THE LAKE IN THE DESERT 157 



the fact that geographically and commercially it was 

 described as uninteresting. Kufara is the centre of the 

 Sahara world; Buseima produces the finest dates in 

 Libya and caravans come from Jalo to fetch them; 

 Ribiana is apparently the haunt of the most lawless 

 human element in the neighbourhood. We were told 

 that there were five hundred Tebu there, but it was 

 probably incorrect. 



Taiserbo is outside the trade circuit and contents itself 

 with a peaceful, self-centred existence. We heard the 

 number of its inhabitants put as low as fifty and as 

 high as two hundred. With regard to its size, it was 

 generally supposed to be between 25 and 30 kilometres 

 long and about 10 kilometres in breadth. It lies from 

 north-west to south-east, with its northernmost end but 

 a point or two west of due south of Jalo. It comprises 

 eleven so-called \dllages of which the largest is Gezira, 

 containing ten houses. The traveller from the north 

 should arrive at Ain Jelelat or Ain Talib, within a 

 kilometre of each other. Two kilometres south of these 

 wells is Gezira, where there is the Senussi zawia, whose 

 sheikh is Sidi JNIohammed el Madeni, brother of our friend 

 with the same name. South of Gezira lies Mabus el 

 A^vadil and Mabus Gaballa, some 2 kilometres apart. 

 Sixteen kilometres east of Gezira is Kusebeya, the most 

 easterly point in the oasis. Eight kilometres west of 

 Ain Jelelat is El Wadi and a kilometre farther on is 

 El Abd. On the extreme West is Tunisi. At El Wadi 

 is the Kasr Diranjedi, where there are some old Tebu 

 buildings, one of which might have been a castle or a 

 palace. El Wadi is the most populated part. There 

 are other Tebu ruins at Dahwa, Ain Jelelat and 

 Gezira. 



There are clusters of palms round all the villages, with 

 patches of "halfa" (half grass, half moss) in between. 



