THE ZIEGHEN WELL
The first well reached in nine days’ trekking from Jalo on the way to Kufra. The well, which is a water-hole, is only marked by a dim patch of sand, which the caravans scrape as they go along. Water is found at four or five feet deep. The fact that this well is so indistinctly marked makes it easy to miss it entirely unless the guide is a very good one.
A HALT IN THE DESERT
The caravan on its way to Kufra from Jalo. Note change from sandy ground to grass.
Fortunately the wind comes in driving gusts, spaced in groups of three or four, with a few seconds of blessed lull after each group. While the gusts are making their assault, one turns one’s face away, pulls one side of one’s kufia forward like a screen, and almost holds one’s breath. When the lull comes, one puts the kufia back, takes a quick look about to see that one has kept one’s bearings, then swiftly prepares for the next attack.
It is as though some great monster of fabled size and unearthly power were puffing out these hurtling blasts of sand upon the traveler’s head. The sound is that of a giant hand drawing rough fingers in regular rhythm across tightly stretched silk.
When the sand-storm comes there is nothing to do but to push doggedly on. Around any stationary object, whether it might be a post, a camel, or a man, the eager sands swiftly gather, piling up and up until there remains only a smoothly rounded heap. If it is torture to go on, it is death itself to halt.
A sand-storm is likely to be at its worst for five or six hours. While it persists, a caravan can only keep going, with careful vigilance that the direction be not missed. When the storm is at its fiercest, the camels will be scarcely moving, but their instinct tells them that it is death to halt. How instinctively wise they are is shown by the fact that when it begins to rain they sense no such danger and will immediately stand still and even lie down.