DISCOVERY 



our various delays and that there was only one well 

 between Ziza and Ramadie, we determined to land 

 at El Jid, a tiny oasis in the desert, in order to replenish 

 our bottles. We came down somewhere near the 

 well, and, leaving Macmillan to look after the machine, 

 Malins and I started oH with our water-bottles. We 



we had to drink cup after cup. Finallv, in order 

 to pay me a great compliment, the sheikh thrust a 

 dirty hand down into the skin and produced a handful 

 of curds, which he squeezed into a ball and pushed 

 into my mouth as a mark of great favour. This was 

 the climax. .\11 of us were making heroic efforts 



NAPLES, PHOTOGIIAPHED FROM THE D.H.c 



had only gone a few hundred yards when Arabs came 

 up to us. They were armed and savage in aspect, 

 but the sheikh and his sons threw their arms round our 

 necks and kissed us on both cheeks, talking voluble 

 Arabic, which was incomprehensible to either of us. 

 At last, getting more and more excited in his efforts 

 to make us understand, the sheikh drew his hand 

 across his throat, at the same time making suggestive 

 noises and pointing in the distance. For a moment 

 I wondered what was about to happen, and then it 

 dawned on me that he was referring to the killing of 

 a sheep — a well-known Arab custom. Fortunately 

 I found a Bedouin who could speak the Egyptian 

 Arabic, of which I knew a little. He told us that 

 the sheikh's children had seen us coming, whereupon 

 the head of the tribe had given orders for a feast 

 to be prepared in our honour, for he was %-ery well 

 disposed towards all flying men, since they had once 

 helped him in great trouble. 



Being anxious to push on, I declined the feast, 

 but he was not to be outdone, and the newly killed 

 sheep, flayed and dripping with blood, was brought 

 along to us and thrust into the machine. Next, a 

 skin of curdled goat's milk was produced, and of this 



not to be sick. We distributed chocolates, cigarettes, 

 and handfuls of foreign coins, then climbed into the 

 machine and vanished into the night, for by then it 

 was already growing dark. 



Luckily this part of the desert is all fit for landing 

 on, and in about twenty minutes' time we came down 

 once more. Our first act was to be violently sick, 

 after which we rushed to the locker for our whisky 

 bottle, only to find that it was missing, having obvi- 

 ously been stolen at one of our previous stopping 

 places. 



We spent a miserable night in the desert. Our 

 only food was Bovril spread on hard biscuits similar 

 to those supplied to dogs, but which are considered 

 good desert rations for the Royal Air Force. On their 

 being broken, maggots and beetles dropped out. 

 Our water supply was very low and so hot as to be 

 almost undrinkable. Macmillan and I lay down on 

 the desert under the tailplane, having first dug holes 

 for our hips, for the surface was hard and stony. 

 Malins spread himself out in the cockpit of the machine 

 and tried to sleep in that manner. 



Owing to our numerous halts and detours, our 

 petrol began to give out, and next day, when some 



