THE "CITIES" OF KUFARA 215 



chanted Koran. We knew that inside those formidable 

 walls was the qubba of the Mahdi, a symbol only, for the 

 Senussi believe their saint still living, but nevertheless, 

 the goal of all Senussi pilgrims and the object of almost 

 as much veneration as the tomb of the Prophet. In the 

 course of slow, dignified conversation, with the correct 

 proportion of prolonged silences, we had delicately ap- 

 proached the subject of visiting the revered shrine, but 

 no other sanction than "Insha-allah" had been vouch- 

 safed us. Time and date are never suggested in the 

 East. Thus we had to wait patiently till the kaimakaan 

 was satisfied that the suitable moment had come. 



We passed through the large, low mosque which 

 joined the zawia. Rows of great, square, whitewashed 

 pilasters supported the heavy wooden palm trunks form- 

 ing the beams of the flat roof. It was utterly unadorned 

 and the "mimbar" was of the simplest description, with- 

 out paint or carving ; yet for a moment, as I stood on the 

 threshold of the holy of holies of a great warrior confra- 

 ternity, austere and fanatical, I forgot the troubles and 

 dangers of a long journey. I understood something of 

 the awe and reverence of any other shoeless pilgrim, who, 

 after much travel, steps at last from the white mats of 

 the mosque into the dim chamber where he will kiss the 

 sacred qubba. For the first time I realised the great 

 peace which comes at a journey's end, yet the long, 

 narrow room was unlike our Western idea of a shrine. 

 Nearly the whole of the floor space was occupied by the 

 graves of members of the Senussi family, oblongs of 

 desert sand, with a stone edging and an upright slab at 

 either end. A narrow carpeted pathway ran round these 

 to the farthest corner where stood the qubba of the Mahdi 

 — an ark-shaped wooden framework covered with a red 

 cloth. 



As befits a creed which forbids all luxury, the sim- 



