These, then, are the primitives of Gafsa. And for how long, I wonder, has
this convenient shelter been inhabited? From time immemorial, perhaps;
ever since the days of those others. And, after all, how little have they
changed in the intervening thousands of years! The wild-eyed young wench,
with her dishevelled hair, ferocious bangle-ornaments, tattooings, and
nondescript blue rags open at the side and revealing charms well fitted to
disquiet some robust savage--what has such a creature in common with the
rest of us? Not even certain raptures, misdeemed primeval; hardly more
than what falls to man and beast alike. On my appearance, she rose up and
eyed me unabashed; then sank to the ground again, amid her naked and
uncouth cubs; the rock, she said, was warmer than the black tents; they
paid no rent; for the rest, her man would return forthwith. And soon there
was a clattering of stones, and a herd of goats scrambled up and vanished
within the opening.

The partner was neither pleased nor displeased at seeing me there; every
day he went to pasture his flock on the slopes of the opposite Jebel
Guetter, returning at nightfall; he tried to be civil but failed, for want
of vocabulary. I gave him the salutation, and passed on in the gloaming.




_Chapter II_

_BY THE OUED BAIESH_


This collecting of flint implements grows upon one at Gafsa; it is in the
air. And I find that quite a number of persons have anticipated me in this