Mysteries of the Libyan Desert

by W. J. Harding King

After Qway joined on to Abdulla, the two men had ridden on together till they reached Jebel el Bayed. Here, however, they had halted and evidently consulted together for some time before separating, as the ground all over a small area at this point was closely trampled. On separating, Abdulla had gone off at a trot, as arranged, towards the south, while Qway had sauntered leisurely along towards the second hill, two days’ away to the south-west, or Jebel Abdulla as the men had named it.

We concluded from Qway’s tracks, as dated by his praying places, that he must be rather more than a long day’s journey ahead of us.

We continued following his trail until the sun began to set, when, as we did not want to overlook any tracks in the dark, we halted for the night. We had got by that time into rather broken ground, cut up into ridges and hills about twenty feet high, at the foot of one of which we camped.

In spite of Abd er Rahman’s scandalised protests, I insisted on doing my share of the work in the caravan. I helped him to unload the camels, then, while he was feeding the beasts, I lit the fire and made the tea.

Abd er Rahman returned and made bread, and I opened a small tin of jam, which we shared together. Abd er Rahman then made some coffee, and very well he did it; and after eating some dates I produced a cigarette-case and we sat and smoked over the fire. The result of this informal treatment on my part being that Abd er Rahman became more communicative.

His views were those of a typical bedawi. He disapproved highly of the way in which Qway had behaved. If we had been a caravan of fellahin, he said, it would not have been so bad, but for a guide to behave in that way to us who knew the nijem was, he considered, the last word in treachery. To “know the nijem” (stars) by which the Arabs steer at night means to have a knowledge of desert craft, an accomplishment that forms perhaps the strongest possible recommendation to the true bedawin.

He told me that when the mamur had had them all round to the merkaz, and it came to be Qway’s turn to be questioned—the very man of whom I had complained—directly he heard his name, he told him he need give him no further details, as he knew all about him, and that he was to be trusted to do his duty; but he apparently omitted to specify what that duty was—the mamur was a nationalist.

When I asked if he felt afraid to go on with me after Qway, he laughed, saying that he was quite as clever as he was in the desert, having lived there nearly the whole of his life and had often travelled long distances alone. So long as he had enough water he did not care how far he went, provided I did not want to take him to the Bedayat. He even volunteered to go with me to within sight of their country, in order that I might be able to fix its position, provided he did not see any tracks of theirs before getting there. He was highly elated at having found Qway out, and very full of confidence in his own abilities.

He then began to tell me some of his experiences. Once he had been out in the desert with a single camel, when it had broken down a long way from water. He had tied the camel up, slung a gurba on his back, and, leaving his beast behind him, walked into the Nile Valley. He arrived with his gurba empty and half dead from thirst, but managed to crawl up to a watercourse, where he drank such an enormous amount that he immediately vomited it all up again. He managed to borrow another camel, with which he had taken water out to the one he had abandoned in the desert. The latter was almost dead on his arrival; but after drinking and resting for a day, had been able to get back to safety.

When Arabs are running short of water, but their camels are still able to travel, he said, they throw all their baggage down in the desert, where no one but the worst of haramin (robbers) would touch it, put all their water on to the camels and travel all through the night and cool part of the day, resting in the shade, if there be any, during the hot hours, and resuming their march as soon as it gets cool again in the evening. In this way, occasionally riding their beasts to rest, they can cover forty miles a day quite easily for several consecutive days.