Desert today
Life in the hot deserts in changing slowly, the nomads still travel with their animals in search of fresh pastures as each as area gets exhausted. The fierce Tuareg in the Sahara who used to invade the oases in the past, are now setting own as cultivators. The desert people are being provided new sources of employment with the construction of irrigation works as in Egypt, the exploration of minerals and oil as the Persian Gulf, and the increasing influx of tourists.
Irrigating the desert
Large irrigation of the desert has been made possible with the help of modern technology. Great dams, like the Aswan Dam on the river Nile, function as vast reservoirs. Land can therefore be cultivated the wholes year around. Great sources of underground water have been found while drilling for oil. Sometimes this water is saline (contains salt) and therefore unfit for irrigation.
Oil and mineral from the desert
The search of gold brought many early explorers to the great deserts. Today the drilling for oil and the exploration of minerals is changing the traditional way of life. Great deposits of oil and natural gas have been found in Algeria, Libya and Egypt (can you say which desert?). The west Asian countries and the area around the Persian Gulf are the world’s most important sources of oil.
Most of the world’s sources of phosphates are found in Morocco. The Spanish Sahara also contains phosphate deposits. Chile saltpeter is found in the Atacama Desert and copper is mined in the Thar Desert in Rajasthan.
Mullah Nasrudin
In Persia, there lived a very rich lord whose name was Barkhtullah he had a grand house and garden. He wore such fine clothes that could not stop looking at him when at he walked by.
Now although Barkhtullah was so wealthy, he never made an effort to help the poor and needy. In fact, he never did anything at all and was often bored. So he was always trying to think of new ways to amuse himself. His selfishness and laziness made the wise old man, Mullah Nasrudin very angry very angry. But the Mullah’s anger had no effect on him. In fact, Barkhtullah wanted to make Nasrudin looks as foolish as possible, and so one day, decided to play on Mullah Nasrudin.
He sent his servants out to buy a great many large sweet melons. Then he invited a large number of people to a fast –including, of course, Nasrudin. When the guests were seated, the servants brought in the melons, Barkhtullah begged them to eat. `Eat you fill, friends’ he said. `There is plenty, more.’
The guests needed no encouragement. They did not often have a chance to eat a feast such as this, and they were determined to make the most of it.
As they ate, the heaps of melon shins grew bigger on each plate. Cleverly, Barkhtullah slipped all his melon skins onto Nasrudin’s plate. When all the melons were eaten, the guests sat back, patting their stomach, satisfied with their meal. Barkhtullah looked around the table and smiled. This was the moment for his joke.
`Look!’ he cried, pointing to Nasrudin’s plate and the enormous pile of melon peels. `This man is the greediest person here- though he teaches us to be generous and kind! Yet he goes and eats more, melons than the rest of us put together! What a glutton!’
Everyone began to laugh –even the Mullah. But as the laughter died away, Nasrudin said quietly: `but glutton as I may be, I am not the worst one ere. For look, I have eaten only the fruit, and I have left the peels uneaten. But our host here –he’s eaten everything –peals and all!’
At this, Barkhtullah had nothing to say; he simply hung his head in shame.
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