In the centre of each douar, there is a tent set apart as a mosque, with a fire burning before it, and there we were without difficulty admitted while our tent was getting ready. It is also used as a school as--late and early--we could testify. If Arabs are not taught foreign tongues, they do learn to use their own. Each douar besides its sheik has its Cadi and priest or schoolmaster. The tents of the persons of distinction are black, the others brown; there are white marks upon them, to distinguish respective ranks; _seven_ for the principal. The tent covering is in the longest forty feet, and somewhat less than twenty in width. It is in stripes lengthways, for the convenience of carriage. This cover is stretched over a transverse bar, supported by two upright poles in the form of the Greek letter Π, under which generally hangs a curtain which divides the tent into two parts, each about fifteen feet square. The poles are ten or twelve feet high, the extremities of the covering coming to within two feet of the ground, where sometimes bundles of rushes are placed. The tent may be easily enlarged by adding a stripe or more to the covering, and then stretching out the hanging parts, but that would require the uprights and the pins to be strengthened. Thus, Isaiah (chap. liv. 2), “Enlarge _the place of thy tent_, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not; lengthen thy cords and strengthen thy stakes.” The stripes are unlaced when they remove their encampment and rolled up. The length of the tent is facing the centre of the circle. The form seems to have undergone a change. The gable, which is now transversely placed, must have formerly run through the length. At least so alone could the description of Sallust be correct, “Oblonga incurvis lateribus tecta, quasi navium carinæ.”--The tents were formerly transported on waggons. FOOTNOTES: