We ourselves were camped near one of the numerous hot springs in
Algeria, Hammam Mousketine, it was called; clouds of steam used to
rise from it always.
Also, we met many English sportsmen tramping and camping among the
mountains in search of the "moufflon," a kind of mountain wild sheep,
which, at a short distance, looks very like a donkey with big ram's
horns on its head.
In the course of our tramp we paid a visit to the Salt Mountain, and
found that Herodotus had told nothing more than the truth.
The mountain is about 900 feet high, and about three miles long, and
consists of a jumble of crags and fissures, chiefly of yellow
sandstone, in which are imbedded great blocks and sheets of salt.
The natives for miles round come with picks and mattocks, and cut as
much of it as their donkeys can carry to market.
* * * * *
IN A GALE.
Our next march took us across endless dry water-courses with steep
sides, which had to be clambered up and down under a hot sun.
There was no regular road, because every downfall of rain alters the
course of the ravines.
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