There were high, rocky cliffs on either side, and a stream running
among the stones at the bottom of it.
This ravine we clambered through for five or six miles, passing on the
way an Arab village of flat-roofed mud huts perched on the side of the
cliffs like swallows' nests.
And not far from them were holes and caves in the cliffs in which some
of the Arab tribes lived. Many of them were so difficult to get at
that the inhabitants got to them by means of ropes lowered down over
the edge of the cliff.
* * * * *
A MOUNTAIN OF SALT.
The Romans in the old days had marched, fought, and colonised all over
Algeria, and their doings have been recorded by their history writers.
One of these, Herodotus, has described how in one part of Algeria
there were many wonders, such as springs of water in which the water
came out boiling, donkeys which had horns like rams' horns on their
heads, and lastly that there was a great mountain made of solid salt.
Of course, he got a good deal laughed at, and was entirely disbelieved
by the Romans who stayed at home, but all the same his yarns were not
far off the truth.
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