268 THE SECRET OF SAHARA: KUFARA 



doubted his facts because in the afternoon he had pointed 

 out traces of what he thought were walls constructed 

 with mortar, but I thought they were merely a natural 

 formation of the sandstone which takes so many odd 

 shapes. I think his milling stones were due to the hand 

 of nature in fantastic mood, for there could never have 

 been water in the stony ground. 



February 1 we started at 7.15 a.m. and barraked at 

 2.30 P.M. at the Mehemsa, a feeding ground, where it 

 is customary to allow the camels a few hours' rest and 

 a good meal before starting to cross the four days' waste 

 in front without blade of grass or twig of firewood. A 

 few camel skeletons mark the way below the tower- 

 ing dunes and, here and there, one comes across large 

 stones set on end. by preceding travellers. These 

 impromptu landmarks are of great value and we re- 

 ligiously made them ourselves whenever possible. The 

 Beduins are very good about this labour. I have seen 

 Mohammed toil to the top of some hillock with a heavy 

 slab of rock, after a long day's journey, to make a mark 

 that might cheer and guide a chance caravan years hence 

 perhaps. 



We crossed the dunes where a wide channel of stony 

 ground ran into a low, curly ridge and, immediately on 

 the other side, found great shrubs and masses of dry grey 

 brush, excellent fodder and firewood, but burning hot 

 at midday. The dunes circled round west and north of 

 an open space of some 4 kilometres. Beyond this again 

 there was another track of hattab. Among this we 

 camped and turned the camels loose to graze. They 

 were disappointingly different. "Inshallah, we shall 

 arrive at Jaghabub, but we shall leave two or three 

 camels on the way," said Yusuf. We were very anxious 

 about our animals. The two yomig nagas were terribly 

 thin, the big blond camel was obviously ill and two of 



