THE FLIGHT FROM TAJ 229 



mejidies, goats four and a half, fowls half a me j idle, 

 and pigeons four and a half qurush. Eggs were very- 

 cheap — a hundred for a mejidie (two a penny), but 

 sugar was two mejidies an oke (eight shillings for two 

 pounds) and tea three mejidies an oke. Butter fetched 

 two mejidies for three rotls (one pound). Practically 

 no other produce is sold. The owners of the gardens 

 keep their vegetables for themselves. Mahmud el- 

 Jeddawi volunteered much information about dates. 

 "This year the grazing is good in Barca, so you may 

 buj^ several camel-loads for a mejidie, but when there 

 is no grass in the north the Zouias come here with large 

 caravans and buj^ all our dates, so that for a mejidie 

 you can purchase but a few rotls!" ^ He added that 

 many tons of the Sayeds' dates were even now rotting, 

 as there were no camels to take them away. 



"I have noticed that there are very few camels in 

 Kufara," I said. "There are very few men also," he 

 replied. "The Zouias have all taken their camels to 

 Barca this year to feed them on the good grass. They 

 do this every winter when the nagas are foaling, as 

 there is no fodder here. They leave their families in 

 Kufara and come back to them in the summer." 



I used to get verj^ sleepy before the last visitor 

 departed, having generally urgently urged us not to do 

 the Jaghabub route. They are the most depressing of 

 Job's comforters with regard to journeys, for they 

 always remember terrible stories of death from thirst 

 or loss of direction, which they relate with infinite 

 detail. Thus we learned that the Gebel Fadil, on the 

 east of the Zieghen route, was so called because some 

 twenty years ago one Jebail Fadil had missed the well 



* The usual exchange for paper money is six mejidies for one pound, but for 

 gold one receives seven. No paper money of any country is valid beyond 

 Jedabia. Ten qurush make one mejidie. 



