Page:The Burton Holmes lectures; (IA burtonholmeslect04holm).pdf/200

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DOZENS OF DATE-LADEN CAMELS

AN OASIS

interesting date-producing regions of Algeria through a chain of oases known as the Oases of Oued Rirh,—islands of emerald in a sea of yellow sand,—dots of fertility in the valley of that celebrated river, the Oued Rirh. But you exclaim, "We see no river!" Nor is this strange. The river Rirh is not like other rivers. It is a river possessed of almost human cunning. Just as the Moors in Morocco hide their treasures in the earth lest they excite the cupidity of their sultan and invite a confiscation of their fortunes, so the Oued Rirh, knowing that the sun, the sultan of the desert, is thirsting for her treasure,

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