.on of'the old reference to "Full measure, pressed down and. running over." In open-air workshops soles made from old motor tires were being fixed with raw camelhide thongs to uppers consisting mostly of patches and which looked as if picked from a dustheap. All business was being transacted in the traditional Oriental fashion, no raised voices'or rapid speech, but much expressive eyework, shrugging of shoulders, and grave nodding. In houses Tvo saw good quality work being done —spinning, carding, and weaving—all by hand and foot. One woman embroidering with silk thread spun each needleful as sho wanted it. Quite good shoes of brightly dyed leather were being made entirely by hand in another house, or was it a shop? Probably both. Life in such a place must be very 'simple, as_ the productivity of the oasis is strictly limited and the isolation.makes selfreliance a compulsory virtue. But the boys laugh and romp, the girls assist nature with vanity cases and cast glad eyes. Somewhat demurely (if such a combination is possible) while' father sits in the sun and gravely and apparently contentedly smokes, ■vvhilo mother, with -quite-?,, meiw. $w}nkle,.-in i her^ej;

makes hard, tasteless cakes from grey flour which sho has just hammered out with a pestle and! mortar. By ,a sunny window opening, no glass, an elder daughter drives her shuttle through the loom, and thus all tire occupied, and to the icasual passer-by seem as happy as wo are. The rumbles of opposing interest in the Balkans, the landslido in the price of New Zealand butter, or the hard word quotas touch-them Bp4» *