The official report of General Desvaux on the artesian borings executed in the Desert of Zahara of the province of Constantine, in 1856-7, states, “that a spring affording 4010 quarts of water per minute, was the result of one of the borings, and that others affording 35, 120, and 4,300 quarts respectively were successively completed.” And he goes on to say: “When the shouts of the soldiers announced the gush, the Arabs sprang in crowds to the spot, laving themselves in the welcome abundance, into which mothers dipped their children; while the old Sheik fell upon his knees and wept, returning thanks to Allah and the French. At Oum Thiour a well sunk to the depth of 170 metres and yielding 180 quarts a minute was at once taken as the centre of a settlement by a portion of a previously nomadic tribe.... As soon as the water appeared they began the construction of a village, the plantation of 1,200 date trees, and entirely renounced their wandering existence.” According to General Desvaux’s report, these artesian wells are likely to have a most important influence on Arab life, and greatly to subdue the roving propensities of many of the tribes. MINES. Mines are excavations made in the earth for the purpose of raising the various minerals which exist below its surface, such as coal, rock-salt, and the various ores from which metals are extracted (see “Smelting”). Mines consist of those which contain minerals that lie in strata _parallel_ (or nearly so) to the surface of the earth, as coal, rock-salt, or iron-stone, and those containing the ores and minerals which are imbedded in seams or fissures of the primitive rocks, and are nearly _perpendicular_ to the surface. Of the former kind, coal-mines form the chief examples. When indications of coal are discovered, a “boring” is commenced to ascertain its existence, and the depth at which it is placed below the surface. Each piece of earth raised by the boring-tools is placed one beside the other, in the exact order in which they are raised, so as to show the kind of earth being bored through, and the thickness of each strata between the surface of the earth and the seam of coal; and it sometimes happens that the boring is stopped on arriving at certain kinds of rock--the old red sandstone, for example--for it would be useless to continue boring beyond this, no coal ever existing below it.