THE GREAT ADVENTURE 17 



sheikhs, the principal of whom was Bu Guettin. He 

 accomplished the amazing feat of reaching Taiserbo in 

 four and a half days, by riding nearly twenty hours out 

 of the twenty-four. In his most interesting book on 

 his North African travels, which has unfortunately not 

 been translated into English, he suggests that Taiserbo 

 may have been the site of the original Tebu sultanate, 

 as he saw ruins which might possibly be those of a castle 

 or stronghold at Diranjedi. He continued his southern 

 course by way of Buseima, till he reached Hawawiri, 

 where he was persuaded by a friendly sheikh, Korayim 

 Abd Rabu, to camp in an outlying palm grove to avoid 

 anj' friction with the villagers, who refused to allow the 

 Nasrani to enter their country. 



The plucky Teuton describes the gathering outside 

 his tent and the long discussion as to whether he and 

 his companions should be murdered or not. The day 

 following, August 14, they were induced by Bu Guettin 

 and the treacherous Zouias, who were fanatically opposed 

 to the presence of strangers and greedy to share the spoils 

 of so rich a caravan, to leave Hawawiri and, skirting 

 the oasis, to isolate themselves in Boema, the loneliest 

 and most deserted spot in the whole group. Rohlfs ap- 

 parently agreed to this plan because the neighbourhood 

 of any of the main villages was dangerous. He had to 

 oppose the combined hatred of the ekhwan and pupils 

 of the zawias, religions fanatics, the villagers who 

 jealously guarded the privacy of their country and the 

 passing caravans of pilgrims and merchants. After being 

 held a prisoner for nearly a month in this lonely camp, 

 in daily fear for his life, he was helped to escape by his 

 original friend, Korayim, who took him by night, with 

 his three companions, to his son-in-law's camp, somewhere 

 in the neighbourhood of Zuruk. That very night 

 the German's camp was attacked and looted. Every 



