No cattle are reared in the Sahara, owing to the scarcity of water, the scantiness of the herbage, the stony nature of the ground, and the frequent removals from one place to another. But, if the desert be unfavourable for the rearing of cattle, it is, assuredly, the veritable country of the sheep. This animal finds there the salt shrubs eaten by the camel, as well as many fragrant and nutritious plants known by the generic name of _el aâsheub_. Water it obtains from the ponds supplied by the rains, or from the basins formed by the side of wells, and kept up with great care. The wells themselves are, for the most part, surrounded with masonry, and sheltered from the drifting sands. Sheep, besides, are patient of thirst. In spring, they are given to drink once in five or six days; in summer, every other day; in autumn, every third day; and in winter every fourth day. During the great heats of summer, they are not allowed to touch the pools of water lying on the surface of the ground,—experience having shown that at that period of the year stagnant water, rendered tepid by the sun's rays, is very unwholesome. If a drought happens to have prevailed during the first two months of spring, and if rain falls plentifully in the third, the herbage grows luxuriantly, and is called _khelfa_, or compensation. As if to make amends for their long abstinence, the sheep eat it greedily, but it is apt to give them a sickness named _el ghoche_, or treason. This disease does not manifest itself until after the summer heats. The head and lower jaw become much swollen, the animal coughs continually, and death usually supervenes. According to the Arabs, a rainy autumn, by causing fresh grass to spring up early, greatly tends to mitigate the pernicious effects of the _ghoche_. Sheep are very prolific. They generally lamb twice in the year—in the early part of spring and autumn. The large tribes possess from two to three hundred thousand sheep, which are divided into flocks of four hundred, called _ghelem_ or _aâssa_ [a stick]. Wealthy individuals have from fifteen to twenty _ghelem_, and the poorest a half, or even a quarter _ghelem_. In the Sahara there is a species of sheep that yields a magnificent wool, very soft but not very long. This is the wool employed in the manufacture of articles of luxury. These animals are nearly red in the head, and the ewes give a great deal of milk. It is said of the finest ewes of this breed: They see like an owl, And walk like a tortoise.