To Ghardaia

To Ghardaia

At el Golea, roses streak the edge of the desert. For this reason tourists in Algeria often see el Golea, but last week the crowds were natives and there were a lot of them. Bets were up in all the native villages along the route; Governor-General Jules Carde had motored from Algiers. At his signal a long line of 17 dromedaries moved forward, at first evenly, then in bunches. They started north along the way to Ghardaia, running in the soft sand beside the motor road.

Five years ago the U. S. lawyer and one-time Interstate Commerce Commissioner, James S. Harlan, saw a camel race in the Sahara and thought it was great sport. Why not a Grand Prix of the Sahara? he asked his friends in Africa, and with their encouragement picked out a course, put up prizes: 2,500 francs to the winner and some gold jewelry (no tribesman is much interested in money by itself); second prize, 1,500 francs and silver jewelry; third prize 600 francs and a certificate. During his foreign tour, Mr. Harlan died, and since on his deathbed a man's mind is always full of the last thing he has been doing, he kept talking about the camel race and asked his wife to continue it.

A thoroughbred racing camel can run 150 mi. a day, carry a pack load three days without water. The best racers are Mehara dromedaries. They are mostly bred by that old tribe whose men haughtily and in disdain of modern usage still wear veils with their black tunics: the Tuaregs. The riders sit on small saddle-platforms placed in front of the dromedary's single hump. They hold rods in their hands and reach forward with a peculiar, tense movement to tap the camel on the left side of the neck when they want him to turn right, on the right side to turn left. From deep in the riders' throats comes a sombre wail which for some reason camels find stimulating: "Aw-wu-w-w-w-h .

At night the racers lie down, each rider against the warm back of his mount. The desert is cold at night, as though chilled by the moon which gives the wind-molded sand the color of ice. No use to force a camel in a long race; what he makes the first day he will lose the second. At Ghardaia, the Mezabits rode out to meet the first camel which, heavy-footed, appeared on the desert's rim. The rider was one Mohamed Ahabi, the dromedary "Fleet as Sirocco." The pair had covered the 187 mi. in 33 hr. Ali Ben Maccha was still a mile away and one hour later Ben Orgha raced in for his certificate.

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