May 19, 192 1 J 



NATURE 



2>^1 



journey in the Libyan Desert. Consequently, 

 from the very outset privations overtook the 

 party. 



The first stretch across the desert, from Bir 

 Battifal to the oasis of Taiserbo (which was 

 passed unheeded), with no wells on the route, 

 was accomplished with ever-increasing difficulties, 

 owing- apparently to the failure of the guide to 

 pick up his landmarks and the consequent delays. 

 It took nine days to reach El Harrash, where 

 water was found, and two days more to reach 

 Buzeima. Here, after the fatigues and sufferings 

 of the march, a halt of three nights was called 

 to rest the caravan. Four days onwards, pass- 

 ing through a region of sand-dunes, they came 

 to Hawari, on the outskirts of Kufra oasis. Taj, 

 the objective of their pilgrimage, lay more than 

 twelve miles further south. 



Intrigues and plots had to be faced and over- 

 come before the guests of the Sheikh es-Senussi 

 were allowed to continue their journey ; and no 

 wonder ! Indeed, there must be a sharper cleav- 

 age than ever before between the more rigid 

 Senussi of the banished Grand Master, Sayed 

 Ahmed, who was answerable for the war against 

 Egypt and the Nosrani (Christians), and the post- 

 war adherents of the ruling Sheikh, Idriss, who, 

 according to the doctrine of their Order, must be 

 regarded as a renegade Senussi. In the precincts 

 of the sacred city, Taj, our suspect travellers 

 were on dangerous ground. 



The Kaimakam of Taj, Sidi Saleh el Baskeri, 

 after due inspection of their credentials, received 

 the travellers well, and lodged Mrs. Forbes in 

 the house of Sidi Idriss. In the home of the 

 Sheikh es-Senussi this courageous young English- 

 woman "lived the life," as she says, "of a veiled 

 Arab woman of Taj for nine days, and visited 

 the holy Kuhba of Sidi el Mahdi," the son and 

 successor of the founder of the confraternity. Of 

 course, she was under suspicion, and fifteen tribal 

 Sheikhs offered objection to her wandering 

 abroad, since such a privilege is unknown to 

 Arab women and the women of Taj. Neverthe- 

 less, a flying visit under the official auspices of 

 the Kaimakam (presumablv the Turkish Resident) 

 was made to the west, a ride of seventeen hours, 

 providing some interesting sight-seeing of which 

 we may hope to hear later. 



When the time came for her departure from 

 Taj, Mrs. Forbes decided "to attempt to open 

 up a new route to the north, hoping to facilitate 

 future trade with Ep-ypt. " The route she selected 

 and afterwards followed appears, however, to 

 have been one of the direct routes (Kufra to 

 Jarabub. Kufra to Siwa. and Kufra to Khargeh) 

 reoorted to have been opened up bv the Senussi, 

 after their settlement at Talo and Jof. These 

 routes, as also that from Siwa to Farafra oasis, 

 were at one time kept open for the use of all 

 followers of the Proohet, so that even sine^le 

 travellers might use them and find refuge at the 

 end of each day's march — at least, that was the 

 boast of the Senussi, who undoubtedly did make 



NO. 2690, VOL. 107] 



settlements for so-called slaves, and built cisterns 

 along some new routes in the Sahara. Appar- 

 ently, then, the direct route between Kufra 

 and Jarabub, selected by Mrs. Forbes, fell 

 into disuse (if used only by the . Senussi 

 family) in consequence of the absence of 

 Sheikh el Senussi at the seat of war. That 

 is my conjecture. 



The homeward journey, starting from Hawari, 

 was begun on January 25, 1921. Previously, 

 Mrs. Forbes had sent back the soldier slaves and 

 others to Jalo and Jedabia, and her new caravan 

 for this hazardous journey to Jarabub comprised 

 only nine camels. Besides herself and Ahmed 

 Bey Hassanein, the party consisted of Yusuf, a 

 Zawia student named Amar, and the guide Sulei- 

 man, an oldish man with defective eyesight. 

 Zakar, a well that had not been used for four 

 years, and, therefore, had to be cleared, was 

 reached in four days ; and from that spot onwards 

 no well or cistern was available during the twelve 

 days' march through the arid desert to the out- 

 lying parts of Jarabub. They carried twelve skins 

 of water, dates for the camels, fuel, but no tents. 

 Marching for thirteen hours daily, averaging 

 thirty miles a day — presumably at night, to make 

 such good progress — they endured great hard- 

 ship on a simple and scanty diet. Sand-dunes both 

 at the beginning and at the end of their journey 

 were encountered. On the eleventh day from 

 Zakar they entered broken country beyond the 

 dunes, and stumbled upon Bir Salama (PTarfaja), 

 on the Jalo-Jarabub caravan route. Thence to 

 Jarabub was but a day's march. 



At Jarabub — the Mecca of the Senussi — which 

 never before had been entered by a European, 

 Mrs. Foi-bes was lodged inside the Zawia in a 

 house belonging to the Khuan (brethren), and 

 she was even permitted to kiss the tomb of 

 the sainted founder and to visit the University 

 quarter. 



On February 13 the journey was resumed, and, 

 with four camels and a guide, Mrs. Forbes came 

 joyfully to Siwa under the escort of a Camel 

 Corps patrol sent out to meet her. Thence, after 

 a cordial reception from the officers at Siwa, she 

 motored (new style) across the desert for 430 miles 

 to Alexandria. 



This bare recital of Mrs. Forbes 's rernarkable 

 journey raises in the mind of one who knows 

 something of the country and of the Senussi con- 

 fraternity profound admiration for the woman 

 who accomplished it ; and further details of her 

 experiences will be eagerly awaited. The in- 

 formation she brings from Kufra and Jarabub, in 

 particular, will appeal to geographers, who will 

 not be too critical as to her revision of the map 

 unless other instruments than a magnetic com- 

 pass were used by her. In addition, any informa- 

 tion about the Senussi sect will prove of the ' 

 highest interest, in view of the fundamental ' 

 changes in their doctrine and policy superinduced 

 bv their defeat in the field under Turko-German 

 leadership. 



