"A lion of the Sahara, the king of beasts, said to himself, 'An-cha-Allah, tomorrow night I will kill a buffalo with a stroke of my paw and carry it to my cubs. The next day, 'God willing,' I will slay a horse and carry it back. The third day I will kill a calf, 'God willing;' then I will kill a sheep;" but, despising so small a creature as a sheep, the lion omitted to say "An-cha-Allah," and when he killed the sheep, to punish him, God made him drag it on the ground.

And the king of beasts does so even today, so say those hunters of the Great Sahara, and there is no reason to doubt their word.

WHY THE TROGLODYTES LIVE IN CAVES

Many letters have been written me since the publication of my article on "The Molemen" in the NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE of October, 1911, inquiring why the Troglodytes live in caves. and do not build houses, asking details of their life and habits, and laying stress on birth, death, and burial.

One man wrote: "If they have no wood or stones to build houses with, why do they not use bricks?" How can they make bricks without mud, or mud without water, and of what use are bricks without cement?

Were we Americans to be suddenly placed in a country like theirs, without wood or water, and so far away from the world that importation of these commodities was impossible, we would have to follow the example of the Troglodytes or die of exposure. On these mountain table-lands climatic changes are great, and some sort of dwelling is needed.

The Troglodytes of extreme southern Tunisia speak Berber-Arabic and have adopted the Mohammedan religion.

At an unknown period the ancestors of these Troglodytes of today were all mountain Troglodytes, living on the tops of high table-lands overlooking the surrounding country, usually on sugar-loaf peaks with precipitous sides, so that an enemy could be killed by stones being rolled down upon them.

Driven out of their mountain abodes by the scarcity of food and water, the

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inhabitants of some of these villages came down to the plains, where they have lived ever since. But, having been accustomed to their cave-dwellings, they preferred them to any other kind, so they built artificial caves, such as we see in Medenine, Metmetemur, and other towns farther south. These caves not only serve as homes, but also for the purpose of huge storehouses for their food, guns, gourbis (tents made of camels' and goats' hair), harnesses, extra ammunition, plows, and other agricultural implements.

A SEMI-NOMADIC PEOPLE

These people are pastoral, and most of the tribes are nomadic during nine months of the year. Their towns are built in ovals, or small horseshoes, only one entrance for each tribe, so that a few brave men, armed to the teeth, can easily protect their strongholds from thieves. One might say that these Troglodyte towns were the safe-deposit vaults of the cave-dwellers (see the illustrations in the NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE, October, 1911).

Each man has his individual key, which he never forgets to take with him wherever he goes, for if he did, on returning, he would find his cave empty. These keys look something like a banjo handle made of wood. Each key has plugs that fit in it, and no two designs are alike; so that, unless the plugs fit the holes, it would be impossible to unlock the front door.

On the return of a wanderer, he takes his key from one of his saddle-bags and screws or fastens it into a stick that he leaves behind. He then inserts it through a hole to the right of the door and thrusts in his arm, turning the stick at right angles, and scratches the door with the key until he finds the lock. The plugs of the key finally catch into the holes of the lock and, on pulling, the door opens.

TROGLODYTES THAT BURROW LIKE THE

MOLES

The tribes of the Houaia Mountains, comprising the villages of Matmata, Benioussa, Benizelten, and Hadidiji,