FEASTS IN THE HOLY PLACE 189 



Excellencies the honoured guests of the Sayeds," asking 

 them to proceed to Kufara on the morrow and to bring 

 blessings and honour to the town by their presence 

 therein. 



The mentality of Libya is as changeable as its 

 barometer. That night, the men who had wished to kill 

 us a few hours before, sat amiably round our camp fire 

 and actually told us of their own accord the stories that 

 had preceded our coming. They varied extreme^, for 

 whereas most of them put us down as the heralds of a 

 conquering army one said we were cousins of Rohlf s who 

 had come to make inquiries as to his treatment. "I 

 remember that Nasrani well," said old Zarrug. "He 

 came with a Zouia caravan." "How many other 

 Nasrani were with him?" we asked, remembering the 

 Buseima tale that on his return, at least, the German was 

 alone. "There were none. He came alone with his big 

 horse and a cook called Ali." The sheikh was quite 

 definite on this point. He told us that "Mustapha Bey" 

 had gone to Hawa^viri to avoid the larger village and 

 then, skirting to the east of the Kufara dunes and hills, 

 had cam^ped outside Boema, where he was promptly 

 made a prisoner. 



January 14! produced about the most unpleasant 

 specimen of desert climate. The sun, no doubt, was hot, 

 but a cold, strong wind blew from the east, raising 

 clouds of sand and making progress difficult. Neverthe- 

 less, we sent the caravan direct to Kufara and ourselves 

 started for Hawawiri. The Zouias meekly allowed us 

 to go anywhere we liked, but they did suggest that 

 perhaps we were tiring ourselves unnecessarilj'', for 

 there were only three houses in the farther oasis, as all 

 the palms were owned by people in Jof and Boema. 

 However, we felt we had to visit the place as a lesson 

 to the soldiers, who had refused to accompany us the 



