THE ELUSIVE DUNES 279 



occupation like travelling, stopping, loading, unloading, 

 letting fall, starting, etc., ad infinitum, one employs the 

 word "shil." If one wishes to imply any more vigorous 

 or offensive action, like fighting, attacking, climbing 

 hurriedly, eating, burning, becoming angry, "akal" 

 seems to be elastic Enough to express it. 



We finally arrived at the dunes nearly two hours 

 before sunset, luckily hitting two very big dunes that 

 were well-known landmarks. Yusuf wanted to turn in 

 behind them. Suleiman insisted on going to the right, 

 which brought us into a wide, flat stretch some 12 kilo- 

 meres long. We barraked at the end of it in a rising 

 wind, which soon put out our little folding lantern, so 

 that we lost everything, including the tin opener, in the 

 dark. It was rather a miserable night, for the hattab 

 we had brought from the Mehemsa was exhausted and 

 our efforts to make tea over a little fire of "leaf" torn 

 from one of the hawias were not very successful. 



The water from the girba we opened that night was 

 really bad. Its colour and taste alike were extraordinary, 

 so we regretfully decided to use it only for cooking. 

 Suleiman looked at it with interest. "We have enough 

 water, Hamdulillah !" he said. "In any case I can 

 live for a week without drinking." When we questioned 

 him as to this amazing statement he told us that Sidi el 

 Mahdi habitually sent out caravans to explore the country 

 round Kufara. Suleiman, an old man and a boy, had 

 formed one of these parties, and they had wandered as 

 far afield as Merg, thirteen days south-east of their 

 starting-point, when one dark night their camels were 

 stolen by a band of brigands. Presumably something 

 happened to the girbas and provisions, for in the morning 

 the exploring party found themselves with enough water 

 and dates for a day and a half and they were six days' 

 journey from the nearest well, the Oweinat. However, 



