90 THE SECRET OF SAHARA: KUFARA 



She-ib, appeared smiling, with his scarlet mandil full of 

 fresh eggs! Our joy was unspeakable. I don't know 

 how many we ate. I remember kneeling in the sand for 

 ages under a calm, starlit sky, half blinded by the smoke 

 of a brushwood fire, poaching those blessed eggs one by 

 one. "I Hke your particular sauce," said Hassanein. 

 "I shall miss the taste of sand in Cairo!" 



We managed to wash a Httle afterwards, the joy of 

 which Was diluted by the fact that we were suffering from 

 a violent rash all over us. We pohtely called it heat, 

 but I think it was dirt! Just as we had finished our 

 eggs, Mohammed came with excitement to tell us that 

 the sheikh of the zawia, Abdul Kasim, with the ekhwan 

 and the important people of the belad, were coming to 

 visit us, as they had heard we had letters from Sayed 

 Rida. We had no clothes to wear. We could not even 

 offer them the usual sweet tea. She-ib came to the rescue, 

 as usual, and it was agreed that the meeting should take 

 place in his tent. Hassanein was hurriedly rigged up in 

 my beautiful silk jerd, with an hereditary brocaded white 

 kufiya which he had brought from Egj^pt on his head, 

 the gorgeous one the generous Sayed had given me 

 wound gracefully round his neck. The meeting was most 

 impressive. The dignified sheikhs sat round the narrow 

 tent on dyed camel' s-hair rugs, their rifles stacked against 

 the centre pole. With the utmost solemnity the letters 

 of Sayed Idris and Sayed Rida were read. With one 

 voice the ekhwan murmured: "The orders of the Sayed 

 are upon our heads." 



Then details were discussed. The matter of distance 

 was again very difficult. "As far as a man may go on 

 one girba," is a favourite expression. A "girba" is a 

 dried goat-skin used for carrying water. It holds from 

 four to seven gallons. The Beduins say a man may travel 

 on a small one for five or six days in winter and for 



