July
1926
In a small train with a tiny locomotive, I went to Biskra through the region of the Kabyle mountains, which were crossed by the narrow-gauge railroad. Beyond the spurs of the Atlas mountain range there is a lifeless desert. The vegetation consists of sparse shrubs, scorched during summer. The monotonous and boring desert extends for kilometre after kilometre.
Biskra is a large oasis. There was a whole forest of gigantic date palms already in fruit, which would ripen in September. From below the crown, enormous clusters of bright yellow fruits hung down, which would tum dark brown when ripe. The entire oasis produces a strange impression. Deep furrows, through which water flows intermittently and periodically, have been provided for irrigation of the trees. To walk there is always inconvenient. The water stays on the surface for a few days and then the soil becomes soggy. Biskra is an important winter resort. During late autumn and winter both sick people and others from all over the world come there to recuperate. There are first-class French and American hotels. Of course, in July they were all closed and it was only with difficulty that I found
refuge in one of them.
At the edges of the oasis there are Arabian buildings with flat roofs over which date palm fronds are ordinarily placed. There are small vegetable gardens, full of carrots, beets and onions. The wheat was, of course, already harvested. Going from house to house I collected decorations made of ears which are usually suspended from the buildings. The adornments consist of ears harvested the same or the previous year. This turned out to be fully satisfactory. I was able to collect a few hundred ears, mainly of hard wheat, rarely of the soft, foreign kind. As demonstrated by the studies of a professor at the University of Algiers, Duxelles, [1] a special kind of soft wheat with thick straw has developed through the ages. It is very productive and of course irrigated and has been referred by him to the main group of wheat from the oases. 
- Probably Léon Octave Ducellier, 1878-1937. [↩]
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