A Bride and her Pottery.
A bride from the poorer classes can only contribute a small amount of earthenware towards furnishing her new home. In her wedding procession she carries this on a chair on her head. Note the sequins on the front of her dress. ([p. 253]).
Farafra is such a small place that administratively it is under Baharia, the nearest oasis, lying about three days’ journey away to the north-east. In the whole oasis of Farafra there are only about twenty wells, the two most important ones were said to be ’Ain Ebsay, lying four to five miles to the south of the village, which I did not visit, and ’Ain el Belad (the town well), both of which were said to be of Roman origin and to resemble those of Dakhla Oasis.
Some of the wells are said to be connected with long underground infiltration channels cut horizontally, at some depth below the surface, similar to those at ’Ain Um Debadib, but I had no opportunity of examining any of these. The ’Ain el Belad, that supplies the village, flowed into a large pool covered with green weed and to some extent surrounded by palm groves, that in the glow of the setting sun made a most lovely picture.
We ended our promenade at the door of Sheykh Ibn ed Dris’ house in the zawia. It was a gloomy mud-built building, without a trace of the European furniture that characterised the zawia and houses of the Mawhub family in Dakhla. Here I took leave of my unpleasant companions, much, I fancy, to our mutual relief. As the sheykhs had to a slight extent thawed during our walk, I asked Ibn ed Dris to let me photograph him, to which, rather to my surprise, he grudgingly consented. He did not make a pretty picture. He was wearing his normal expression, a scowl that “never came off,” and nothing that I said would induce him to look pleasant.
Supplies of all kinds were very scarce in the oasis. No fruit or vegetables were procurable, and the only eatables to be bought were fowls, eggs and onions. Owing to nearly the whole of the inhabitants being members of the Senussia, tobacco was also very difficult to obtain, as the members of the sect are forbidden to smoke. The men had all run out of cigarettes, and were much upset at not being able to renew their supplies.
The morning after my walk with the sheykhs, Ibrahim, who was always keen on any kind of sport, told me that quail were beginning to arrive in the oasis, so I went out with him to try and shoot some. I only, however, saw two—one of which I succeeded in missing twice.
The natives of Qasr Farafra were so unfriendly that I was unable to see as much of the place as I should have wished, and I was only able to take a very few photos.
The next morning we packed up and set out to Bu Mungar. After an uneventful journey of about eight hours to the south-west, over a featureless level desert, we reached the little oasis of ’Ain Sheykh Murzuk—the only permanently inhabited spot, besides Qasr Farafra, in the whole depression.