“THE Sahara,” says the Revue Française, “has the reputation of being an entirely sterile desert, uninhabited and uninhabitable. If this assertion is well founded in many cases, it is, nevertheless, not true everywhere, and even outside of the oases the Sahara presents some resources, not very considerable, it is true, but such as are greatly appreciated by the pastoral peoples that traverse it. According to M. Kunckel, of Herculais, there are found at every step in the sandy regions mounds surmounted by plants whose roots can be utilized as fuel. Masses of tamarinds and gum acacias are frequent, especially in the beds of old water courses, where roam beasts of various kinds. In the mineralized waters of the desert are found water-turtles, etc. “But what rehabilitates the Sahara a little is the presence during the winter season of numerous flocks of animals. In 1892 more than119,000,000 of sheep wintered in the Algerian Sahara, paying a duty of 1,763,000 francs ($352,000). There sheep were worth 20 francs ($4) apiece, or in all $175,000,000. The Sahara nourishes also 2,000,000 goats and 260,000 camels paying a duty of 1,000,000 francs. In the oases palms, citrons, and apricots abound; there are cultivated also onions, pimentos, and various leguminous vegetables. The oases contain 1,500,000 date palms, on which the duty is 560,000 francs. The product of a date tree varies from 8 to 10 francs; those of the desert give about 15,000,000 francs a year.”