The gazelle (_Gazella dorcas_) is the leading wild animal preying upon the desert plants in the northern Sahara. It is frequently seen by the traveler to-day and was present in large numbers no longer ago than 50 years (Tristram). It is said by the Arabs to feed on the fresh shoots and leaves of many species of shrubs and trees, especially the betoum (_Pistacia atlantica_), as well as on the annual vegetation for the relatively short period when it is to be had. Other species of gazelle, according to Tristram, range farther to the south. Other herbivorous animals of the region are hares, antelope, moufflon, and bubale. The moufflon, at the time of Tristram’s visit, was “far from uncommon throughout the whole of the mountain districts, whether wooded or bare,” but the bubale, “the wildest of the wild game of North Africa,” appears not to go north of the Oued Rirh, while its home is farther south. It is impossible to know the number of wild animals subsisting on native desert vegetation, but the list given, which might be extended, suggests that it is by no means small. Although the population of wild herbivorous animals is at present considerable, it was probably much greater a few years ago, the decrease being due, as Tristram says, not so much to the greatly increased population as to the more efficient weapons used by the Arabs in hunting.[11] Laghouat has been inhabited by the Arabs continuously for about 1,000 years, during which time the oasis and its environs have been the source of supply of all of the fuel used and for much, if not the most, of the food consumed both by the Arab and his flocks. Naturally, the food for the inhabitants of the oasis is won from the oasis itself, but that for the beasts is derived from the desert. While it is impossible to learn the number of sheep, camels, and goats which from century to century have ranged over the desert pastures, there is no reason for supposing it was not large, as at present is the case. For example, in the department of Algiers, in 1907-08, the number of sheep is reported to have been 2,109,071; of goats 1,156,500, and of camels 23,912.[12] Of these a large percentage is to be found in and to the south of the Saharan Atlas Mountains. In portions of the colony farther south, or in regions even more desertic than at Laghouat, the number of camels, sheep, and goats is surprisingly large. The statistics for 1907-08 give the population of the three classes of animals in the southern territories, that is, the territories of Ain-Sefra, Ghardaia, Touggourt, and the oases of the Sahara, as follows: sheep, 1,932,392; goats, 588,121; camels, 126,088.