FEASTS IN THE HOLY PLACE 195 



philosopher, a divine! Then came the mighty Moham- 

 med Bu Fadil, brother of the absent kaimakaan, 

 enormous of person, in pale saffron yellow, with a 

 primrose kufiya wound round and round his head above 

 the turban, so that much of his plump, shining face, 

 with wide-lipped smile and humorous eyes, was hidden 

 in its folds. The fourth was a very old man, long and 

 lean, with pointed, trailing beard, shrunk, hollow cheeks, 

 parchment coloured as his robes, but something of the 

 seer burned in his still vital eyes. He, Sayed Osmari 

 the judge, had known the wonders of Sidi el Mahdi, 

 and the passionate faith which makes martyrs was in 

 him. The little council read and re-read our letters 

 and expressed calmly and graciously their satisfaction. 

 Then the subject of our detention in Hawari came up, 

 and with it smiles. "You did not choose your 

 messenger well," they said. "Had you heard the 

 stories of Abdullah you would have sympathised with 

 our hesitation. We did not like that talk ourselves. 

 However, we will now relieve you of him." The tone 

 was decided. We wondered what would happen to 

 Abdullah. Justice is tactfully slow in the East, but 

 when it comes it is final. 



Immediately after our visitors had left, while we were 

 putting up gaily painted canvas partitions in the long 

 room, black slaves appeared, bearing a banquet in many 

 blue bowls on an immense brass tray. This was placed 

 on a vermiHon cloth on the floor and beside it we sat 

 cross-legged, dipping our fingers first into one dish and 

 then into another. "This is the real joy of Kufara," 

 said Hassanein, voraciously devouring most of a lamb 

 cooked in "mulukhia," a sort of thin spinach sauce. 

 I was silent from pure joy — and a wonderful vegetable 

 which I discovered at the bottom of one of the messes 

 of thick, buttery gravy and meat. I hoped Hassanein 



