In view of the anticipated arrival of substantial reinforcements from England there was no great temptation to embark on offensives; and owing to the shortage of artillery ammunition, what there was of it had to be jealously husbanded, although the French divisions were not suffering from this disability so much as the British.
Akhdar is wonderful and is in striking contrast to the barrenness of so much of the coast; water issues in perennial springs from many rocky clefts, and is carefully husbanded by the ingenuity of the people; underground channels, known here as faluj, precisely similar to the kanat or karez of Persia and Afghanistan, are also largely used.
In 1906 these latter formed 80% of the American production, and the southern states supplied about 13% of it, while the rich deposits of the middle states are husbanded in accordance with the law that ore bodies are drawn on in the order of their apparent profitableness.
But even so, they helped to shorten the famine period; they stored up the rain after it had ceased to fall, and they caught up_ and husbanded the first drops when it began again.