ACROSS THE DESERT WITH SHE-IB 67 



"The caravan will come to-day." The ever-kindly 

 Mojabras had sent over two more vast bowls of a floury 

 paste, somewhat like macaroni, cooked in the same rancid 

 butter, so, thoroughly gorged, the retinue were prepared 

 to await placidly the will of Allah! We had packed up 

 and hauled everything out of the tent by 7 a.m. At 

 11 there were still incessant councils round one or other 

 of the fires. The Mojabras were determined to come 

 with us. "You are the guests of Sidi Idris," they said. 

 Once more the holy letter was produced and kissed. We 

 had become used now to its magical effect. Apparently 

 it would produce anjrthing but haste! The strangers 

 acknowledged, however, that they had not enough food 

 for all our men, meaning, of course, that they could not 

 hope to supply large quantities three times a day. We 

 could not hope to make them ration it out in small 

 portions, so we wanted to leave at least one of the blacks 

 to await the caravan and either hurry its progress or 

 send on a swift camel with provisions. There was instant 

 mutiny at the suggestion. The two Farraj refused to 

 leave us. "We have no authority over them," said Mo- 

 hammed without surprise. "Their commandant would 

 whip them, but what can we do?" 



Further discussion seemed useless, so we went down 

 to the wadi to buy dates from a caravan that had come 

 from Kufara. It was an amusing instance of how news> 

 is carried in the Sahara. Before the question of dates 

 was raised at all we squatted solemnly in the sand 

 opposite the merchants from the far-off oasis, and 

 Mohammed submitted to a perfect inquisition on the state 

 of affairs in Jedabia. Afterwards he propounded his 

 list of questions — what was the price of silk, of wool, of 

 grain, etc., in Kufara? What was the price of dates? 

 "So much per ruba or so much per oka?" they quoted, 

 and for dates, "There is no price. They are plentiful." 



