214 THE SECRET OF SAHARA: KUFARA 



ground to the south of the broad belt of Jof palms and 

 came to Talakh, at the end of the emerald maze where 

 Saved Ahmed owns many gardens. A whole colony of 

 slaves dwelt in clusters of "tukels," within neat palm-leaf 

 fences and there were some biggish houses of sand bricks, 

 on whose flat roofs masses of dates were drying in the 

 sun. The afternoon was far advanced by this time, but 

 the Zouia was anxious to show us the beauty spot of 

 the oasis, so we rode through the thickest palm groves 

 between mounds of grey bushes until quite suddenly we 

 came to a little round lake, whose still water reflected 

 every frond of the palms drooping round it under the 

 shadow of high amber banks which shut in the pool on 

 every side, so that duck sported on it peacefully without 

 fear of onlookers. It was a lovely picture, with the rose- 

 red hills in the distance, but we were glad to turn our 

 donkeys' heads homewards and still gladder when the 

 massive houses of Taj appeared on the most precipitous 

 cliff in the distance. 



The names of the villages in Kufara are interesting, 

 for whereas Taj means very suitably "a crown," and 

 Jof "inside," Zuruk and Tolab are the names of two 

 tribes which are still to be found in Egj^pt. Sheikh 

 Mohammed told us that they had helped the Zouias to 

 conquer the unfortunate Tebu and had received the 

 places bearing their names as their share of the spoil. 

 Later, however, they had grown tired of the remote 

 valley and of the endless disputes between Zouias and 

 Tebus, which lasted till the coming of the Senussi, and 

 had returned to their own country. 



January 18 saw the virtual end of our pilgrimage. As 

 we took leave of Sidi Saleh, after our third cup of mint 

 tea, he asked us if we would like to visit the Zawia of 

 the Asayad. Daily we had passed the massive block of 

 buildings from which generally issued the sound of the 



