170 THE SECRET OF SAHARA: KUFARA 



was still yellow and dry. The strange woman bent over 

 them pityingly. "Three men were lost on their way 

 from Ribiana to Kufara," she said. "Their baggage was 

 found but thej^ had disappeared." The soldiers, how- 

 ever, said they were probably blacks, for they had many 

 Sudanese he jabs on them. We found some leather 

 amulets, a fox's foot and the complete bones of a bird, 

 but I would not let the men disturb the desolate scene 

 further. With a "Rahmat UUahi Allahim!" we passed 

 on to join the caravan. 



The foals were being carried in panniers, one on each 

 side of the biggest naga, and occasionally we had to stop 

 to let them feed. Otherwise we made good pace, for 

 the dunes were gradually getting less steep. At 8 a.m. 

 we mounted the last big rise and saw before us a sea of 

 low coral waves, for the sand was getting steadily pinker, 

 with the black mass of the gebel in front. Great was 

 our excitement, however, when, with binoculars, we were 

 able to follow this chain, apparently with scarcely a break, 

 to very near the position of the Ribiana Gara. In fact, 

 the whole horizon seemed to be enclosed in a semicircle 

 of irregular violet hills, stretching from the Fadil and 

 Hawaish to the north-west and west with scarcely a break 

 v/here Kufara lay, to the long chain of the Gebel Neri. 

 From the map we had seen we had supposed the hills to 

 be in small, regular groups. This marvellous view of a 

 land enclosed by strange cliffs was so unexpected that it 

 was like discovering a new country. From that point the 

 ranges appeared to run in a complete half -circle from 

 north-west to south-east. With blazing eyes Hassanein 

 began tracing his sand maps. "Don't you see the Hawari 

 Gara is a continuation of the Gebel Neri?" he said. 

 "Yes, and the Ribiana Gara is a bit broken off the other 

 end," I answered with rising excitement. "Do you 

 know, the Hawaish mountain was originally called the 



