On arrival at Timgad my wife and I found the weekly Arab market in
full swing.
[Illustration: AN ARAB TAKING A SHEEP HOME FROM MARKET.]
It is not in the least like an English market with its tidy pens of
sheep and cattle and orderly arrangement of stalls, for this is a
dense crowd of white-robed Arabs, in the midst of which camels and
donkeys for sale stand about amongst tents full of clothes and corn
and seed, and strips of hide for making shoes.
And here and there in the dust are dark men cooking and selling
unappetising bits of meat and making black coffee, which is their only
drink.
Towards evening the fair breaks up. Those who have bought corn load up
great sacks of it upon their camels' backs.
The camel, as you know, squats down on the ground whilst its master
loads it, and during the process looks round and gives out
heartrending groans as if complaining at the excessive weight being
put upon its back, but when the load is adjusted, the animal gets up
and walks away quite contentedly.
The camel can travel long distances for days together without drinking
fresh water, because his throat is fitted by Nature with bladders,
which he fills with water before starting.
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