TRIUMPHANT ARRIVAL AT JALO 91 



three in summer. After much argument we were told 

 that it was actually thirteen days from Jalo to Kufara 

 by the direct caravan route which goes on to Wadai. 

 There are two wells, one at Buttafal, a day's march from 

 Jalo, and another at Zieghen, seven days farther on. 

 This well, which stands alone in the desert, is wrongly 

 marked as an oasis, Sirhen, on the map. There is 

 another so-called route from Jalo to Kufara, that chosen 

 by Rohlfs. It runs in a more westerly direction to the 

 oasis of Taiserbo, erroneously supposed to be one of the 

 Kufara group. This oasis contains several villages, the 

 biggest being Kseba, Mabus, el Kasr and el Wadi, 

 inhabited by Zouias and Tebus, the latter being the 

 original dwellers in Kufara, from which they have been 

 gradually driven by the conquering Senussi. Bej^ond 

 Taiserbo there are various savage tribal bands, who 

 delight in sacking caravans and murdering their escorts. 

 They are sworn foes to the merchant and Zieghen is, 

 occasionally, a dangerous halting place, because the Tebus 

 sweep east from their Ribiana stronghold, or the lawless 

 Zouias from Buseima fall upon the caravan and have 

 vanished into the desert before the news has reached 

 Kufara. From Taiserbo a six or seven days' route runs 

 via Buseima to Kufara, but, besides the fear of attack, 

 it is dangerous owing to sand dunes. 



It is also possible to go direct from Jalo to Buseima, 

 a route unmarked on our map. One passes through the 

 "hatia" between Zieghen and Taiserbo, in the bed of 

 which there is water, and sees the dark strange mountain 

 two days before one reaches the oasis in its shadow. 

 Buseima always appealed to me fatally because of its 

 lovely black mountain and its lake! A lake in a Libyan 

 desert! Surely that is sufficient to make up for any 

 number of robbers! I tried hard to persuade Abdullah 

 to ignore Taiserbo, apparently much akin to any othe?- 



