Tuesday, April 10. The clouds cleared away in the afternoon, and I took photographs of the valley. I arranged with the shoemaker for shoes for myself and my men, and for bandoliers, which the men insisted on having, in view of the alarming rumors they had been hearing.
I met Mohammed Sukkar, who was to be our guide over the Ouenat route, for the first time, and liked him.
Wednesday, April 11. El Abid had heard of my purchase of Bu Helega’s horse and sent me a Tuareg sword and an Italian carbine, to carry when I ride him.
At last I was able to make observations with my theodolite. I was anxious to see how my results would agree with those of Rohlfs.
Thursday, April 12. I sent Sayed El Abid my shot-gun as a gift.
In the afternoon I rode with Sayed Mohammed Bu Tamanya and Zerwali to Jof. We were met by the chiefs of the village. I visited the suk, where the weekly market was being held, the zawia, which is the oldest Senussi school in Kufra, and the mosque. Jof is the trade-center of Kufra. It was interesting to find side by side in the suk rifle-cartridges whose marking showed them to be thirty years old, Italian tomato sauce in tins from Benghazi, blue and white calico made in Manchester and imported from Egypt, and leather, ivory, and ostrich-feathers from Wadai. These products of the south, however, are not plentiful now in Kufra, except when a merchant who has brought them from Wadai is prevented for some reason from going on to the north to sell them in Egypt or Cyrenaica. Kufra had seen its best days as a trade-center before the occupation of the Sudan. Then it was easier to find an outlet for the products of Wadai and Darfur through Kufra than by way of the country to the east. Even now, however, there is a contraband trade through Kufra in female ivory and ivory of less than fourteen pounds weight, the exportation of which is prohibited by the Sudan Government.
In addition to the trade that passes through Kufra, most of the big Zwaya chiefs who have enough slaves go in for agriculture. They raise barley and maize. The Senussis are more progressive and grow melons, grapes, bananas, marrows, and other vegetables of the more delicate kinds, all of which are a great treat after the monotonous fare of the desert. They raise mint and roses, from which they make the rose-water and mint essence so essential in their ceremonies of hospitality. From a few olive-trees some olive-oil is produced in primitive presses. The animals of Kufra are camels, sheep, donkeys, and a few horses. Meat, however, is very expensive, as there is little grazing for sheep in the valley. The animals are fed on pounded date-stones, which do very well as a staple diet. But some green stuff is necessary at intervals. The Senussis, who are in everything more progressive than their neighbors, raise chickens and pigeons.
The price of slaves, I learned at Kufra, has risen a great deal during the last few years because there are no more slaves coming up from Wadai on account of the vigilance of the French authorities in that province. Occasionally the Bedouins get round this by contracting a marriage with a slave-girl in Wadai and then, when they come back, divorcing and selling her. On one of my travels in 1916 I was offered a slave-girl for six gold louis (120 francs); now the price varies from thirty to forty pounds. A male slave costs less. The Bedouins sometimes marry their slave-girls, and if one of these bears a male child she automatically becomes free. The Bedouins have no prejudice against color; that is, if a slave bears the head of a tribe his eldest male child, that child ipso facto becomes in his turn the head of the tribe, however black he may be. Whereas the children of slaves are slaves, the child of a slave-girl and a free man, however poor, is always free, and even though his father dies and he is left an orphan, he can never be a slave. The lot of a favorite male slave especially is preferable. They have more power and are taken more into the confidence of their masters than free men. They are very well treated and become members of the family. They are well dressed, for an ill-dressed slave reflects badly on his master, just as a shabby footman would detract from the glory of a millionaire’s Rolls-Royce. The favorite slave of Sayed Idris, Ali Kaja, is not only the most trusted man of Sayed Idris, but he has more power and authority among the Bedouins themselves than many a free man. Such a slave is treated as a confidant. If the slave of Sayed El Abid came to me with a message, I took it to be absolutely true, knowing that it is his duty to report exactly what he is told. In the same way, if I wished something to reach the ears of Sayed El Abid, and only his ears, I knew that I could tell it without a moment’s hesitation to his slave and be perfectly confident that it would not go anywhere else.
THE CARAVAN ARRIVING AT OUENAT