THE GREAT ADVENTURE 15 



right hand! Their hatred of the infidel was fanatical. 

 They ousted the Zouia and Tebu from their ancient 

 homes in Kebabo and established impregnably their holy 

 of holies in this oasis which nature herself had protected 

 by surrounding it with a belt of mighty dunes and two 

 hundred and fifty miles of waterless desert. 



Kufara, the Kebabo of old, lies some six hundred 

 kilometres south, fain':ly south-east, of Jalo. It is the 

 heart of the Eastern Sahara and the centre of its trade, 

 for the only big caravan route from the Sudan and Wadai 

 to the north passes through it, yet the journey is so diffi- 

 cult that none but the strongest caravans can attempt it. 

 From the well at Buttafal, a day's journey south of 

 Jalo, seven hard, waterless days bring the traveller to 

 Zieghen, where there is a well, but no fodder or oasis. 

 After that he must continue another five days, two of 

 which are through dunes, before he reach Hawari, the 

 outskirts of the Kufara group, sometimes considered by 

 tlie Arabs to be a separate oasis because it is divided 

 from the main group by a chain of mountains. This is 

 the main route and the easiest. It continues to Wadai. 



To the west of this track lie three other oases. The 

 first, Taiserbo, is also seven days' waterless journey from 

 Buttafal and it is rarely approached, for it has neither 

 civil, religious nor commercial importance, but its Tebu 

 ruins might make it of interest historically. Some 

 hundred and fifty kilometres beyond in a south-westerly 

 direction is Buseima, which is famous for its dates, for 

 which caravans sometimes visit it, and still farther south 

 hes Ribiana, to all description a lawless spot from which 

 come the marauding bands which make the neighbour- 

 hood of Buseima exceedingly dangerous. 



Of course, all this information was acquired at a later 

 date. "WTien I arrived at Jedabia I knew less than 

 nothing of Libyan geography. I did not know that the 



