TURDA 45 



kindling for the next fire. If the wood is at all damp, 

 making fire by friction is a long business. I was 

 shown how to do it, and managed to make it smoulder 

 myself. A bit of hard stick, the size of a lead pencil, is 

 selected. On the ground is laid a short length of any 

 soft wood — a bit of dura stalk is as good. A small 

 incision is made to keep the end of the male, as it is 

 called, in place. In the incision is placed a little sand, 

 and the first piece of wood is twirled smartly between 

 the palms. Soon the pith begins to smoulder, and 

 with judicious fanning produces a flame. 



Towards midday we halted to let the camels graze. 

 Almost every bush was covered with ghulum. Camels 

 eat this creeper voraciously when they can get at it, 

 and almost invariably die from its effects in a very 

 short time, so a sentry over each plant was a necessity. 



Shortly after starting again we emerged on the vast 

 plain known as Turda. It was covered with cattle, 

 the keepers of which, when they saw us swing into the 

 open, bolted. As we approach the huts we see a 

 white-clad figure running to meet us. It is the Nasr 

 (head sheikh of a big section of a tribe ; an Omda is 

 the head of the Nasrs). He knows, from long residence 

 as a prisoner in Cairo, that, grave as is the crime of 

 rescuing a prisoner from his escort, dervish methods 

 are not employed by us. 



He is a noble-looking man : tall, straight as a dart, 

 in spite of his weight of years, and powerfully built. 

 Clad, as his fathers, in no parody of European fashion, 

 but in a jibba. Behind him one son carries a plate of 

 rice, stiff with sugar ; another a bowl of " nakl el asal " 



