The slave whom I had been treating was astonishingly improved in health. He came to thank me. No one was more surprised than I at what I had been able to do for him.
At two the caravan set out for Ezeila, the last well of Kufra Valley on the south. There we were going to do tag-heez properly, taking several days for perfecting our final preparations. I had bought two sheep for Bu Zafar, as none of us had made this journey before.
All my men had been newly clothed and made a cheerful sight, in spotless white with red shoes. Their carefully cleaned rifles glittered as they hung on their backs. Most of the new camels looked fresh and strong.
Monday, April 16. Abdullahi took the horse to Taj for shoeing, as I found that the stony ground was too hard for him. I sent a brass tray to the commandant as a wedding present, and the last three bottles of Bovril to Idris’ sick slave. Our departure was postponed because the guide was still occupied before the kadi with a legal matter over a camel.
Tuesday, April 17. I had breakfast at Soliman Bu Matari’s in Jof with Zerwali, Abdullahi, the commandant, Saleh, and Mohammed Bu Tamania. The rest poked fun at the commandant because, being a new bridegroom, he would not partake of a dish cooked with onions. “They do not forgive when they are young,” said Bu Tamania, winking at the commandant.
THE VALLEY OF ERDI
The red rocks and rose-colored sand are the peculiarity of that region
I bought a hejin, or trotting-camel, for my own use, paying nine pounds for it. We were at last ready for the start the next day.
As I made my last observation of Polaris, I had a strong hope that I should have succeeded in putting Kufra into its proper place on the map. I had been keen to check Rohlfs’s determination of the position of Kufra, which he made from the observations of his companion Stecker at Boema. Taj had not been built in Rohlfs’s day. When I made my first observations at Taj, I discovered that they were not in agreement with the results of Stecker’s observations at Boema, which is two kilometers from Taj in a direction 54° east of true south. I thereupon determined that I would not leave Kufra until I had secured a sufficient number of observations to preclude the possibility of any appreciable error. Polaris was observed with the theodolite by me on six different nights, under conditions which Dr. Ball, in his scholarly paper on my work published at the end of this volume, declares to leave no room for an error greater than a single minute of latitude or longitude.