which is rich in the _dokhar_, or wild fig, is fortunate, and especially so
if its neighbors have none or if their crop of it fails. It is then able to
"bull the market," and proceeds to do so with a promptness and vim that
would turn a Wall street operator blue with envy. But it is compelled to
take account of troubles in its path unknown at the Board. The party who is
"short" on dokhar may be "long" on matchlocks. If so, the speculation is
apt to come to an unhappy end. A sudden raid will capture the stock and at
once equalize the market. To many communities figs are at once meat and
pocket-money. To lose the harvest is not to be thought of. The aspect of
the means of preventing such a disaster is altogether a secondary
consideration. Dokhar at all hazards is the cry of men, women and children.
The comparative cessation of fig-wars is one of the blessings due to French
rule.

[Illustration: ROAD ACROSS THE DJURJURA AT MOUNT TIROURDA.]

What we deem the fruit of the fig is, it will be remembered, only the husk,
the apparent seeds being the true fruit and--before ripening--the blossom.
A small fly establishes itself in the interior of the wild fig, escaping in
great numbers when the fruit is ripe. This happens before the ripening of
the improved fig, and the fly is supposed to carry the wild pollen to the
flowers of the latter. A single insect, say the Kabyles, will perfect
ninety-nine figs, the hundredth becoming its tomb. Some varieties of figs
do not need caprification, but they are said to be unsuitable for drying or
shipment.

The Italian practice of touching the eye of each fig, while yet on the
tree, with a drop of olive oil seems opposed to the African plan; since the
oil would certainly exclude the insect. And there are no better figs in the
world than those of the Southern States of the Union, which are not