CHAPTER X

ON DESERTS

What are deserts like?--Camel-riding--Afterglow--Darwin in South America--Big Bad Lands--Plants which train themselves to endure thirst--Cactus and euphorbia--Curious shapes--Grey hairs--Iceplant--Esparto grass--Retama--Colocynth--Sudden flowering of the Karoo--Short-lived flowers--Colorado Desert--Date palms on the Nile--Irrigation in Egypt--The creaking Sakkieh--Alexandria hills--The Nile and Euphrates 131