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In this instance the object proved to be a group of date-palms growing round a pool made by a bore-pipe. On all sides of this little oasis stretched the barren desert, and it was quite easy to believe that no man had been able to live in that part of the country before this bore had been put down. Peter told them that the pipe went straight down into the earth for several thousand feet.
Several ponds of water are found during winter in this neighbourhood, which are frequented by numerous flights of wild-duck, affording capital game for the hungry sportsman. Date-palms are now in blossom, whose flowers are all at first encased in a pod.
I've been watching the two rows of date-palms along the curb, with their willow-plume head-dress stirring lazily in the morning breeze.
The sandy valleys of El-Wady, covered with forests of date-palms, through which peep a number of small villages. 8th. The plateau of Mourzuk, consisting of shallow valleys, ridges of low sandstone hills, and naked flats, or plains, sometimes of sand, at others covered with pebbles and small stones.
Diseases of the eyes and blindness are, however, very frequent. From this valley I passed into a second, which contains the greatest curiosity of Muscat, a rather extensive garden, which, with its date-palms, flowers, vegetables, and plantations, constitutes a true picture of an oasis in the desert. The vegetation is only kept up, for the most part, by continual watering.
A few days after landing at Busra we embarked on a paddle-wheel boat to pursue our way up-stream the five hundred intervening miles to Baghdad. Along the banks of the river stretched endless miles of date-palms. We watched the Arabs at their work of fertilizing them, for in this country these palms have to depend on human agency to transfer the pollen.
To the south we saw the date-palms of Berkat. To the east, is the black range of mountains, throwing sombre shadows upon the scattered sand-hills, which lie like shining heaps of silver at their base. This range is higher than the average height of Saharan mountains.
The springs are about a mile from the landing, and the walk through the sand of the desert was trying to the ladies and to the fat gentlemen. The pilot acted as guide. "Ain Musa, as it is called, is an oasis a mile and a quarter in circumference. As you see, it is covered with date-palms, tamarisks, and acacias, and everything grows luxuriantly," the Frenchman began.
Up to this time, the only persons I have seen happy are the slaves, who dance and sing, and forget everything but the present moment. The swings are tied high up to the tallest date-palms, two or three persons swing together, and the sport is a little dangerous.
The high-road followed the course of the Euphrates, passing through luxuriant fields of wheat, barley and sesame yielding fruit two, and sometimes even three, hundred-fold. Slender date-palms covered with golden fruit were scattered in every direction over the fields, which were thoroughly irrigated by means of canals and ditches.
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