134 THE SECRET OF SAHARA: KUFARA 



of Abdullah's change of direction, according to the 

 mileage we had done, we should have been well within 

 the oases that night. We had confidently expected it 

 the previous evening, when we noticed a certain vague- 

 ness about our guide. "Don't talk to him, or he will 

 lose his head," said Mohammed on the sixth day. It 

 is looked upon as a definite disease, like fever, this 

 losing the head on the part of the guides. It was 

 extraordinary to see the change in the Beduin's face that 

 day. The whole outhne of his features seemed to have 

 become blurred, while his eyes were restless and troubled. 

 He stooped as he walked and kept asking if we thought 

 he was going straight, so that by the end of that day 

 we had to direct him by the map, which we had ever^* 

 reason to believe inaccurate. It must be remembered 

 that while we always knew roughly where we were, wt 

 never knew where Taiserbo was. We started half -rations 

 for the camels on the 31st and tried to cut down the 

 water ration still more, though since the girbas had 

 begun to leak we had dispensed with the half -cupful for 

 washing. 



New Year's Day dawned gloomily. We had two 

 half-feeds for the camels and barely enough water for 

 two days at less than a pint per day per person. We 

 were, however, a little cheered up when, as we were 

 loading the camels, Abdullah pointed out a faint blur to 

 the east and said it was Mazeel, some hillocks he had 

 hoped to see the previous day. On clear mornings, about 

 an hour after dawn, when the desert is very flat, a mirage 

 of the country about a day's journey distant appears on 

 the horizon. For a few minutes one sees a picture of what 

 is some 50 kilometres farther on. The Arabs call it "the 

 country turning upside down." On January 1, the 

 seventh day of our march, we saw this mirage for the 

 first time — ^brushwood and hillocks quite clearly to the 



