220 THE SECRET OF SAHARA: KUFARA 



stemmed narghilehs, while generally a dancer performs 

 some variation of the danse du ventre. In Libya, 

 smoking, drinking and dancing-girls are forbidden by 

 the Senussi law. Therefore the cafe has no raison d'etre 

 and the towns are silent, apparently deserted, infinitely 

 discreet ! 



We rode all round the scattered masses of Jof's 

 houses, meeting She-ib's brother, Ahmed el Khadri, a 

 well-known Senussi clerk, who greeted us warmly and 

 was delighted to get news of his family. Then we 

 climbed the little group of gherds beyond the town and 

 looked down upon the Tebu village whose headman is 

 Sa-ad el Tebu. Very primitive were the dwellings after 

 the solid Zouia buildings, for the greater part were just 

 palm-leaf huts. The men were generally tall and clad 

 in sheepskins, the wool worn inside. Their food, when 

 they travel, consists of powdered locusts and powdered 

 dates mixed together. The women wore only one long 

 dark piece of stuff, wound round them like a barracan, 

 but generally tattered and somewhat inadequate. The 

 young ones were distinctly pretty with charming round 

 faces, wide, long-lashed eyes, almost black skins, but 

 without any of the swollen negroid characteristics. 



As we rode back across the wadi I discovered the right 

 adjective for the cliffs of Kufara. Of course they were 

 amber, a rich, mellow amber, which detracted from the 

 green of the palms, so that the gardens of Jof took on 

 a wonderful silvery-grey appearance against the burnt 

 gold of the hills. 



That night, while meticulously measuring the just 

 proportion of tea, sugar and spice, the kaimakaan offered 

 to show us an original letter of Sidi Ben Ali es Senussi 

 to the people of Wajanga on the road to Wadai. I 

 think our enthusiastic interest pleased him, for he at 

 once detached an immense key from his belt and gave it 



