1897] The Oasis of Garah 273 



hamad (gravel plain) at best pace — say thirty-five miles — and camped 

 at the first sheltered place on descending towards Garah. A hot march, 

 as the wind was behind us, followed by a bitter cold night. 



" The two guides are Kheydr, an old man, tall and big-nosed, a 

 Senusite — he was one of those who rode against us on the 28th at 

 what I call the battle of Jupiter Amnion, for the ruins were within half 

 a mile of the fight. The other, a great strong blackguard of the op- 

 posite faction. They are both amiable now, and made me a present of 

 Siwah bread and date cake, very good, in a pretty basket. The old man 

 I like. He said to-day, ' I have been inquiring about you from your 

 servants, and I find we made a great mistake about you. It will ruin 

 Siwah.' 



" $th March. — There are three factions at Siwah: 1. The Senussia, 

 comprising 950 out of the 1000 male inhabitants. 2. The followers of 

 one Abd es Salaam of Tuggurt, and 3. The followers of Mohammed 

 Dhaffir el Medani of Constantinople. Of this last Mohammed Said is 

 a member, and so is our guide Khalaf. Mohammed Dhaffir it was 

 that made the mischief at Yildiz against Sidi el Mahdi, and caused the 

 Sultan to cut his subsidy. It is therefore pretty plain that our arriving 

 with letters to Mohammed Said was a first cause of suspicion. They 

 seem to have jumped at once to the conclusion that I was a spy, from 

 Mohammed Dhaffir or another, with plans against their chief." [N.B. 

 This Mohammed Dhaffir el Medani is doubtless the same Sheykh Zaffir 

 who corresponded with Arabi on behalf of the Sultan in 1882. See 

 my " Secret History."] 



" This morning we descended to Garah, a pretty little oasis, with a 

 quaint village perched on a mushroom rock, inhabited by negroes. 

 There are two springs and a well, the western spring called Ain Mak- 

 hluf, the eastern Ain Faris. Makhluf has a deep hole in the middle 

 of the spring like that at Wells. We found the inhabitants of Garah 

 en fete, for to-day is the Id (festival) and their Sheykh, an old negro, 

 came out to greet us and ask us to alight, but I would not stop, and we 

 have come on to the far end of the oasis, and are camped under some 

 wild palms. Some fifteen miles to-day. According to the barometer 

 we are here 250 feet below the sea level. It was 400 above yesterday on 

 the high plateau. 



" In all this time of trial I have been reading Doughty — certainly the 

 best prose written in the last two centuries. He is of excellent counsel 

 for such straits as we have been in ; and I think it was in great measure 

 due to his influence that I took the passive line I did the day of the 

 attack. Any other would have cost me my life. 



" 6th March. — Thirteen hours' march without a halt, perhaps forty 

 miles. Our course was north-east by east, to the khusm of Abdel 

 Nebbi. Thence there are two roads which part company to join again 



