mtadg Sapte ee swren Mw rasa poe he hme. aes o>: wnede take % i3 iz Shas e iE : f5 S3oSiser eee bye seer pe eg Puce vlsasbaidicisoae Sa ae raat a ica Te paan ned I | f I f i pas sie on a to bn pena ng 3h sae pias aaa - Si lt a a naan cient ds ebedin by iewdindicreslneoe aearhen cing 34, See Pte saiiS aay ay a> == ae be tin Song pe ie 95Sdeel SATS ean etre ett te ee ae ABST LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA PRESENTED BY Mrs. W. C. Plunkett a a Rar) eR SAR LI aeete eater et rz ot ah 3] Paseteat ites ees MITES a Restees tris cei s alae if Hf iisrii biota rectecsrermeeni ict itestitictt ees ae teal athiterta step eas be: arabe oaSerr rrr Sain Siapennsit bestseses ores = iy] Tyla a0 - thers hes 4 Cees ie cesses 5 shetresoentes pesteess aa sterprecst Py;| 71 RSPB OB EGA cad sud Lda aca Gk nada LGA GEsHdGaS LA ES sags ta nea Fa ran ai t a Sr eabace cence ene oat gaa perry re bt Rota i ade lovee Bet booes ATE ete: hy ok Oram gt or Fer eerste reteset os it Staaten bow yf j iE le “fej Hs Hea ae : iritcecasite ae meer o; Shion DET at ogee bs Lintid besdisests bnlsdccasssesmanes si nie pepheseoetrinre-aat prapztasst reste es ue (ease acest gpa SS Tn) fieeeastistosst 7" na Spt aateteeetekeen tens hp toot . ee reads ibs " bid Pry £695 ares hie Pel) os MEP eles Ta ba tate Ayes Haale: “7 re r Stat ta cea ea ates eae Update en] Patent PEP ET PET PT BT el rent ety nai Bt et eth Leanne Ee Bote en aeSIWA Tt eit vote Pee] bhatt bee FA a) ai a Hapeal deLab te Gad a ed cadet Ge lad tag ncaa oa a Pets Sstoetson hi pevieses: Oitesrtmiee poset S702 Ter erases ese etbepc eta i pIESEEOS toc ieeacede thet oeete tote ted Ls peseooes ror i Wes oor is sees T bs TEST aT Eas ad Eas Ts STE TYE ea ey ye TTT TE eres edulis eau trietiie tei tara ten ae 4 SILLS eatectce recent i iceci iti tliat el icat te pt etter! Castner trata rales yethis haltedns] Ip ergrre ees ors a CST ae iersreeSeStEsl na POETS ot eerie 7 . ty i +a iB Eirita a Zr - & ae i 1SIWA Tee OASIS OF (UPITEK AMMON BY C. DALRYMPLE BELGRAVE WITH AN INFRODUCTION BY GENERAL SIR REGINALD WINGATE BART., G.C.B., ETC. ETC. ILLUSTRATED WITH SKETCHES AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY THE AUTHOR BOSTON SMALL, MAYNARD: '& COMPANY PUBLISHERSeas bed ieed| aPReisypeatlatee iq tT ape 4 y cscs SMMEaB Hd EBRAA PaGaL Lan daa) EES LBL GLEE Us sine ' es ~ 7 é } Made and Printed in Great Britain at The Mayflower Press, Plymouth. William Brendon & Son, Ltd, eee ane rad a eliiiotesakssecesconstres nad dehemtndinaseanane neal tal pas webes EMEA ESEIESSTLCS ly aire Staieigl esti oaectr teat |cTeviortr sa iver bird pe len] Ped serene PRESS HER ERETESEL PH aa tip ane ctererpatytaayy EES SL sooSprrocsre treet be yesnates st) 2sig doe bint sl itis ead Rar etre teiee ntti bsie TO MY MOTHER st fy a eeistaatee ted ee ia 4 oe3 Ls % CY by 4 fi oF Rs Sereerste sy RSET TELE Teles teat pmame tres FegeereereeeaT Tae TreCONTENTS CHAPTER I THE COAST Siwa—Whereabouts—The ex-Khedive and Germans—The ancient Libyans—The coastal belt—The Mariut Railway—Mersa Matruh —The Bay—Antony and Cleopatra—Greek Traders—Motor Maniacs—Sponge fishers—From Matruh to Sollum—Barrani and Bagbag—Sollum Bay—Western Desert Arabs, characteristics, tents, carpets, appearance, marriage customs, women—An Arab meal— “ Gold tooth”—Buried money—Horses—Hawking—Silugi hounds —Hunting—Shooting—The Scarp—Flowers—The Rains—Houses —T he Cruiser Abdel Moneim—A tripper . , : ; ° 1 CHAPTER Il THE DESERT The Frontier Districts Administration—The Camel Corps—Harimat —Story of a stove—The Booza Camp—The men—Diary of trek from Sollum to Siwa—Departure—Augerin, a Roman cistern—Bir Hamed—A desert dance—Ascent of Scarp—Qur el Beid—Camel riding—Evening on the desert—Camp—Utter desert—Mud pans— Mirage—“Khuz” bread—Desert tracks—Bisharin trackers—Night marching—A caravan—* The country of Dogs”—Among the ravines—The Megahiz Spring—Siwa—District Officer’s House— “Taking over” wives—A typical day—Siwan manners—The Sheikhs—T he staff—View from Siwa—Aghourmi village—A slave woman—A rifle raid . ° ° . . ° ° ; 37(SSCL ETP peat ected es He pieabestes sons ces ates cd estes teat estas le? | Siish eee pA eels Licd ceagai ty ceea tases tee cad es Cease th HALES HSE fet tetet fg tapas earth eas ba fekcpengaccgi’. <1 facb sage fag Rab RRA REISEL GH japiatinted PRE ine Cee a te eae viii Contents CHAPTER III THE HISTORY OF SIWA FIRST PERIOD. THE TEMPLE OF JUPITER AMMON The Siwan Deity—A local religion—Legendary origin of the God— Herodotus—The Kingdom of the Ammonians—l ysander’s visit— Cambyses—A lost army—Cimon’s death foretold—The “ Fountain of the Sun”—The temples—The King’s court—The temple to-day —Alexander visits Siwa—His adventures on the way—Ritual of the temple—Decline of its fame—Strabo’s theory—The Romans— Christianity . : ; ; ; ; > ; oa hls eee 74 SECOND PERIOD. MEDIAVAL SIWA Arab invasion of Egypt—Attempts to subjugate the oasis—Arab historians—The marvels of Siwa—Hidden cities—Emerald mines —Siwans become Mohammedans—King Rashwan—* The Thirty” —Sidi Suliman—Legends about him—Style of living—Quarrel between east and west—Civil wars—Recent disturbance—Browne at Siwa—Hornemann,. é ; ; ; ; ; : 89 THIRD PERIOD. THE TURKISH RULE Invasion of Siwa—Hassein Bey—Colonel Butin—Ali Balli, the Omda —Hamilton at Siwa, his imprisonment—Punitive expedition— Death of Yousif Ali—Turkish mamurs—A desert firebrand— “The Widow’s War”—Osman Habun—Abdel Arti, smuggler —Death of “The Habun” , : es ° ° >. 02 FOURTH PERIOD. SIWA AND THE WAR The Italians in Tripoli—German intrigues—T he Senussi confraternity —Mohammed el Senussi, his life at Siwa—Caves of the Kasr Hassuna—Growth of the Senussi—Mohammed el Mahdi—Sayed Ahmed—The situation in 1915—Evacuation of Sollum—Capture of the crew of the Tara—Matruh—Battle on Christmas Day— Wadi Majid—Battle of Agagia and occupation of Barrani—Sayed Ahmed at Siwa—Occupation of Sollum—Sayed Ahmed goes to Dakhla and back—Siwans revolt—Battle of Girba—Occupation of Siwa—Rescue of Tara crew by Duke of Westminster—Sayed Ahmed retires to Constantinople , ‘ ° ° ° . : ; ‘ . 117Contents ix CHAPTER IV SIWA TOWN The town—Architecture—Wells—Custom of whitewash— Date Markets—Mosques—School—Shops—Interior of houses—T he Roofs —“Dululas’—The Siwan race—Men—Women—Appearance— Clothes—Religious sects—Springs, gardens, irrigation, water rights— Salt lakes—Fever—Spring cleaning—“Sultan Mousa”—A luncheon faster rt rs a er psbeescts (Sara party—The ceremony of tea—Appetites—Dog eaters—Life of an Englishman in Siwa—Two “cases”—Women witnesses—Bak- shish - . . . . oe o * o . . ° 133 err Treaties ey pea tet Pa Uys esse pfeaee peLr IE as tf earshsd CHAPTER V SUBURBAN OASES it et Zeitoun and Kareished—The oasis of Gara—The village—T he curse of Sheikh Abdel Sayed—A legend of Gara—The Mejberry pass— E! Areg and Bahrein—The Arabs of Maragi—The northern oases—Jerabub—Sheikh Ithneini and his treasures—Terra incognita —Kufra—Excavating in Siwa—The “Oldest Inhabitant” his wedding —Industries, baskets, mats, and earthenware—The “Bedouin Industries”’—Animals and birds—Snakes, snake charming . ; ; ; ‘ ; : ; 7 ; en O77, CHAPTER VI CUSTOMS AND SUPERSTITIONS Belief in Superstitions—Divine and Satanic magic—Demons—A birthday—Naming the child—Women—Marriage and divorce— A wedding, the bride’s bath, fetching the bride, presents— “Ghrula” customs of a widow—The Town Crier—Funerals —Cemeteries—Evil Eye, charms to avert the curse—A visit to a witch—Methods used to obtain a husband—Invoking demons— Discovering stolen property—Exposing a thief—Divination and fortune telling—Sacrificing a bull—The Pilgrimage, rolling the bangles, to ensure a safe journey—“ Yom el Asher,” the children’s “ Christmas” . ; ; > ° cite as 2 ; aorieicsl ideahcAeo iad Sold Sa Lest al SAEs La MSR Ltd aa Sead Le RRL eo Deatias ete tet ates cs tas teeny ae erst x Contents CHAPTER VII “FANTASIAS” Social life in Siwa—Games—* | ubki” drinkers—Giving alms to the poor—Sheikhs in fiction and in fact—“ Beit el Mal”—Ramadan, the Mohammedan Lent—The Mulid of Sidi Suliman—Paying calls —Etiquette of eating—The religious dance of the Medinia—The “ Zikr ”—Bacchanalian revels—Siwan music and singing— Women dancers : ° ° e : ° ° . 239 Sti legitied rly phradihiebincspinpietteesed etd;ILLUSTRATIONS The Walls of Siwa ‘ - ; . Fronti spiece Col. The Honble. M. G. Talbot, C.B.; Sheikh Idris el Senussi 3 and The Idrisi of Luxor to face foreword re: vegan SERS SEE swt Dercesstt:toreocst tat ches The Author e ° . e + #9 page 2 f A Falconer outside a Bedouin Camp . a te ee i; Silugi Hounds . ° : . ore ce a Camel Corps , ; ; : a: fat (ange ae | Camel Corps trekking to Siwa, near ee 5 Pass . . ° o § 58 = Sheikh Mahdi Abdel Nebi, of Aches aan ei his Daughter and Cousin . ; W) w a7o Ruins of “Omm Beyda,” The Temple of Jupiter Ammon ‘ : si gg eo The Citadel and Mosque of El Atik d i wo st Oe Gate into the Western Quarter . : ioe as ae “Kast Hassuna,” The District Officer’s House » + 120 Sheikh Mohammed Idris, the Chief of the Senussi ; ; ; ; ste se Tae The Western Quarter from an Eastern Roof i ita Cleaning Tamousy Spring ‘ ; Si: gp gh LOO In the Western Quarter . : . po te ZG The Spring of Zeitoun . ; ; ‘ @ wolge Siwa Town from the South ‘ ‘ < gy a 200 A Bride—T he Daughter of Bashu Habun before her Wedding ; ‘ ; © yo oelAé The Town-Crier’s Daughter . 3 ie eaezee A Little Siwan Girl : ; : ees A “ Fantasia” at the tomb of Sidi Suliman oe. 4h 52 Map. xitaperesteesedeneegreniags petted petros tint paspethepeana pany te te ae i t 4 Myr sctesfty it i5o§ pe teemens Poregeterl re pendthoiarh hase ldetehopboplasticenesthncgkaseg be tet dps biting £4 ay (atintebee cteserenty tag Boreal ore eaescedyar babe sett pert th ‘be aE ry _ nT +PHE >; AND INI IDRIS 5 SHEIKH BOD GBs. LAI HONBLE. M. THE Col YF LUXOR ( IDRISIFOREWORD KNOCKENHAIR, DUNBAR, 2nd November, 1922. DEAR Mr. BELGRAVE, When you begged me to write a “‘ Foreword ” for your first book on Siwa, you asked me if I remembered you as a Junior Officer in the British Camel Company at Khartoum in the early days of the Great War—and later in the Camel Corps of the Frontier Districts Administration of Egypt. My answer is that I remember you well in both capacities, and I have a very happy recollection of the excellent services rendered by both the units in which you served. The appearance of British soldiers patrolling on camels up the White and Blue Niles had the best possible effect in cementing and consolidating the good relations existing between the Sudanese populations and our troops and confirming that spirit of loyalty and goodwill which, throughout the war, characterized the once fanatical Dervishes of Mahdist times—a _ truly marvellous transformation which had changed them from a fierce and ruthless enemy into loyal and brave soldiers and peaceful inhabitants, who were enabled to render the British cause wholehearted and ready support at a most critical period of our history. Xillelisaigeateestiestat od pee tts setet easy er ecbatieal seas bat ties.) iis tet iesti bi teal cl iat Hei retitabed beseelilsseci sits cssi cei td ie eres hvettas tastes ttt bed echog b pas hes Ltt 31 abet feoea RES xiv Foreword Your transfer to the Frontier Districts Administra- tion of Egypt also interests me, for it may not be known to you that one of the first reforms I instituted on my own transfer from the Governor- Generalship of the Sudan to the High Commissioner- ship of Egypt at the end of 1916 was the organization of the new Administration to which you were appointed. Before our reconquest of the Sudan I had, as Director of Military Intelligence in Egypt, some connection with the oases of the Libyan Desert and the activities of the Senussi, as well as with the government of the Sinai Peninsula. In those early days of the British occupation of Egypt, Turkish rule prevailed in Tripoli, and the actual frontier between that province and Egypt was often in dispute—whilst a somewhat similar condition existed on Egypt’s eastern frontier in Sinai. It was thought politically desirable at that time to maintain the status quo and to avoid trouble with the Turkish authorities to whom Egypt still owed a nominal Suzerainty—that this was not always feasible is evidenced by the celebrated ‘“‘ Akaba incident ” which at one time threatened to disturb the peace between the two countries. The preservation of the status quo to which I refer, meant the mainten- ance on the extreme eastern and western frontiers of Egypt of the purely Egyptian administrative control which, owing to the almost total absence of supervision, was of the lightest and could hardly be designated as efficient. The necessity of in- augurating some improvement in both directions chet peiytadpenstbba rah igabltatehitbeg lcipae snc thpaphasgh stab bes ket eaeiieyanatints eS Sear agie, eeForeword XV had frequently been mooted, but it was not until the advent of the Great War and the military Operations against the Turks in Sinai, on the one hand, and against the Senussi invasion of Egypt, on the other, that the long-postponed reorganization became possible. By that time Italian had given place to Turkish control in Tripoli, whilst it was also evident that Palestine and Arabia were no longer to remain an integral portion of the Turkish Empire. These facts made it very desirable to establish a closer Administrative Control in both directions, and it is to me a matter of great satisfaction that an organization known as the Frontiers District Administration materialized, under the able direc- tion of Colonel G. G. Hunter and his efficient staff of British and Egyptian officers and officials, with its well-equipped Camel Corps, its patrolling system, and its more intimate and sympathetic government of the oases and of the somewhat unruly nomad tribes on both western and eastern frontiers. The mere fact that you, as one of these District Officers, have been resident for nearly two years in the important, though remote and little-known, Oasis of Siwa, and have been able to write a very interesting and useful account of your experiences —together with an admirable survey of its ancient, medieval and recent history—its customs, super- Stitions and its social life, is but one proof amongst many others of the value of this new organization which, in spite of the various political changes in Egypt, has, I hope, come to stay. eS ous aie — o a ett o won TTT TTI OSTIg TELE TET ev wEne Seti Pew oy eye \ perry ese we teratereret yy bates ee syrecatey te : iT = 4 : te tit ) be 4 eds puts a3e 2 te as btn atti sie, tdverrs $i 2aels vod ares Tereeeaeseisss ssee “ “ ales STE Inert sovesediiocrstryiet: ib tritterstrsrer setae: syeses ibe ti tpt reais perrritteypeetan ict i ay nee 7 ia | {re lee fF easy at ak3) te rf Peas a fie . Paes a tite My ri}: eat: Peat 3 at} i} Hh, tos en te 4 a at ea o.4 5 | lg a | ‘ rea itt =f : att |ea reese en Una esres fatcetet eit tie xvi Foreword As an ex-officer and one who was lately in Egypt, you are wise to avoid in your book all reference to recent political events and the complicated situations to which they have given rise. In this letter I shall observe a similar reticence, and the more so having regard to the positions I have held in Egypt and the Sudan. Remarks on so controversial a subject must be complete and detailed if they are to assist the general public in forming a true estimate of the “* tangled skein ” which the political situation now represents—a situation in which truth and fiction are almost inextricably involved. The perusal of the proof sheets you have sent me, together with your excellent series of illustra- tions (and here may I congratulate you on the artistic skill of the charming sketches displayed in the coloured reproductions ?), recall that “‘lure of the desert ” which is so fascinating to all of us whose lot has been cast in those countries bordering on the Great Nile waterway and the illimitable stretches of sandy desert beyond. Your apt quota- tions at the beginning of each chapter show that the “lure” has seized you also, and I can well understand your desire to undertake further service in those regions which so evidently attract you, and in which you have won the sympathy and respect of the nomad Arab and sedentary Berber tribes of the Western Desert. The title of your book is well explained in Part I, Chapter III, and you are wise to add a bibliography of the various works you have consulted, for there is no subject more debatable than the origin of the Et ert eer ya eat eae er er eee ee eee eee eee ee etetissi tet ite) etriees besiege: Heth pas bb sotForeword KVii Berber tribes of whom you write. “ This crossing to Africa by the Northern Mediterranean peoples,” says Professor Breasted in his History of Egypt, “18 but one of the many such ventures which in pre- historic ages brought over the white race whom we know as Libyans.” His remarks refer to events in the thirteenth century B.c., when people known as the Tehenu lived on the western borders of the Delta of Egypt, beyond them were the Libyans, and still further to the west were the Meshwesh or Maxyes of Herodotus—all of them doubtless ancestors of the great Berber tribes of North Africa. In the reign of the Pharaoh Mereneptah, the successor of Rameses the Great, it appears that one Meryey, King of the Libyans, forced the Tehenu to join him, and supported by roving bands of maritime adventurers from the coast (the Sherden or Sardinians, the Sikeli, natives of early Sicily, the Lysians and the Etruscans), invaded Egypt. It is with these wandering marauders that the peoples of Europe emerge for the first time upon the arena of history. It is probable that not long before this invasion a great Canaanite migration into Libya had taken place, for it is recorded by the historian Procopius, a native of Cesarea (565 B.C.), how the Hebrews, after quitting Egypt, attacked Palestine from beyond Jordan under Joshua. After the capture of Jericho they advanced westwards, drove out the Gergazites, Jebusites and other tribes inhabiting the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, and forced them to flee into Egypt, where they were not allowed to b fod. bt birrpon by +a pees edbeses et Be a PSH MTieperusce aeorset es t= bs gd 4 chRsene peasy { a aeaeatee arene PATTER fete) or ries peat stroeed ire renersess Bs es iC rover aa pened ps Sats paagedeorser: yteote erat yr yer ty ore eee Hit Ppeiereserncs reretocy) jerperere tote r ie tii caiead| pesesg eee seetstes: yeeXViii Foreword settle, but were obliged to move westwards along the North African coast and into the oases. There is also evidence that some of these emigrants, under Roman pressure, were forced further westwards to Morocco and were called Moors. Later on they, in their turn, were followed by a similar migration of Jews from Palestine. Thus it would appear that as far back as the thirteenth century B.c. the original Libyans, a warlike race, became co-mingled with maritime adventurers from Southern Europe, with Canaanites, Jews and Egyptians—a truly wonderful admixture of Asiatics, Africans and Europeans, and it is with the ancestors of this international potpourri that you deal so interestingly when you trace onwards, through the ages down to the present day, the history of those desert nomads and those sedentary dwellers of the Oasis of Jupiter Ammon. Surely your story will stimulate interest not only in the archeologist, but in all who desire to trace the manners, customs and characteristics of present-day peoples to their original sources. Those Siwans of whom you make a special study are of all people perhaps the most interesting, for, living, as it were, on an island, in a sea of desert, they—like the Abyssinians on the east —have been less affected by the world-changes than those who inhabit the main highways of the great African continent. The cult of Ammon and the seat of the Great Oracle, it is true, brought countless hordes of strangers to that mystic depression lying some seventy feet below the level of the Mediter- ranean, but the leading characteristics of the es she * be atts oak bat 1 weopswesyy rte Peete mm Perse i ms 4 petted et. Lr ae ce eres COP eree ary U tha ee | ; 4 badyae ob% Seoort ap bth ‘wea tee crore el eS 2 a ae Aaa Pe eee eT ke pws res es LOPE IEF LCST TS a a i > F ; te iL Lt op a ot ag OB A ad st he FabGDASS x= Toto bee peeet babes aeaet osc ok tick chee) pelea, ig wap gt VT ae ett eees Hipretebersrosspeeses cu lsih y) re-ahatebeseses tT? F ssh ta Se tao a PAE SPAT" poses een ee eng Din) ks tee ern Reece a ty Seasons ti wpeForeword xix inhabitants have probably altered little, and religion —from Ammon worship to Islam, with an occa- sional admixture of Christian, Jewish and Pagan rites (the last brought by countless slaves from Central Africa)—has remained the all-absorbing interest of these oases dwellers. As you truly say, the origin of the branching- horned ram as the fleshly symbol of the great God Ammon, “the King of the Gods,” “the un- revealed,” ‘‘the hidden one,” still remains a mystery. We know that the solar god Ra, whose supremacy in the “‘ Old Kingdom ” was so marked, from the Fifth Dynasty onwards and was at its zenith in the Twelfth Dynasty, became linked in the religion of the “‘ Middle Kingdom ” with Ammon, hitherto an obscure local god of Thebes who attained some prominence in the political rise of the city and was called by the priests Ammon-Ra. His cult gradually spread over the civilized world, and in the Roman period he was worshipped as Jupiter Ammon. He was essentially the god of Oracles, but how he came to have his special sanc- tuary in the Western Desert is still a mystery, though your account of this in the legends of the Arabic history of Siwa (Chapter III) throws an interesting light on the subject. Herodotus, we know, gave to Siwa the name of Oasis (probably derived from the Coptic word Ouahe, to dwell, from which the Arabic Wa is derived)—that is to say a fertile spot surrounded by desert, and thus from Siwa all other oases have derived their names. 54 fats keep deeds 4 Sie: eet ties io oed i rs a oo 2 reintensteesels beties sit Beat whreke SnemTn eset rete - leit seen ty a9 pete aati Eyer stesrs bests rey] Tae: ectests es! iHE Ty I i prea t thas it seSeeeeiohere ri PLIEET TE er eons esore ~ ore Papa Pl petksasesrene ptr Ph) sec h lash head oq cteonbes te keen 5 5441s hs oe SSR T ESS Tessa apes ey reat r eomrte Fiy Stesttt beateaa tits tei bites! teacetet a adeet ed bba) bad LEA GRSTRA BIT Leda Faaeta ti BLeeed bok tecka aa ied radeted teak sr eei hod bbs Lie ee ee Mita tes raat XX Foreword To Siwa then came kings and wise men of the East, merchants and pilgrims, all bringing offerings to the temple of the god and soliciting the advice of the Oracle on their mundane affairs. For a thousand years and more these treasures were accumulating, but where are they now? As Egyptian research has yielded up unexpected buried treasure,may not the ancient god still have something in reserve for the archeologist and treasure-seeker who is bold enough to undertake excavation work in the little village of Aghourmi, some two miles east of Siwa, where the ruins of the Temple of Ammon still exist? Your interesting account of these ruins and the legends you have so sedulously culled from the Siwans, cannot fail again to create interest in the hidden treasures of the desert. One who has had some terrible experiences at the hands of the Senussi Arabs during the war—lI refer to the gallant and gifted author of that thrilling story, Prisoners of the Red Desert, Captain Gwatkin- Williams, R.N.—writes, “It may be that this twentieth century of ours, this era of fish and bird men, may see lifted the mystery which shrouds the hidden treasure of Ammon, the ‘ Unrevealed,’ for, so far as our limited modern information goes, those treasures have never yet been discovered.” Your interesting account of the visit of Alexander the Great (331 B.C.) to the Oracle, when, marching along the coast to Matruh, he turned south and underwent great hardships before reaching his destination, recalls a very different journey I made to Sollum in 1917. Leaving Alexandria by train n , 7 n yrateey , a , NE sitol teteti bettas itetaiitinic lca tessts iets ci tebeiiatiiiiat tat sats shi eit ee ersraitalbitesiasiaroesivery seta rele tals teho Foreword xxi for Behig, I there found a fleet of armoured motor- cars awaiting me, and the journey to and from Sollum, then garrisoned by British troops, was comfortably accomplished in four days. To my great regret I was too pressed for time to be able to visit Siwa, where, “‘ on all hands springs of water gushed forth . . . that human ants’ nest, fabricated for the most part of rock-salt, mud and palm trunks . to which the Great War surging round the world had brought the drone of aeroplanes, the hum of armoured cars and rattle of machine guns.” Your reference in Chapter V to the wonderful work carried on by Miss Nina Baird amongst the bedouin women and children rendered destitute in consequence of the Senussi invasion, recalls several visits Lady Wingate and I made to Amria—the village in the desert west of Alexandria and not far from Lake Mariut, where, as you say, this courageous lady worked practically singlehanded in teaching these desert waifs and strays to make carpets—thus Starting an industry and giving the women and children a means of livelihood and a form of protection which for ever will be remembered with gratitude by the Western Arabs. A daughter of that well-known and greatly respected Scotsman, Sir Alexander Baird, an excellent horsewoman, a good Arabic scholar, and one who performed important services in the Egyptian troubles in the spring of 1919, Miss Baird’s energetic efforts throughout the war utterly exhausted her strength, and she fell an easy victim to typhoid soon after— to be followed a few months later by her talented TPE testrsye oa aazese res i: 4 i i i i ie: ie i a2} rip 3g e 5 were er pees oars eee rf eater] panpenreteer net sete sssanicniees sce ear wisbete noes Hy .ceamenes Peres vieiels Toi bhadyl be proverys oeXxil Foreword father, and thus was the British community in Egypt deprived of two valuable lives who had endeared themselves to Europeans and natives alike and whose loss is deplored by all. On my last visit the carpet-making industry was about to be removed from Amria to an imposing structure built by Captain Jennings Bramley at Behig, the headquarters of the Eastern District of the Western Desert. Here this energetic official had also con- structed, out of the ruins of an old building, a medizval-looking stronghold, where we spent a few days and visited the ruined church of St. Menas, to which you make a passing reference in Chapter I. This buried Christian city is locally known as Abu Menas, and for long defied discovery, as it had not occurred to those in search of it to connect it with the Arab name of Abumna, until the German explorer, Kauffmann, and his companion lighted on the historic spot, which lies from fifty to fifty- five miles south-west of Alexandria. Your readers may be interested to know that Menas was an Egyptian in the Roman army who became a Chris- tian and took the opportunity of a great public function to make an avowal of his faith which was proscribed under the Emperor Diocletian. He was tortured and eventually beheaded. His friends begged or stole his body, tied it on a camel and determined to found a settlement wherever the camel should lie down. Menas before death had expressed a wish to be buried near Lake Mariut, and here surely enough the camel insisted on lying down, and could not be induced to go further—so his eee : + by i ahaa Bae b ; East b i} Pesteutat eaten tite tar ediee taiaslentieaenl eter cred prea ini] apm eel eerteteeri tt pee ici CRSSS ish stes ety itesirecrs elites eta ;Foreword xxiii followers buried the body on the spot. Many miracles”were reported of his tomb, the settlement became a large Christian city with a magnificent cathedral built of granite from Assuan and marble from Italy. For some centuries the place became a resort for pilgrimage from all parts of the near East, but soon after the Arab conquest it was despoiled to provide material for the mosques in Alexandria and Cairo. Gradually the ruins were silted up with the ever-shifting sand, becoming mere mounds, and it was the chance discovery of a small terra-cotta plaque imprinted with the figure of Menas, standing erect with arms outstretched between two kneeling camels and a rough inscription, that led Herr Kauffmann and his friend to unearth the great basilica which had contained the tomb. The walls of the cathedral appear to have been lined with marble, whilst small pieces of mosaic on the floor give the impression that the dome was probably adorned in the same way. Some of the bases and capitals of the pillars are decorated after the Greek style with acanthus leaf ornaments, others in the stricter Roman method of straight panels. The dwelling-houses are small and con- structed in blocks separated by narrow streets. Not far distant, on the coast, stand the ruins of Abusir (the Taposiris Magna of the Romans) which was evidently used as a port of arrival and departure by the thousands of pilgrims who came across the sea to pay their vows in this hallowed sanctuary. When I visited this place it was garrisoned by the very efficient Indian Camel Corps which the preerwrwers i brssower: [resesrssrsyerarss tacersees pores) v oe eb beret eterers ies hepsoreonanaseees pander S05 Eh ppeeeerer errs i i iaenerearest SaelDy Lecesstertars toss stot ost aaa PALLISER yh teas ee ste heeo ot ee aid Sree) erecoertterpee! ress bs pentereebegtsat) STIS Serie sen test) rr: cing 2 Hi iz 3 “ era a at Ae + 1 a if # beoseres eri eeigieers Sahel ahahaha os Tilivcesrsarttirsecstess M omeetr rice ys - at eee ise hie sth ae Pe ein T eee mea Bip hesbehg reer tsa Perctteresre eetXXiV Foreword Maharajah of Bikaner had sent as his contribution to the Egyptian Expeditionary Force. Your interesting sketch of the rise of the great Senussi, the establishment of his now widespread confraternity and his invasion, at the instigation of German and Turkish officers and officials, of Egypt in 1915 ; his hostile occupation of the oases and the successful campaign so ably directed by General Sir W. Peyton, which finally drove his forces across the frontier and re-established Egyptian domination in the Western Desert, merits careful perusal if the reader wishes to understand the last of that series of invasions from the West which began in the days of the Pharaoh Mereneptah, nearly three thousand five hundred years ago, and which, given favourable conditions, may yet be repeated. All you so interestingly describe recalls my long connection with the doings of the Confraternity when Sayed Mohammed el Mahdi, the son of Sayed Ben Ali, the virtual founder of the order, was its titular head. To him, in 1883, the Sudan Mahdi wrote, offering the position of third Khalifa in his new hierarchy. Had Sayed Mohammed accepted, it is possible that, in addition to the Sudan revolt, the whole of North Africa might have been ablaze . but the Senussi Mahdi aimed at peaceful penetration rather than military occupation : his zawias (religious rest-houses) had gradually been extended to Central and West Africa, they “‘ were neutral meeting-places where difficulties, tribal, commercial, legal or religious, could be settled by an unbiassed authority. His akhwan were judges as well as missionaries. thetta erat trttoteltaitiitedintesde gs esteisea) saber ciepenpateietes peli pre eeae ReeeeeeEre Reo eeeForeword XXV They defined tribal areas, settled water and grazing rights as well as meting out the justice of the Koran to those who infringed the code of Islam.” The interest of the Turkish Government in this great movement dates back many years, and I well remember when the late Ghazi Mukhtar Pasha (then Turkish High Commissioner in Egypt) pro- cured the original manuscript Senussi prayer-book, had one thousand copies lithographed in a private printing press in Cairo, and dispatched them as a present to the Senussi with a request in the title- page for the great religious leader’s ‘S help: mt prayer.” Sayed Mohammed died on the 1st June, 1902. I had full knowledge of the dispatch to Kufara—the then headquarters of the Order—of his tombstone which had been secretly cut and engraved in Cairo by an expert native stonemason; but if I digress in this manner I shall soon exceed the limits of a ‘“¢ Foreword,” and so must rapidly pass over these early experiences which, nevertheless, proved useful when the Great War let loose all the hidden forces of hostility and revealed the immense influence of Islamic teaching for good or ill as applied in the interests of the various opponents. That, on the one hand, Sayed Ahmed, the uncle and successor of Sayed Mohammed, should have espoused the Turco-German cause and harboured Enver Pasha and other notable Turkish officers who had crossed to the north coast of Africa in submarines, to organize the Senussi campaigns against Egypt and the Sudan ; whilst, on the other hand, British influence and Sa apis arta MY fesies plaveessrey ieee pierre ride staae aR pert ! Pb figs SEE TCESERE vy prslirstsl oes telco int Pevrees ta tin toast Tegearssnts emoeg eye ear rey HE 3 eees cy jSnipe: qaT eal ne at ea ad ae a ee rf) fs r+} i rf cf th XXxVi Foreword British officers were enabled to assist the Sherif of Mecca—the Guardian of the Holy Places of Islam— in his successful revolt against Turkish rule in Arabia, are interesting and little-understood features in the history of the great world upheaval from which we have but recently emerged, and no doubt they will be chronicled in due course by those concerned in these “ side-shows,” as they are somewhat inadequately described. It must not, however, be forgotten that—insignificant as they may appear in comparison with the terrific clash of arms in Western Europe—they have resulted in giving Egypt tranquillity on its western frontier, in restoring to the Sudan the great lost province of Darfur, and in freeing the Arabian Peninsula— results which in pre-war days would have been characterized as epoch-making events, but which have passed almost unnoticed in the great changes which have taken place in the territorial redistribu- tions of the Treaty of Versailles. To touch on but one little-known detail, you refer to the Talbot Mission. This has not attracted the attention it deserves, but I venture to think history will credit Colonel Milo Talbot with no mean achievement when it is realized that his mission effected the triangular treaties between Great Britain, Italy and the present head of the Senussi Confraternity, Sayed Mohammed el Idrisi, whereby both Egypt and Tripoli have secured, let us hope, a trusted ally. Incidentally—through the good offices of Colonel Talbot’s able Egyptian coadjutor, Hassanein Bey— EVELESt ESTeat ereriegtesttyeva i etrsee lect eet re Teeett (ott Patri Tet] fates} S00 ESTs eT only Loner ES Eee ;Foreword XXVii that intrepid lady, Rosita Forbes, accompanied by the Bey, was enabled to penetrate to the Oasis of Kufara in 1921. Another member of the Talbot Mission—Mr. Francis Rodd—is also utilizing his experiences of the Senussi Confraternity and the Western Desert by making a prolonged and important journey with Mr. Buchanan from West Africa, which should throw much new and interesting light on many still obscure localities. In these days of improved communications—when the two ends of the great iron road destined to connect South with North Africa are gradually approaching one another, and when other railways are either under construction or projected to connect the Atlantic with the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea—the time may not be far distant when the great Sahara and Libyan Deserts, too, will be traversed from north to south and east to west, and the undoubted mineral wealth and raw products of Central Africa will be brought to the nearest ports for shipment to all parts of the world. Your remarks, therefore, on mining, industries, trade and the means of communication southwards from the Mediterranean through the oases which you and others have visited, will doubtless prove of value and merit careful consideration. Meanwhile, much good work remains to be done by officers and officials like yourself who take a keen interest in the welfare of the sparse nomad and sedentary populations of these still remote districts, fostering amongst them those feelings of confidence and goodwill which will go far towards pep etarnreoseres * ‘ eee ee a tare Petsieiais es j errr rrpeeeg ers tes HS aaresstesy = 0c a) poops neasutraieirerezia] Sarr oe MePer ete ieleritiossst ive ites Vs SAIL PTT OT eI TE te f ; ti SEO ei eiaee 3 baa be bee eset ert eer eereei a ene Wb tets teas: Testers] a. et tse ty EY str 4 : rhs BTS 7 Hest penn <3 Bag 7 ote eeerET ET ere re eer eehs itu al bes dieas | pope telb Epaee Seite tS leses=belt ut it ‘Tt i ee ae Oe ee eel goon — h Tebetres tie seein op tw DB Iyeene ater Sp petctetetotetetveete coterie Cen . Cerin hts sehatehtes ryt pasna ne oe eervesseeesorer 1 mpUSe HPs PM XXViii Foreword preparing them for the advent of the amenities of civilization which must come with the inevitable development of the no longer Dark Continent. Now, however, that the clash of arms is past and, let us hope, a new era of peaceful development set in, I might well have prefaced my remarks with this quotation : *“ God’s benison go with you, and with those That would make good of bad and friends of foes,” The immortal poet’s words seem to me not only to synchronize with the pleasantly conversational style of your own narrative which has induced the some- what novel method I have adopted of writing you a letter by way of an introduction—but they also express the spirit which will, I trust, animate us in our present and future relations with those nations and peoples of the Near East who unfortunately for themselves espoused our enemies’ cause in the Great War, but whose best interests lie—now and henceforth—in the friendship and goodwill of the Allies. Your chapters on the customs, superstitions and ** fantasias ” of the Siwans recall much that is simular amongst the Sudan tribes and peoples— especially those of the Moslem Faith—and your account of the “ zikr” is particularly interesting. In the words of an Islamic writer, by means of this religious exercise “the whole world and all its attractions disappears from the vision of the faithful worshipper, and he is enabled to behold the excellence of the Most High. Nothing must beForeword xxix allowed to distract his attention from its performance, and ultimately he attains by its medium a proper conception of the Tauhid, or unity of God)... To enter Paradise one must say after every prayer ‘God is Holy’ ten times, ‘ Praised be God ” tent times, and ‘ God is great’ ten times.” If the age of miracles has not gone for ever then these Moslem devotees—the descendants of the ancient warriors of the Libyan Desert, side by side with their courageous and resourceful British helpers—may yet cause the great Oracle of Jupiter Ammon to reveal the secrets of that old-time sanctuary with which your book deals so interest- ingly. eS pabbry cote ss heed sabe sooo! to. SAT peels ipeaesrtts eee Peas fore) BE ‘i : oe PreK . pv roto i-4 BAreSrrenTery STS eters “On grassy slopes the twining vine boughs grew And hoary olives *twixt far mountains blue, And many a green-necked bird sung to his mate Within the slim-leaved thorny pomegranate That flung its unstrung rubies on the grass.” “ But a desert stretched and stricken left and right, left and right, Where the piled mirages thicken under white-hot light— A skull beneath a sandhill and a viper coiled instde— And a red wind out of Libya roaring ‘Run and hide,’”SI WAec ox be RS are Saeed tobetod Se tiie iter tieneSIWA THE OASIS OF JUPITER AMMON CHAPTER | THE COAST “... Some strip of herbage strown That just divides the desert from the sown.” IWA—pronounced ‘“‘ Seewah ”’—is a little- known oasis in the Libyan Desert on the borders of Egypt and Tripoli. It lies 200 miles south of Sollum, the Egypt-Tripoli frontier port on the Mediterranean coast, and almost 400 miles west of the Nile Valley. Siwa is the northernmost oasis of a string of oases which stretch from Egypt into the middle of Tripoli. These “Islands of the Blessed”’—as they were called by the ancients—are natural depressions in the great Libyan table-land which are preserved from the inroads of shifting sand by the high limestone cliffs that sur- round them, and are made fertile and habitable by numbers of sweet water springs. Siwa consists of a little group of oases in a depression about 30 miles long and 6 miles wide, lying 72 feet below the level B esren LT Lait Fieemdistsinnaatte fier re propessspt pene g rere réeeelersi yeah u 4d poke tye Y pbara sf veers ed vi SiReet xb oes Titesosesee os ci eae ped be sbersctesipeess 1: ental morse bare besy | peers peetaias ry pehi presse bene oterc ys Detectet ettreretieers WE Tralee Ere hoy recat: Petyesptes ts etiss TOM reer Ti Est peer sel h ig bee see Lee ye eee ere TS Ll hos Eoeser ir ta ehtee, a HE He = ibs Necwetsoe bere pi st Mla veugrest tg este tetrenegi eve ces pereee sey cre. ree pROr ee were ee OCTET OT ere oa Tad beatae ees | Phe oped he nn hk beers hig hee pe eSrere TereTeeeyT " rerBtsteatesists aly tot becdeega peteseeonrt Tt TN Merete ert tote Tirta ere Eeaibaa2 Siwa of the sea, surrounded by a vast barren table-land, parched and featureless, where rain rarely falls, which can only be crossed if one carries sufficient water for the whole journey. Siwa is one of the least known and most interest- ing places in North Africa, but owing to its in- accessibility very few Europeans had visited it prior to the outbreak of the Great War. It has a popula- tion of between three and four thousand inhabitants, who are not Arabs but the remains of an older race, of Berber origin. They have a language of their own, which is only spoken, not written, and has survived among the dwellers of the oasis from many centuries before the Arab invasion, owing to the remoteness of the country and the slight com- munication between Siwa and the outer world. At present the birth-rate is considerably lower than the death-rate, so it appears likely that in course of time the Siwan race will become extinct. It was my fortune, after spending a year or so on the coast, to be stationed at Siwa, during 1920-21, in command of a section of the Frontier Districts Administration Camel Corps, and for some time as the District Officer of the oasis. Under the present regime there has been one British officer, seconded from the Army for service under the Egyptian Government, posted alone in the Siwa oasis. While I was there I spent my spare time in discovering as much as possible about the history of the place, and the manners and customs of this desert community, which differ very considerably from those of theTHE AUTHORThe Coast 3 Arabs or the people of Egypt. No history, from its earliest times to the present day, has ever been written of this strange place, and it appears probable that now, when British officials are being withdrawn from Egypt, Siwa will once more sink back into obscurity. The oasis is most easily reached from Sollum, or from Matruh, another port on the Mediterranean coast west of Alexandria. The journey can be done in two days by car, when the rough desert track that is called a road is in good order ; it takes six days on a trotting camel, and about ten days with a bedouin caravan of slow walking camels. The Arab covers the whole distance on foot, living on a surprisingly small quantity of dates, water and camel milk. The desert is quite waterless, except for the first few miles, where there are occasional rock cisterns which fill during the rains and provide a little water during the first few months of the hot weather. The coastal belt of Western Egypt was compara- tively unknown country before the war, though by no means as remote as the inland oases. Strangely enough, excepting the few officials of the Egyptian Coastguards Administration, the Europeans who seemed to know most about this country before the war were Germans, who were encouraged by Abbas Helmi, the ex-Khedive, in their attempts to exploit the commercial and agricultural possibilities of the coast. In 1913 Herr Ewart Falls published a book called Three Years in the Libyan Desert which was an account of some archeological works carried out by Dorr ilclakesebir| besesetenrresens [919 hemes i sit lipetelnseisha] ose reserk hivibptiyitstesecsti pes tea bemetperee repent th ti mets aepeaatea was hh 5 7 sessed street igeiebitersteroirectesecttie peas. prapeete7 cba senSnGADets TI Si 76a Thr ti ae nd RAD y ve rhibt rion BCRRSTs oh tare babes apaperi tet obese Pd - Deel boteret Ore, rometit ai edt Ti absdela we tyepeasrtncnseossneneei ti es Sarees saree State Tet es nt + $83 bosharrices =i: 4 x4 Et rz : ara! rit That ih: ee e bi bE i 3 z Fy i : ; ¥ Ps st Titel paapeqoogeoesyer || brrrerepeyrelens Inglis teetreysreseerenr sete tet eco aos Stee alate rrprserpreeryr ys Serer oT) verneorss POET Ted te oe sel Teh re et34 ya 1 | ,) sa + iy ty a ee ae 4 Siwa him and his colleagues—Germans—on the site of the ancient city of St. Menas, south-west of Alexan- dria. In this book he describes how he accompanied the Khedive on his visit to Siwa in 1905. He gives a flamboyant description of the Royal progress. The party consisted of the Khedive, four Europeans, twenty soldiers, a number of servants, 62 riding camels, horses, and 288 baggage camels, which seem an incredibly large number. The Khedive drove the whole way—z200 miles—in a carriage, a species of phaeton, constantly changing horses. Herr Falls mentions the intense enthusiasm of the natives on the occasion of the Kaiser’s birthday, and discusses the possibilities of a Pan-islamic rising against the much hated English who “curtail the Khedive’s political activities.”” He gives statistics on the fight- ing forces of the Arabs, and considers that the time is ripe for stirring up sedition. One of his theories is that the Arab tribe “‘ Senagra ” originate from a German boy, called Singer, who was wrecked on the coast. There is a photograph in his book of one of the main streets in the old town of Siwa which he calls “‘ Interior of an ancient tomb”! It is really a very remarkable book and gives one a good insight into German ideas in Egypt before the war. In ancient days the coast west of Alexandria was inhabited by various Libyan tribes, the most famous being the Nasamonians, who lived by the plunder of wrecks, and the Lotophagi, who are immortalized in Tennyson’s famous poem “ The Lotus-Eaters,” dwellers of a land ‘“‘ In which it seemed always after-The Coast 5 noon.” These two tribes lived on the coast that lies west of the present frontier. The coast which lies between the present frontier and Alexandria was thinly populated by wandering tribes of Libyans, a nomadic people, who depended, as the bedouins do now, on the rains to feed their flocks. The inland country was a land of mystery vaguely described as being the haunt of strange wild beasts, although nowa- days this waterless tract nourishes few wild creatures of any description. In later times Persians, Greeks, Romans and Byzantines established some centres of civilization on the coast, but this strip immediately west of Alexandria was never thickly populated, and one finds few signs of any former civilization. The Arabs, after planting Mohammedanism in Egypt, continued their victorious course westward along the coast, forcing their religion on the people at the point of the sword, or driving the natives inland to the oases, which remained unconquered till a later date. Thus, the Arabs of the desert have always considered themselves to be the conquerors, and the oasis dwellers to be the conquered. The coastal belt from Alexandria to the sea slopes gently upwards in strips of undulating country till it reaches the foot of the ledge of the great Libyan plateau. This narrow strip of fairly fertile country between the desert and the Mediterranean gradually diminishes in width, from east to west, till at Sollum the cliffs of the Libyan plateau reach the sea. At its widest part, near Alexandria, the coastal belt stretches inland for nearly 40 miles before merging into the ae i a a i : cer sg ge! nt Bt ; seer ey # ak iste oteassste6 Siwa desert. The coast is inhabited by Arabs of the Awlad Ali tribe, who move about with their flocks and camels from well to well, having only a transitory interest in the soil, which they sow with a little barley in the places where it will grow, and depending on the rains, which are very heavy on the coast, to fill their wells and cisterns, and to water the wild vegetation that feeds their herds. The land is most fertile close to the sea, but for the first 10 or 20 miles on the high desert plateau above the cliffs there is flat scrub- covered country that makes a good grazing-ground for sheep and camels. Farther south one sees less vegetation, and very soon the real desert begins, which stretches hard and dry under the blazing sun for 200 miles down to Siwa, and beyond Siwa over unexplored country till it reaches the distant Sudan. As one goes farther west from Alexandria the country becomes wilder and one sees fewer people, but there are several little towns, or settlements, along the coast. The ex-Khedive had a project of opening up this district and, aided by German enter- prise, he built a railway which was destined to con- nect Alexandria with his western frontier at Sollum, and shorten the sea journey from Europe to Egypt. But the line only got as far as Bir Fuca, about 100 miles west of Alexandria. The Khedive found that his agricultural experiments in the Western Desert were not a success and, realizing this, he tried to sell the railway to a German firm, but Lord Kitchener, who was then High Commissioner, pea rest acats. Sh err! eee San ry fp ! 2 ate naspeek «1m ces ir sipleay na pevertd Letblacbseres t= ue ree 5 . ica aa SEL pe tnd on PSAP E NS > rs reed ‘i pearenditbe senda, apen i - sapydics ipbpertens by ir phad poet TEL Gets na nt shanpeve eit 18: wrerrparen teed ete yeiess apt shewebogehnnasit hryrhtettens 17m easiest, ia stan dees! si Pd? facet EPR Rog Th oe on yp oc pe obs eee Liege top i Ce NE see etae dels has phesssorn peppers nil cael sts ks Seeribieee peered i oF L ay Bt } ane iad IO Siwa in the villa above the bay. In the summer quantities of “ Mex Lilies ” (Amaryllis) grow on the hills and scent the air with their heavy perfume. A short time before the war an American archeologist made some valuable finds among the foundations of Cleopatra’s villa, and on several occasions coins have been un- earthed in the neighbourhood. The present-day Greek colonists of Matruh are not very attractive people. They are very clever at their trade and seem to become prosperous in a remarkably short time. They make their money by Squeezing the Arabs, who are forced to deal with them, as there is nobody else from whom they can buy necessities such as tea, sugar, rice, etc. The Greeks have the monopoly of trade and sell their goods at a prohibitive price, quite out of proportion to their worth, even considering the cost of transport. Their favourite system is to buy whole crops of barley from the Arabs before it is ripe, when the owner is particularly hard up. The Administration, to a certain extent, is able to check excessive profiteer- ing, but there are innumerable ways in which the Greek is able to “do” the Arab. It seems a pity, because, in my estimation, the Arab is a much better man than the Greek trader. Not unnaturally, Greeks are very unpopular. Farther along the coast, in Tunis and Algeria, their place is taken by the Jews, but on the Western Desert there are no Jews—so the Greeks have it all their own way. There are generally two or three English officials at Matruh, and possibly their wives, so there isThe Coast II usually more going on there than at any other place on the coast ; in fact, Matruh is a sort of metropolis of the desert, but at the same time it is very much a desert station. Lately, when I was staying there, there arrived one evening an enormous new American car containing two English officers on leave, and.a very smartly dressed lady, wife of one of them. By amazing good luck they had managed to get through from Alexandria without mishap, stopping a night en route. On arrival at Matruh they asked to be directed to the “‘ Hotel,” which they had heard was ““ small, but very clean and comfortable.” They looked exceedingly blank when we told them there was no hotel—and never had been—but they were conducted to the rest house, where they settled down. Next day they complained that the rest house was neither clean nor comfortable. The greatest disadvantage, to my mind, in all the rest houses on the Western Desert is the multitude of fleas which nothing that one can do is able to destroy or even keep under. This car was not the kind used by the Administration on the desert ; the party had brought no spare parts for it, no servant, no pro- visions except some biscuits and a tin or two of peaches, only a few glass bottles of water, which were naturally almost boiling after some hours in the heat of an August day, and none of them could speak any Arabic. At dinner that night they all appeared in full evening dress which they had brought with them, and, to everybody’s horror, they announced their intention of “ running down to Siwa” on the next Ses Saree ery eeees22 Siwa distant; and they collect wood every day for the camp fires ; all this in addition to looking after their children and cooking. Mohammedan women of all classes are not expected to concern themselves with religion; they are not allowed to enter mosques, except on one day of the year, and during seven years in the Sudan and Egypt I only twice saw a Moham- medan woman praying in public. There are very definite social divisions among the Arabs, especially among their women. The wives of respectable Arabs never associate with or speak to women whose morals are considered doubtful. These ladies of the demi-monde inhabit tents, generally on the outskirts of the camps, and are conspicuous, as in every part of the world, by the brilliant colours of their clothes, and their many ornaments. The Arabs are a kindly, hospitable people, not phlegmatic like the fellahin, but easily moved. I had some very good friends among them. When I was out on trek, if I came across an encamp- ment, they would see us from a long distance off and invariably come out and invite me to dismount and rest awhile, and “ fadhl ” in their camp. ‘“* Fadhl ” is an untranslatable word which means roughly “ Stop and pass the time of day.” Sometimes I used to accept their hospitality for a few hours in the heat of the day, and rest in a cool dark tent, or wait talking in the tents in the evening while my men rode on ahead and prepared my camp a little distance away. One could never camp near bedouins, as their camels generally had mange, which is very catching, andThe Coast 23 their dogs were a nuisance at night, being “ snappers up of unconsidered trifles ” in the way of food, etc., and not always “‘ unconsidered ” either. These dogs are white or yellow woolly creatures who guard the flocks with great apparent courage, and attack any stranger, but when threatened they run yelping away with their tails between their legs. When I dis- mounted I would wait for a minute or so talking to the men, so as to give the Arabs a chance to arrange things. Women would run frantically from tent to tent carrying mats and carpets, and shooing away sheep and goats and small brown children ; then the sheikh would lead me to the largest tent, spread with black and scarlet carpets, with probably a long striped blanket hung across the centre and screening one side of it. Or on warm summer nights the carpets were spread in front of the tents, on the open desert under the stars. Unless I specially asked to be excused the finest kid of the herd would be caught and killed and an hour or so later it would be brought in, boiled, on an enormous wooden dish, and I would be expected to eat “‘ heavily ” of this, also of the *‘asida”’ that followed. Asida, a dish which I always had the greatest difficulty in pretending to eat, consists of lightly cooked flour dough, with a hole scooped in the middle full of oil or melted fat and sugar, however, de gustibus non disputandum. The sheikh, and perhaps one or two of his relations, would join in the feast, watched with the greatest interest by the ladies of the camp who would collect on the other side of the curtain, and gaze firmly at peak he rey etre isti tr : aot Fisasthestahesss-ipe-etd ise resaperal tate baeal syupteecstttrsersttlitrirtt a fetirorsrorrececere aioe ae cea “Ht Brittertetshecoie tise iceete x i stbet ory t) wirsss siovrpeteret tears ghetto: a demi ete, pester aeees eats aa a Sa TI pepaieteraren " : -4 Motintrtrress totais rE H 4 j24 Siwa me from underneath it, whispering, giggling and tinkling their bangles and ornaments as they moved. If I knew the people well they would not bother about hanging up a curtain, and women and children would creep into the tent and sit staring from the far end, or carry on their usual occupations—milking goats, spinning or making semna—but no woman would ever eat in the presence of a man out of respect to him, and a son would never think of sitting down and eating with his father unless he was specially invited to do so. Generally the sons waited on the party, and ate afterwards. Semna is a kind of cheese made from goat’s milk. In the morning the sheep and goats are milked into wooden bowls, the milk is poured into a water-skin and rolled vigorously up and down by two women seated on the ground till it thickens into a sort of butter. The addition of a certain herb is needed if it is to be made into cheese. One kind of white butter made by the Arabs is very good and forms an excellent substitute for real butter, and a change from the tinned species. Arabs are very free in their conversation, and personal remarks are not considered to be ill- mannered. They usually ask one’s age, and inquire whether people are married or not. The idea of a man being over twenty and still unmarried surprises them enormously ; they think that he can’t afford to buy a wife. They always show a keen interest in what they consider the peculiar habits of Europeans. Hardly any of them can read or write, and very fewThe Coast 25 have ever been off the desert. When a bedouin gets to Alexandria he is like a countryman in London. The bedouin are superstitious, but not as intensely so as the oasis dwellers. In every tent one notices a little bundle of charms hung on one of the tent poles to avert the Evil Eye. One such collection would consist of a black cock’s leg, a red rag, a dried frog, two bones, and a little leather charm, tied together and hung on the pole. One day I was sitting talking to some Arabs in a tent when suddenly I realized that everybody was staring in a fascinated way at my mouth. I won- dered what was the matter. Then I heard the women whispering to themselves: “‘ He must be a very wealthy one ; see how he adorns himself with gold.” I couldn’t imagine what they meant as I was only wearing a shirt, shorts and stockings, nothing very remarkable in the way of clothes. Then I heard something about “ Gold tooth,” and I realized that their attention had been caught by a hideous gold crown that had been put over one of my front teeth in a great hurry just before I left Cairo the last time I was on leave. They thought it a most attractive and novel form of decoration. When Arabs get money they either invest it in sheep and camels or bury it in the ground. Some of these men who lead the most primitive lives, living in a tent and feeding on a meagre diet of milk, bread, rice and dates, are the owners of many thousands of Sheep and hundreds of camels. Sheep are generally worth two or three pounds, and camels about fifteen Sorrae $e pe ey epeyens rote TEs TOE povere teers] seperate rpte eqan tba peg fa ga bewe bem mew eeereremy erre . Per nota ree ete als i mene os boat bet janes wad ye Spicictrttbetatsiigerosoreseict® Seif eeresaseer-conet a2 H peryiprcaaaees fetes resseetete tues! feeeee eye) Sie Pesiertst sctteercisies rederpise sta teth: Lreretd rey Gis ihe acsttt pee = a ees Hoe ie Tyee S4iy sta Leg seas see nicer rer ennie ie be ae siseqsate taytiotssseniens rw > r peat bee Sehr res GS Laseqesedture brent t ponreeteyrereer’ a eerie tet secrets tt "eceneanssd st ate t Pies ee nberrT dT reser STOTT] errernt pare ty nsorerieares erent: rpernter ier er i | Hee pertteoeyeretereesticclecetrereees be rat it pprersrrwre ress ser satT iT26 Siwa pounds each. Besides this, they often have a little bag of gold buried somewhere in the desert. They never spend their money on creature comforts, and the poorest and the richest men live practically in the same way. My Sudanese Camel Corps men used to criticize them, saying what a waste it seemed that they had so much money, and apparently didn’t know how to enjoy it, whereas in the Sudan when a man made money he would build a house, feed better and live in a more comfortable way than his neighbours. An Arab when he was “ mabsout” (well off) didn’t seem to know how to be “‘ mabsout” —moeaning also “‘ happy.” Once I was camped near some Arabs and one of them, an old sheikh, was ill and considered by his relations likely to die. He was known to possess some money buried somewhere in the neighbour- hood, and his relatives were most anxious that he should not die until he had disclosed the hiding- place. But the old man obstinately refused to tell them where it was. A deputation of his heirs called on me and asked me to make him speak. I agreed that it was unfortunate for them, but I could do nothing. When I suggested that they should take him to the hospital at Sollum, they were quite indignant and said that evidently Allah willed that he should die; the only distressing thing was his obstinacy about the money. This went on for several days, and then, to every one’s surprise, the old gentleman suddenly recovered. Some of his relations seemed sorry, and some relieved. When IFALCONER OUTSIDE A BEDOUIN CAMP POGESSI = “een fatery telabyeetoiye SUSSTETESILTGEL Tes ceeeUratheikee cece teat Gee? peprers eo Llipeesmrey bars tart F rewweeraT1 Tt earenerery ree hs St : ‘The Coast 27 last saw him he was watching a “ fantasia’ which was being held in honour of his recovery, with a pleased, benignant expression. Personally, I always had a faint idea that the money never existed, but all his people firmly believe in it, and he has kept the secret to this day. One rather associates the idea of an Arab with his steed, a wonderful fiery creature that skims across the desert like a bird. The ponies on the Western Desert are a somewhat sorry collection. Only a few of the well-to-do Arabs keep horses. They are small hardy ponies very unlike the Arab steed of fiction. But they look better when they are ridden, with their high scarlet saddles, great iron stirrups and gaily tasselled bridles. The Arabs ride them either at an un- comfortable jog trot or at a tearing gallop. They have some curious ideas on the “ points ” of a pony ; certain things are considered lucky or unlucky ; for instance, if a pony has white stockings on both fore- legs it is much esteemed, but a white stocking on one fore and one hind leg is exceedingly unlucky. There are many stretches of hard stony ground along the coast, so horses have to be shod; this is done by covering the whole of the foot with a flat piece of iron, and results in a terrific noise when they gallop over stony ground. There is very little sport to be had on this part of the desert. The only form that the Arabs indulge in is the ancient pastime of hawking. Certain men of each tribe are proficient in training and hunting with hawks. Skill as a falconer seems to be hereditary in epabsistensbeertenth itt sionespecietyit eri et ibecert id is Hy BaF fi F i a (hes ise 3 bree qowase perewres st28 Siwa the same way as snake charming, fortune telling and various other practices. The Arabs prefer catching a full-grown bird and training it, to taking a young bird from the nest, which would appear to be the easiest plan. The method of trapping them is rather clever. When an Arab wants to catch a hawk, he takes a pigeon, slightly clips its wings to prevent its escape, and fastens a number of horsehair loops round its body, then he releases the pigeon, which flutters away. A hawk sights the pigeon, swoops down and becomes entangled in the meshes of the horsehair, so that the Arab is able to run up and secure it. The hawk takes many months to train. Gradually it becomes accustomed to its master, who invariably feeds it himself, and whistles when he gives it food in a way that it learns to know. Later he takes the bird on his wrist, hooded, and fastened by a leather thong ; by degrees it becomes accustomed to his wrist and then he carries it about with him, still hooded. Finally he removes the hood and lets it tackle a hare or two which he brings to it, then one day he takes it out on to the desert and looses it at a running hare. The bird attacks the hare, brings it down, and sits on its prey till the master arrives, or if it flies up he draws it back by whistling and flinging a lump of meat into the air. Sometimes an Arab will catch over a dozen hares in a day’s hawking, but occasionally, after months of training, when he looses his bird for the first time it will fly away and never return. One sees a tethered hawk outside a tent in almost all the big encampments. A well-The Coast 29 trained bird is worth several pounds among the Arabs, and it is very difficult to persuade them to part with one ; they are used to catch pigeons, quail and other birds, besides hares. Another sport which we went in for along the coast was coursing hares with Silugi dogs. These dogs are gazelle hounds and came originally from Arabia. There are now a certain number of them in Egypt, and all the officials on the Western Desert keep one or two. Silugis are very similar to greyhounds, generally white or pale coffee colour, with feathery tails and long-haired, silky ears. They are very fast indeed, but have no sense of scent, and hunt entirely by sight. They are rather delicate and very nervous, and in most cases they show little affection for human beings. At Matruh there was quite a pack which included a couple of fox-hounds, silugis, several terriers—of sorts—and a few nondescript bedouin pariahs. The Matruh pack specialized in foxes, but at Sollum there were more hares than foxes. The desert hares are rather smaller than the English ones, but they seemed to be faster. The open country above the Scarp stretches over alternate patches of hard stony ground, and strips covered with low vegetation where a certain plant that smells like thyme predominates. Generally two or three of us went hunting together, or if there were only two Englishmen we took a couple of Sudanese syces or servants, who thoroughly enjoy all forms of hunting, all mounted on ponies, and accompanied by four or five dogs. We rode in extended order Mane +4 $3 "\ hams Tal sens veereete tot I eee SIT sar = Hi beoe +-Aey) sibgivodtoaedyttsrstrsyecepent Lenckicas tic itnteseyerreesere eter Th eereteeaee oh Date ara gids Les apeet hipaa Seae aa lum tts : rr ue 3 ' Fs test Fed 4 oat t 3 i es res Ste i ; : H 3 pee renee rerem rss nes pepe S53 rarer sp. feeepeseapeorsesti th ssrretes30 Siwa with intervals of about thirty yards between each rider, the dogs generally trotting along in front. Whoever raised a hare gave a wild yell and galloped after it, ‘‘ hell for leather,” the rest following. The hounds would sight the hare and fling themselves in pursuit. Quite often the hare got away before they saw it, or managed to reach a bit of cover well ahead of the hounds, and then they would slacken down, at a loss, and wait till the riders came up and scoured the country round to put up the hare again. It sounds rather unsporting, but the hare stood a very good chance; in fact, generally more than half of them got away, and it gave one some splendid long gallops across the country. Sometimes we would raise a gazelle, and give chase, but few dogs or ponies can catch up a gazelle when it gets a little start and is really moving. I think the scale of speed was, gazelle, silugi, hare and ponies. It was a primitive form of hunting, but one liked it none the less, and jugged hare made a welcome change in the menu. There were a certain number of gazelle on the desert quite close to the top of the Scarp and it was occasionally possible to get a shot at them, but they were very shy, and needed careful stalking over country that was almost without cover. When any- body went out specially to shoot gazelle none would appear, but when riding along on a camel one saw numbers of them; however, by the time one had dismounted and loaded the gazelle would be out of range, probably standing a long distance away “ at gaze.’ Gazelle do not mind camels if they have noSILUGI HOUNDS pare yeere 0 STSTSTIES Perea eee ear ry rover pool tol anor ttt ios i winrH 7 Teese esstrespeese or yes pags) snared bins ve i * remem aa evonerr res bate eo ee Tu yeeros ontario [se weeney 3% ig | 4 STeeSINei H f te , ‘ 5 4 - BiaMea st i isis whetThe Coast 31 people on them, and the Arabs sometimes get quite close to a gazelle by stalking it from among a number of grazing camels. At one time, after the war, the men of the Light Car Patrols took to hunting gazelle in Ford cars with a machine-gun ; fortunately this practice was forbidden, but it scared the gazelle from the neighbourhood for a considerable time. Numbers of rock pigeons nested among the cliffs on the coast, and quantities of them collected round the camel lines and fed off the refuse grain. In the autumn thousands of quail arrived on the coast from Europe; they were often so exhausted that the Arab boys could catch them in their hands. The natives netted them for sale to the Greeks, who exported them alive in crates to Alexandria. One got very tired of eating quail during the month or two that they were in season ; still, at first they were extremely good. Among the wadis in the Scarp there were occasional coveys of red-legged partridge, and lately there have been a few sand-grouse about the high country ; once or twice I have seen duck on the marshes near the sea, and an occasional bustard, but, on the whole, there was very little to be had in the way of shooting. A number of jackals and a few wild cats lived in the caves among the wadis in the Scarp. Their mournful wailings echoed through the rocky ravines, and owing to its eeriness at night the bedouins thought that it was haunted by evil spirits. But in the daytime they climbed about it quite unconcernedly, and their goats snatched a scanty pasturage among beresett ve irong her pon ty ba bya bibeab eee Heth mw mara ttre to rnty rpeeMerr trig es rererts m. pee P64 Eid rere biee ee Geka oe sat sana Misti tesa igs pp Fogger eyieases ~) uggs?) Th err aie tes esr terereto dite an i if ies pa I 4 ba E ey) fay rt Hy ate jot rsa bei . 3 : ng 2 ErrulettresREbSy roa i Bie Mipissossesseostes a Patee ty prragerisapateeagannsioeeriyy byeye}+ eiesseets sesbesseeey Sarre t 3 ae f tet mean) Spresbebeatribiese ASM MSh ELS cieii ils jabs As ctRada Ti rrerorrest Tit brha (Pt Ney Lstsnsen ments jy! Lb eR: iret keel Lectin oer Tae Piysateseists Jyeibrersteseies Plibvbsbrosere Sten oemt oo ot ae eek oe eee oo Tes og peeks prt peptacewreeh seer = LET icivesterenths firtreeie elena Fi Fry fi bebe babs od bee et ietg teat hone iosis take etecds res euntoaste edt dSy sso niepust meee oe i ae 3 : t 32 Siwa the rocks. During most of the year the Scarp looks harsh and forbidding, but after the rains a change comes over it ; one notices a faint green tinge about the cliffs, and a closer examination shows that it is covered with blossoming flowers and rock plants. The slopes become gay with mauve, pink, yellow and blue flowers, saltworts, samphires, sea lavender, yellow nettle, campanulas, little irises, marigolds, ranunculas, Spanish broom, masses of night-scented stock and a quantity of other little flowering plants which clothe the grim rocks in a robe of brilliant colour. The flat country, too, blossoms out into colour. One sees scarlet poppies, mallows, and tall scabious among the budding corn, and fields of sway- ing asphodel, and the whole desert is scented in the evening by the night-scented stock. The rain that causes this transformation falls occasionally during the winter months from Novem- ber till about March. During this time there are clouds in the sky, and sometimes terrific downpours. The Arabs greet the first rain of the season with great delight, the men sing and shout, and the women raise piercing shrieks to show their pleasure. Unless there is a good rainfall none of the barley grows, and the grazing on which the sheep and camels depend is insufficient. When it rains the wadis become rushing torrents, roads are impassable, every house leaks, and many of the roofs subside. The camels have to be led from their flooded lines to the higher ground where they stand shivering. Camels hate rain. If one is out on trek and a really stiffThe Coast 33 shower comes on the camels barrack down, with their backs towards the direction of the rain, and “nothing will make them budge till it is over. One just has to wait till it stops. If the track is muddy and wet the camels slither and slide and one must dismount and lead them; they were made for hot, dry countries, not for a damp, wet climate. Hardly any of the houses at Matruh or Sollum are water- tight, and it was nothing out of the ordinary when one called on a man to find him camped out in the middle of his most watertight room, surrounded by his perishable belongings, with a sort of canopy con- sisting of a waterproof sheet and a mackintosh or two stretched out above him. But though rain storms were very violent they did not last long, and the sun soon came out and dried everything up again. When, however, one was caught by a bad storm out on trek on the desert, with only a thin tent, and no change of clothes, it was very disagreeable. The word “house” is misleading. People imagine at least a large comfortable bungalow. But on the Western Desert the average house occupied by an English official, with possibly a wife, was a three-roomed stone hut, with plastered walls and a wooden roof, with a very thin layer of cement. The largest room would be about twelve feet square, the plaster invariably crumbled off the walls Owing to the salt in it, and the cement invariably cracked in the summer so that the rain poured through the roof in the winter. Cement for some reason was almost impossible to get. One always heard that for “ next D (ecaabe siea'te borg en ters tree dibeaticie ophpowurpivenne rete eynersenerryeswers ITT ea peseesrerttientestpest itcn oo Tee beet i brerscer es Tir aT habeh eng tee wt i: vee sere te sarees Relea priaty 7 Tehtebiste pers ose: argos papehgié ei ve i 3 Hi fevers pe be ertrehninsabarsethens abugrenent eerie wetenseett ss toast meester treeae eee na ea ee ee -) Soak be sawag ke Enea PETE Pt pr pt ee ers se ht wind bacdbees te besesngness iF i / has i if i 5 i Pat a =f ; 1 5 i be P| eI a if ti i ip Hi asalisnssl els Liksiterecsesebosttihh Seer T t " F — oo - ¥ » - — — matitpipsseesteeeeeetry yeeaei Beat tiieess poe be be pitteste seat pe ire ss pistes si tha ne appa vias oi ns a ts . irieet - 7 1 ~ Lia bro prey rery eee ; plepiiterecrds at) tl batersecsprien sey freee Bee Diecrcnre er er e aas4 He “s pepspages cers CP eRe Ftd rere Dost splecpeteens tr opeectei firs bss Seba Sys Lcoeertereperrsss Bbeaaaa inca wi meta. siriitiaedtssssaatoiespees + : poesia ba sa43 E rf a By a Bi } ES: | <4 ee Ft Fes eri fs: i te ery! Boe ae paseperenertri res trertiocessenenced neat soe! Seog ee agree nectar precs, ene ketrente tri asaeees rerepererei test eh iter es ibveeees sears ee Pppeiegesipides StS Setstels : pases my shinshsseiges Leihas pesahoroosrent ITE TPIT pa Facnnerrsa borne mete ness alge fiseshgreege roe tet g iets ct a i ! tH Sorina! Papa eesesn eee rere Mere ceseed bee) 36 Siwa that"may have been politeness. There happened to be three or four other men present. At lunch Mr. B. proceeded to air his views on how the desert should be run; we heard some startling facts about it; he disapproved of the Administration, and told us so ; he then proceeded to tell us about the Sudan, as he had lately spent one week in an hotel at Khartoum. The Governor had been recently transferred from the Sudan, where he had been Governor of one of the largest provinces, and as it happened every single man present had served there for some considerable time, so, naturally, we were interested to be told a few facts about it ! A couple of days later I happened to go down the coast with Mr. B. and a certain District Officer. The latter spent his whole time, when he wasn’t ill, telling Mr. B. the most outrageously impossible stories of camels, Arabs and the desert, which he swallowed unblinkingly and noted down in a copybook in order to give lectures, so he told us, at his club when he returned home. That club must have heard some startling stories. One of the facts—or fictions—that interested him particularly was a description of “ watch camels which are posted by the Arabs round their flocks and when a stranger appears they gallop across to the camp and warn their masters.” Another very vivid story was the description of a whole herd of camels going mad from hydrophobia. It iS wonderful how credulous some people can be, but I think he deserved it.CHAPTER II THE DESERT **So on, ever on, spreads the path of the Desert, Wearily, wearily, Sand, ever sand—not a gleam of the fountain ; Sun, ever sun—not a shade from the mountain; As a sea on a sza flows the width of the Desert Drearily, drearily.” \HE Western Desert of Egypt is regulated by the Frontier Districts Administration, a comparatively new department of the Egyptian Government which was formed during the war and took over many of the duties of the old Egyptian Coastguards Administration. The F.D.A. is a military Administration with British officers, and is responsible for the Western Desert, Sinai and the country between the Red Sea coast and the Nile. In each of these provinces there is a Governor and several District Officers and officers of the Camel Corps. The Military Administrator at the head of the whole Administration is Colonel fs G. Hunter, CB., C.M.G., and the Governor of the Western Desert is at present Colonel M. S. Macdonnell. The forces of the F.D.A. consist of a Sudanese Camel Corps and local police. On the Western Desert there is one company of Camel Corps, about 170 strong, divided into three 37 ry ped y = be -- met v4 °% > aes Tite . rf: u “ po biveentrtabeat penenepeerarereiy sp ssrestrreysyenrerses ror Ty aT yssesesHt : % y AERP lirae abies EL os evr abhesr es Ai BARLs oa chines — bee aio Peebttoetspttrztresssereait ty ye pe-anees S32 33 Pe eeeee TTT ES Pemeneeeey cpeenasenensonies iiirrcee baie FF Attiein pteoes sitet PViritst at sgh METER y+ ca rey weer reves ADELE (Latta at beens F i ba ae bard i. a ry oe ra Strrieattap ddelisrerscrseatriahieatcl rotates by Ase orecsrscbmrrrtniests rier nbipaiedanresene ns boos reeset! hip ar vers erppl dhe) teers naiesha i. 4 newwnd dy ri er ra watees 183 ’ peseeee TPE sre peeeya vari ip sasasassoeehe Oe Me Per teos eens teases eee te Te osds obec] tol ass woh AEE Leeks 5 EES a SAhs pseu hemes Lave bers Fs . sent tae reg ibiererteedtbr de fe rog reeeoere pabegit haces iarees ) ee pent | rer pry phnonead seatigeernts os tr isere sat : i ieee arerdd sbathiskteasaseht bitte bretheneese erate aessdecasees sist optecss soa ypesetster tad letrg tariaterda ties rtententh fies geestentetsos- GUPRTSTSIUINE eStore Math nist Peehbectiiacs racsscfarsecccatcosesterste retire Hig eat ame pee Cpeses tate SeSMenae tate aM ate rte reaeraetrssfe71 see ses es berss are restores “tS rpetes bi sleie bog’ ry Fi pies fF 94) Pree Reset ie ep bate sa5e phos enbeesiseeoercon series se ter teh (RUT eer lh piracrenteicens omedv’ FETE ip rerree ores aa by ; | ii ey £ zi LE = Sets t= iba) bil Linseed or eeecmuasey by mi nens nist Lneeepaneds mt yi | THEE: Fees ve one dy wo 4 a a 7 Bl Wi i i : re t 3) ry Hi 38 Siwa sections, of which two are stationed on the coast and one in the Siwa oasis. The duties of the Camel Corps are practically those of mounted police, patrolling the coast and frontier, preventing smug- gling and gun running, and keeping order among the Arabs in case of any disturbance or trouble. But since the successful termination of the British operations against the Senussi in 1917 the Western Desert has been very peaceable, and the Arabs seem to be thoroughly satisfied with the organization by which they are now governed. During all the trouble in Egypt in 1919-21, when the country was seething with anti-British agitations, there were absolutely no disturbances or demonstrations among the Arabs of the Western Desert, and I have heard them in their tents discussing, quite genuinely, the foolishness of the goings-on in Egypt. The F.D.A. Camel Corps was originally formed of Sudanese men from the Coastguard Camel Corps, with a large proportion of “ yellow bellies ” (Egypt- ians) who were gradually weeded out and replaced by Sudanese and Sudan Arabs, who were enlisted on the borders of Egypt, as the Sudan Government does not allow recruiting inside its territories except for the Egyptian Army. The F.D.A. Camel Corps is supposed to consist entirely of Sudanese, but a certain number of the men who were enlisted in the regions of Luxor and Kom Ombo are not real Sudanis. They are very well paid, provided with good uniforms and rations, and a certain percentage are allowed to have their wives with them on theThe Desert 39 coast. Every camp has its “ harimat ’—married quarters—where the married men and their families live. But before a man is allowed to marry he has to pass a test in musketry. Many of the men marry Arab women, and this sometimes caused consider- able trouble among the Sudanese wives, who are by no means fond of their Arab “ sisters.” As they all live close together in rather cramped quarters they have a very lively time. One’s office hours are often occupied in endeavouring to pacify some irate old Sudanese lady who brings a furious complaint that the Arab wife of her next-door neighbour is “carrying on” with her husband. Or one gets a long involved case like the following story to inquire into, generally when there is a great deal of other work to be done. Ombashi (corporal) Suliman Hassan married an Arab lady called Halima bint—daughter of—Ahmed Abu Taleb ; when she married her father gave her an old primus stove, a favourite possession of the Arabs at Sollum, which he had bought from the servant of one of the English officers—this incident- ally caused another inquiry. The marriage was not a success, and after six months of unhappy married life Ombashi Suliman divorced his wife. Apparently he “ celebrated ” the divorce ‘‘ not wisely but too well,” because on the next day he got a month’s hard labour for being drunk on duty. He took the primus with him when he went to prison. Halima retired to Bagbag with her goods and chattels, and after a suitable interval she married another Camel was of 3 ch x eh | EE ais ire erie beeree be te wpe nt pevont | eP: eT eres = - 4 whee Rep ee erie } worry Gis40 Siwa Corps man, this time a “ naffer ”°—private—who brought her back with him to Sollum. Ombashi Suliman had also consoled himself, and presented the primus stove, now very worn and shaky, to his new wife, a buxom Sudanese. She sold it to her married sister. It exploded and set a tent on fire ; so the sister gave it to her little girl Zumzum, a small black infant with tight curls and one pink garment. Then one day Halima saw the primus, her primus, in the hands of the small Zumzum, and remembered about it. She rushed home to her new husband and stirred him to action; so he arrived at my office with a long incoherent complaint, demanding justice and the return of the stove. I had to spend an entire morning unravelling this history and examining endless witnesses, who all wished to talk about any subject except the one I was getting at. When the present wife and the divorced wife of Ombashi Suliman met outside the office they were with difficulty restrained from fighting, and the lurid details which were wafted through the window, about the lives and antecedents of both ladies, were interesting, but quite unprintable. Eventually the small Zumzum, now in a state of inaudible terror, produced the primus, which was found to be worn out, irreparable, and absolutely useless. One of the features of Sollum is a little cluster of tents and huts, near the Camel Corps Camp, which is known as the “‘ Booza Camp.” It is run by about a dozen elderly Sudanese widows and divorcees whoThe Desert 4I manufacture “‘ marissa,” a drink made from barley. The men are allowed here at certain times and on holidays, as marissa is not permitted to be brewed in the camp. The wives have the strongest objection to this institution which attracts their husbands away from home, as a public-house does in England, though the dusky barmaids could not possibly be called attractive. One can rightly say of the Sudanese that their favourite diversions are wine, women and song. The Sudanis of the Camel Corps are a very like- able lot. They are thoroughly sporting and have a strong sense of humour, but in many ways they are very like children. They have an aptitude for drill and soldiering, but are useless without British officers owing to their lack of initiative. They are faithful and become very attached to Englishmen, but they have a keen sense of discrimination. Like all native troops there is a tendency for each man to consider himself a born leader, and offer his advice and Opinion on all occasions ; this takes a long time to subdue. But with careful training they become efficient soldiers, and they look very smart in their khaki uniform, which is rather similar to an Indian’s. Physically many of them are splendid men, very powerful and muscular, like bronze statues, but although the climate of their own country is intensely hot they are by no means immune from the effects of sun, and they seem to be almost more liable to catch fever than an Englishman. The three sections take it in turns to go to Siwa, ae ee ag Fesoad | ME+O4 Pit ft suidenstl ents i bere poessyerelerss epee sends SE5Ssas8l Tee set road rhiitecerrrress : : eeireey tees cotirterarnnscstcsrcesace th eteccacaier sreetagann atop eter? ss skebe] ses ipecd beak rat bod bp berg bots ppeewtie! Sreenezebestrracasats rt | Ty at Paes) ed LS ae bai peas i peoie 4 = 4 rst heseae as tet a Fisskee vy reper nersu Ne ay i i q ; a ie i ib iz its rte: err 4 St Perera ees ie vterstaieicmeetiey 42 Siwa where they generally remain from six to nine months. It is not a popular place, in spite of the fact that every man is allowed to marry, with no restrictions, such as first having to pass a musketry test. ~The men much prefer being on the coast where there is more going on, as they are at heart intensely sociable, and also, though living is cheap at Siwa, the climate has a bad reputation. The best time to go to Siwa is in the spring, when the weather is cool and there is probably water on the road. The trip needs a good deal of preparing for, especially as one has to take down stores for many months. A camel patrol from Siwa used to meet a patrol from the coast at the half-way point on the road once every month, and in this way the mails were sent down to the oasis. A car patrol was sup- posed to go down at certain intervals, but they were very irregular, and sometimes, on the few occasions when they did come, they forgot to bring the mail. One depended so much on letters at Siwa that this was an intense disappointment. The following is a rough diary of a trek down to Siwa in the hot weather. Saturday, Fuly 24th. Spent a busy morning making final arrangements for the trip and seeing that everything was ready. We moved off from Sollum at 3.30 p.m., myself, 39 men, 50 camels, and one dog. The whole camp turned out to see us off, including many small black babies belonging to the men. Some of the men weptThe Desert 43 profusely at parting with their wives, but almost be- fore we were out of Sollum I heard them gaily dis- cussing which of the Siwan ladies they would honour by marriage. Saturday is a fortunate day to start ona journey. Apparently the prophet Mohammed favoured Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays, but Saturdays most of all. Another good omen was the appearance of two crows which we passed just out- side the camp ; a single crow would have been cause for anxiety, and to see a running hare before camping at night is considered a very serious piece of ill-luck. I think this started from the idea that a running hare was a sign of people on the move close at hand, probably enemies. We marched along the bottom of the Scarp and reached Bir Augerin, where we camped for the night, at sunset. At Augerin there is one of the many rock cisterns that one finds on the coast. These cisterns are large rectangular underground tanks, often 40 feet square and 20 feet high, with one or two square holes in the roof large enough to admit a man. The Arabs draw the water up in leather buckets on the end of a rope, or if the supply is low one man goes down and fills the bucket which is drawn up by the man above. They are always built in the middle of a hollow with several stone runnels that carry the rain water down from the higher ground. Gener- ally there is a mound near the well with a sheikh’s tomb on the top of it, a cairn surrounded by a low wall, ornamented with a few little white flags which are contributed by passing travellers as a thank- oe - = ] fedbe bates beth eas Sepeeecene Fen AS Petesersl ener store srerryyerreremer rr re TTT hee stra TU Cs | Soaaed me , , Marie eT ee secserersce eet al t pet — Epeibis-=rs-$o) 1 rit ie oh Citited St pyees gory " tereredbense sist44 Siwa offering for the water. According to M. Maspero, the cisterns along the coast were built by the Romans in the second century A.D., and were in use until the middle or end of the fourth century. Most of them are now so out of repair that they only hold water for a very short time after the rains have ceased, and when they are dry they become the home of snakes, bats and owls; however, I believe it is proposed to restore several of the most useful of them. We camped near the well at Augerin. I had an indifferent dinner. My new cook, Abdel Aziz, seems to be a fool and unaccustomed to being on trek. He is a Berberin, a despised “‘ gins ”—race—but always considered to be good cooks. The men I have got with me are a fine lot, all “ blacks ” and mostly “ Shaigis °—from the North Sudan. The old Bash- Shawish—sergeant-major—was previously in the Coastguards and knows the country well. I did not bother to put up a tent, but slept in the open under the stars, which were gorgeous. Not a very hot night. 25th. Moved off at 4.30 a.m. by chilly but brilliant moon- light. Led the camels and walked for the first hour, then mounted and rode. The men made a long line riding along in file. Arrived at Bir Hamed, another cistern, at about 8 a.m. We stay here till to-morrow morning in order to give the camels a good day’s grazing and watering, as this is the last well beforeCAMEI CORPS eat i : ie Pees TSC TST cera rr ur tsts pemeeiirearttretita a) S305) poespeesea’ Foret res dat raezea est . ttsialjas et Lita soiedete tk. Se eeeeteThe Desert 45 the real desert. Bir Hamed is a very wild, pic- turesque place among the rocky foot-hills below the Scarp. In the spring it becomes one mass of flowers, but now it looks dry and barren. The camels drank frantically and then went out to graze. There is still a fair amount of water in the well, which is icy cold and very refreshing. I, and almost all the men, had a bath, as it is the last opportunity till we get to Siwa. I spent a lazy day in my tent and the men slept most of the time. At four o’clock the camels were driven in to drink again, this time they were less eager to get to the water and sipped it in a mincing way like an affected old lady drinking tea. After dinner, when I was sitting outside my tent in the moonlight, I heard a faint sound of shouting in the distance. I took a couple of men and walked in the direction the sound came from. About a mile from the camp we sighted a large number of black Arab tents that showed up clear in the moonlight on a slight rise in the ground. There had been a marriage in the tribe and the festivities were being concluded by a dance. Two girls were slowly revolving round in the centre of an enormous circle of white-robed bedouins each holding in her hand, above her head, a long cane which she flourished in the manner that a dancer uses a bouquet of flowers. The girls wore the usual Arab dress, the black, long-sleeved robe and scarlet waist-band, but their faces were hidden by long black veils, and they wore white shawls fastened in flounces round the waist, which stuck out almost like a ballet beneyeetm Brite Ie wed bad wbadehshnindose) Epues DET EE rberyre reyyers Pe ss rerecerererrerrpewscerrry eeerk sty Ty 5 cs53s1 Bap emurrersersc Saree asa es sdb oema hia! pata bheecbe rss sibewsiats aterm eet Ta epeeha ae i Seite bee bees rs EHLEF aah) Fogpe es ERIETEN eet sts mite Sesded iS ent iat reert Sanit iesretee teenth tr Hees ayoyererst el bas cerse oy cpt] prareseses bt beg ewers a bagenetst ra aH aA pany rseerrr etry) ar Srosisins eyeutoda eye seen? boast beneSeTTy eayeere ot sapere ¢ arith ate ara epee ora reg tr eererectt 4] pperaeeen ee eet ace et akeOe See on! sowie ie Oa neers ee estes ie iE oe Pe He Sits Ee We Ete a8 46 Siwa girl’s skirt. The moon flashed on the heavy silver bangles on their arms and on their silver necklaces and earrings. The audience were divided into four parties, the object of each party being to attract the dancers to them by the enthusiasm of their singing and hand- clapping. A man playing on a flute and another with a drum led the tune, which was wearily monotonous but strangely attractive and a fitting accompaniment to the scene. Gradually the singing became faster and louder, the white-robed Arabs swayed to and fro urging the dancers to fresh exertions; the girls revolved more rapidly and one of them began the “ Dance de veritre,”? which consists of rather sensuous quivering movements, not attractive to a European, but much admired by natives. The singing and hand-clapping became more violent and finally culminated in frenzied shouting when one of the girls halted, swaying, before the loudest section of the audience, and several men flung themselves on their knees, kissing her feet and exclaiming at her beauty, which if it existed was quite invisible to me, and praising her skill in dancing with high-flown speeches and compliments. Outside the circle of brown-faced, white-clad Arabs, and in the doors of the tents, there were a crowd of women watching the performance, and a group of dancing girls stood whispering to each other under their black veils, tinkling their ornaments, as they waited to step into the circle and relieve their companions. I stood watching the dancing for a long time, andThe Desert 47 then returned to my tent. As I walked away I heard hoarse shouts of “‘ Ya Ayesha—ya Khadiga,” as two new girls began to dance, and the whistle and the drum struck up another queer little melody. Not until almost dawn did quiet reign again on the desert, broken only by the occasional wail of a wandering jackal. 26th. Moved off at 4 a.m. and marched till 9.30. We led the camels for the first two hours along the rocky, difficult ground below the Scarp, and then up a steep, stony pass to the top. I reached the top just as the “ false dawn ” glimmered with a streak of pale light in the east. There was a heavy dew ; all the country down below looked grey and misty. Gradually the long, twisting line of led camels reached the summit, and as we rode off across the level upland towards Siwa the real sunrise began and the stars faded in the Sky. The dew was so thick that the spiders’ webs on the bushes all sparkled. By midday it was intoler- ably hot. We halted at a place called Qur el Beid, a most depressing spot consisting of three low sand- hills and a tiny patch of vegetation which the camels sniffed at contemptuously, probably comparing it in their minds to the much superior grazing near Bir Hamed. I lunched lightly and lay sweating in my tent with Howa, my Silugi dog, lying openmouthed and panting at my side till we moved on again for the afternoon “ shid ”—march. 4 xpipes cli lasehitee Lbs I a EI a Abaya by boeeei bets peel bb Gubbe Se FS pe sreeterersieres eeereepeeeeeeerire etter a 2 Vedas tees PP ures er eee eel fl Fae eer ee = pi aiast 2 eco rc mutta tera beetestd het grns oe bret eey = tisceersbsitts rerererero™ on prasenee peeve Toe rita maT Tae SSPE hitter ee ean ; re et a aes TEs Tan a ET INS cas SpSEE a bade ga fic pete Tee oy orEy SI Isis sddeiicce ne a eS rl i; meer a i: " pt Le meders 7. n Pen fbes Aprrecme Regi secsenyoces es ciplicgerrepedaigtee cesar peer Sens eter eta aie Teese res lah - rai tisistalietastsseeeest oer toe iB stterriatih ; : Sst Rapes = Bei a ts x eae Heteetene . _ ris 6 ae er D SS aires t os eek ra UTE aR titel gpd eS era | Scie — esl csyererss =] I cererizi pe? Rivirreetreds eirtoeeee tts) rErsererss etsecer yes TH at Pat ci ve a re aig i SEisoyes-eeve erpessepieee ere48 Siwa The first hour of the afternoon “ shid” is the worst of the day. The swaying motion of the camel, the glare, and the burning sun beating down, makes one terribly inclined to sleep, and the hard, yellowish brown desert is absolutely monotonous. A good “ hagin ”’—riding camel—is very comfortable to ride when it is trotting, but not at a walk. Its action is peculiar, first the two off legs move together, and then the two near legs; this is what causes the swinging motion. There is an idea that when people first ride a camel they are afflicted by a sort of sea-sickness, but although I am a bad sailor I have never felt this, nor have I yet met anyone who did. Camels are very easy to ride ; one just sits on the saddle with legs crossed over the front pummel, and there is very little chance of falling off as long as the camel behaves itself. The usual way of mounting is to make the camel kneel down and then step on to the saddle, but if one is long-legged and active it is possible to spring up into the saddle from the ground, which is much quicker and useful when the ground is hard and unsuitable for the camel to kneel on. A camel’s usual pace is a slow trot, about 44-5 miles an hour, and they can keep up this pace for hours on end. Of course they can go at a sort of gallop, if they like, and when they do this they cover the ground at a terrific speed, but it is rather difficult to ride them, and they have an unpleasant trick of suddenly swerving which generally shoots one over the camel’s head on to the ground. I have known, too, camels that bucked, and others that suddenly knelt down when one did not expect it,The Desert 49 both very disconcerting tricks. They are not affectionate animals and they never seem to know their own masters ; there was only one among mine that had any “ parlour tricks,” and he used to inhale tobacco smoke through his nose, apparently with the greatest appreciation. We saw several gazelle in the afternoon, but all too far away for a shot. Halted for the night at a place where there were about four smal] tufts of vegetation. The camels are less fastidious now and condescended to nibble at them. The best time of the day is the evening when the sun sinks low, the desert becomes a pinkish colour, and our shadows stretch like huge monsters for yards across the ground. Then I begin to look out for a camping place, anywhere where there area few scraps of dried-up vegetation, or, failing that, a soft-looking patch of ground where the camels wil] be comfort- able. When we halt the baggage is unloaded and the -amels are allowed to roam about and eat what they -an find ; in five minutes my tent 1s pitched, chair and table unfolded, and dinner is being prepared. Some of the men begin measuring out the camels’ thurra—millet—and others go and collect bits of tick for the fires, or if there is no wood they use dry -amel dung, which is an excellent fuel. Then the amels are driven in again, unsaddled and tied down n a long line; ata given signal the men run along he line and p lace each one’s food on a sack in front f its nose. Every man Squats down by his own amel and watches it eat, preventing the ones who E } eames — ceeetee Kweli arasar Un =* 6g bb NS35TS MOREL LI 7 3 s } eke bott eiet pl ieetenntenphn} 90 besesd! bey MPEP Tt fesbousd] esos Ween mp lees a 4 aerate pt eB ns ni ee Peevey? Mearerstezt resend orn aise: Cech eee Ea oa se bs Tite pete) AEeRni aclu ao faty ve bel reteteytes ererers TST aes = Thi ietynetete tens Mecet ibestesttiats [pr erssr eee reeeererT tsa bs pearers SibTiT ies veadareerires soeee tte teceboaeee tT AtaLae oa] penne: be eedeensatrt od bowbote iTisthssee eet va ae ttea a sti taal aeeaia eae peso oes ria yrs Sere) jo babeieee ta perers® Let jtbotownpresesads resets renters oats phag 3 Ses peeree bg reaigespeecereres irr Pet eras teat $3029 Sa bos ry baa bee: Hier ri ab 3 aes 50 Siwa eat fast from snatching at their neighbour’s grain. Afterwards the men have their own supper—lentils, onions, bread and tea, and soon roll themselves up in their blankets, covering face and all, and go to sleep behind their saddles, which they use as shelters against the night wind. The only sound is the munching of the camels and an occasional hollow gurgle as they chew the cud, and the footsteps of the sentry as he moves up and down the line, “ till the dawn comes in with golden sandals.” Abdel Aziz is improving; he produced quite a decent dinner—sausages, fried onions and potatoes, omelette and coffee, followed by a cigar. One sleeps splendidly on the desert. Even in the hottest weather the nights are fairly cool. Towards morning, a just before the “ false dawn,” a little cool breeze a blows over the sand and stirs the flaps of one’s tent, like a sort of warning that soon it will be time to get on the move again. Mihirtsestrintecttrseserdl petligtastereseeieoe saa bts SRNR Na ed UE at Se a ac Laka subtagne etustein arshatersineetetbestteargritcaseeelgstted fe tsegcets sath teres bremoeese eB PSTeMTey Ss Sabtomeer tiers t iss rere - + -~ rowers tert ¥ MSibidbbebisllsacehuthtnsale L4scasRRE Pa bice cae: pahiieittertass ier gronlsl Uh) Leeder Tisaesels pbb GREE IA) pndvoes peresetye-seabasettiataahe pa | 27th. | We marched for six hours in the morning and about four hours in the afternoon, and camped for the night at the half-way point between Sollum and Siwa, which is a mound ornamented by a few empty tins. The temperature in my tent at midday must have been about 120 degrees, and not a scrap of. breeze or fresh air. This is real desert ; there is not a vestige of any living thing, animal or vegetable. The ground is hard limestone covered with dark; shining pebbles, and in some places there areThe Desert 51 stretches of dried mud, left from the standing water after the rains. These mud pans are impassable in wet weather, and one has to make a wide detour to avoid them. Now they are cracked by the sun into a number of little fissures of a uniform size, about 6 inches square. The effect js very curious. I once motored down to Siwa in a car driven by an English A.S.C. private who had never been Out in the desert before. When we were running over one of these mud pans he remarked to me, “ It seems wonderful how they have laid bits of this road with Paving blocks—don’t Ite siny ae | thought he was trying to be funny, but when I looked at him I saw that he was perfectly serious, so I agreed that it was indeed wonderful. N obody believed the story when I told it afterwards, but it really did happen. The mirage is very vivid. Almost all the time one sees what appears to be a sheet of shining water ahead in the distance, and one can distinguish bays and islands on it ; gradually, as one gets nearer, it recedes and then fades away. It is like the shimmer- ing heat that one sometimes sees at home on a hot day, but greatly intensified. Distances look out of Proportion on the desert ; little mounds, too small to be. called hills, appear like huge mountains. About every thirty miles there seem to be slight rises of a terrace-like formation. Every evening the men make bread, which they call “khuz.” It is very simply done and quite good when freshly baked. They take flour and a little salt and mix it together with water, in a basin or on a i eeereeesopete sectors theese siempre sate tik geaat i peaezeetst—rene% 2 ind ete oeeg pees Tron tino eoesse fire Fi dysetetay it bs eteteneresed "eee Serer ser pee sreotis sooererns| pn t8 tS bhererserrs barttserse: tsecsiaittl deveres (titi peer at ShEstes error enabler bt bevy erercey by tories bi Es i pis i ba pep pp tees tober ecerscereennyeererrers pendabtsthrersrstblatetn Set Tere tote etietce | iE hepeyeenas et tie 9 sraseeatsiatataa iat becseees tote Ti petons Niteibe CSc ese ester Se eta te etter itr teeter oer lin ! Perrypers dros (Per ar peneysonpeeesg ee cesses Me hieiteayes phossovese sees!bist ab corests) freeet tite Sietsh teees 52 Siwa clean sack, kneading it into dough with their hands. When it is solid and firm they smooth it out into a flat, round loaf about 1} inches thick. Then they go to the fire, scrape aside all the embers, and lay the loaf on the hot sand. Then they put the embers back on the top of the loaf. After a few minutes’ cooking they rake aside the fire again and turn the loaf, replacing the fire on the top as before. The time taken in cooking depends on the heat, but is generally about ten minutes. The bread lasts until the following evening. All the way we are following what is known as a ‘© mashrab,” a desert road, which consists of a narrow rut about a foot wide, worn by the passage of camels through many centuries. Without specially looking for them one would hardly notice these mashrabs, which are almost identical to the “ gazelle paths ” that wind aimlessly about the desert, but one 1s helped by the cairns of stones which are raised by the Arabs on every bit of high ground, sometimes to show the way and sometimes to mark the lonely grave of a less fortunate traveller. Each of these twisting desert tracks is known to the Arabs by a different name. There is the “ Mashrab el Kham- isa,” from Bagbag to Siwa, called thus because there are five wells on the way; there is the “‘ Mashrab el Akhwan ”—the Brothers’ Road, from Jerabub to the coast, which was used by the Senussi Brethren when they travelled from their Zowia at Jerabub into Egypt; and the “ Mashrab el Abd ”—the Slave’s Road, as according to legend, once upon a time, inThe Desert 53 the dim ages, a slave who was captured and brought by this route into Egypt from his home in the west, returned to the west and led an army against Egypt by the very road that he had come by as a captive. Often the mashrab seems to fade away, and then the trackers have to ride on ahead and pick it up again. A number of Bisharin from the North-East Sudan were specially enlisted in the Camel Corps as trackers and guides. They are thought to be more skilful at this work than any other tribe, though personally I think a bedouin is cleverer. But when working in a bedouin country it is best not to employ local natives. Some of the Bisharin are almost un- naturally clever, they can follow a footstep over hard, broken ground where anyone else would see no sign of anything. These men have a natural instinct for finding the way, a sort of abnormal bump of locality. When they first arrived on the coast some of them were wearing the usual clothes of their country and the fuzzy-wuzzy coiffure that is so remarkable a characteristic of their race. The Arabs had never Seen this type of Sudanese and were intensely interested in them. Small bedouin boys used to Stand and stare at these tall brown men with the great mops of woolly hair ornamented with a few skewer-like objects, but the Bisharin were absolutely indifferent. 28th. Left “ Keimat en Nus ”’—the half-way tent—at a very early hour and rode for a long time by moon- yi icy oath Feque te iniasee eoree™ ooeleantece tes ain Ry + Sesetiie einen iaaiecabeatgoeta bas Pee TMA eeepNeNErintiaae sae sea lsc tees tty tee grote 8a) post eesneeaal 39} 81> leeedeensety besetets betel res peepee fre stro rstst Sayeed MST In em aes etiteatiee mi tatteren stressed sett rsteT et i H iB ay eS 354 Siwa light ; one can cover more ground when it is cold, but there is a danger of going off the track. The mashrab is faint enough in the daytime, but almost invisible at night. When we start off in the morning all the men shout together three times, “ Ya Sidi Abdel Gader,” invoking a certain sheikh who is the patron sheikh of travellers. One of my men told me that he was born in Berber “‘ min zaman ”—a long time ago—and used to travel about the Sudan deserts without water or food. His descendants still live at Berber where he is buried. For the first hour or two the men are very lively and rouse the desert with their singing. Usually one man sings the refrain in a rather drawling falsetto voice, and then the whole lot take up the chorus with a real swing, and some of them have very good voices, too. Sometimes the song is the history of a certain Abu Zeyed, a legendary character and an exceedingly lewd fellow, from all I could hear of his doings. Sometimes they would sing stories from the Thousand and One Nights, or sometimes the songs would be chants that reminded one of the Gregorian music in a very “ High ” church at home. Often I used to ride on ahead, almost out of sight, and then wait while the chanting voices gradually | grew louder, and the long line of camels came into HE sight across the white moonlit sands. There was a something very fascinating in the sound of the E singing as we rode through the African desert at night. But later on, when the sun began to warm Up; |The Desert 55 nobody felt like singing. Occasionally somebody started, and a few voices joined in, but they very soon subsided again. At the midday halt the men rigged up rough bivouacs with blankets, and rifles as tent poles, then for several hours one lay in the scanty shade, feeling like a pat of butter that had been left Out in the sun by mistake. Howa is getting very tired. I picked her up and carried her on the saddle across my knees for several hours to-day. She is quite fit, but 200 miles in the hot weather does take it out of a dog. The camels are in good condition but much looking forward to water, their flanks are beginning to look “‘ tucked in,” and at night some of them groan and gurgle horribly. To-morrow we should be in the oasis at the first well. This evening I functioned with the medicine chest ; I gave several of the men pills and Eno’s, which they enjoyed, and dressed a foot with a bad cut on it. My own knees are like raw beef from the sun, though I’ve been wearing shorts all the summer. We have to be “canny ” with the water as several of the ~ fanatis ”—water-cans—are leaking. Fortunately I have trained myself only to drink a little in the morning and evening, and I can wash quite thoroughly in two cups of water. Sometimes in the evening I walk right away from the camp into the utter quiet of the desert, out of sight of camels and men. It is a wonderful sensation to be in such absolute silence, with nothing to see but the horizon and “ the rolling heaven itself.” Then I retrace my footsteps to the camp es tet BIT pb erieetes trait i thee peaiserr eat tSheeespostese teseset? bate eullemensers 9) baetes: gl rf ra is rig ei =e} 5 - ie s a i er Tris Seb estaba sed aRLIBTAE SE — Dc traeas we sipareeten i baba 3794 - ae Setar ete ce eee aiarrcr ities Tee ey peeeeene Spee eraree sri rereqrt poapecsecocerenlrpeeers oe Toe rer yr rij rorseohtor spesta pelts yeas os pee ererh 7 res peperTrad psestintiietistrinitctetscteetistel srhess pei estiece repett eet paperdetitiat i epee cesestes tes eat cadt cca data cay gcd ea La tea reat ea bre dos eg aaa aa Se es eget eae frit sa PeEesytoart aster tesy 39535 t 3 Fe 56 Siwa ie and enjoy the pleasant feeling of seeing the twinkling iz fires in the distance, and arriving at a neatly laid dinner-table right in the middle of nowhere. “Daylight dies, The camp fires redden like angry eyes, The tents show white In the glimmering light, if Spirals of tremulous smoke arise, to the purple skies, And the hum of the camp sounds like the sea Drifting over the desert to me.” i | 29th. be In the early morning, before dawn, we passeda a caravan going north. I rode over to see who they were and found that it was a party of Mogabara Arabs on their way up to the coast, and thence into Egypt. One of them, Ibrahaim el Bishari, is quite f Po Hi 13 preeses tretsaneastederesecer te firt ristis presesechcanhs #100 fas esad pi Be a well-known merchant who travels about Egypt, a Tripoli and the Sudan. He had come lately up from 4 Darfur, via Kufra, Jalow and Jerabub, and was cf going down to the Sudan again after spending some i time in Egypt. He talked about people I knew in oe Darfur and carried “ chits” from a number of a | Englishmen. His fellows looked a fine lot of men, ie very different to the few Siwans who were travelling with them. I should have liked to have seen the stuff in his loads ; he said he had some good carpets that he hoped to sell in Egypt. We wished each other a prosperous journey, and so parted “ like ships that pass in the night.” We camped at midday within sight of the high country above the oasis. This morning one of myThe Desert 57 men was talking about the Sudan and touched on the “ Bilad el Kelab ”’—the Country of Dogs. All Sudanese believe that this place exists somewhere down in the south of the Sudan towards Uganda. I have seen them draw maps on the sand to show its position. In this mysterious country all the men become dogs at sunset time and roam about the gloomy forests like the werewolves of medieval fiction. I have heard the men yarning over the camp fires and saying how their cousin’s wife’s brother— or some such distant relation—actually reached this country and returned alive. Of course it is always somebody else who saw it, but the story is firmly believed by all Sudanese, and so it is a very favourite topic of conversation. Sometimes they enlarge on it and tell how So-and-So married a wife from that country and one night a number of dogs arrived at his hut and carried the woman away with them. This afternoon we ascended from the desert to the high limestone range that forms a rampart to the Oasis on the north, and then we started crawling down into the Siwa valley. The desert plateau is about 600 feet above sea-level, and the oasis is 72 feet below it, and as the height of the hills is considerable there is a big drop down into the oasis. The track winds in and out through strange rocky passes, among weirdly shaped cliffs whose tortured shapes remind one of Gustave Doré’s illustration of the Inferno. These wild ravines are utterly desolate, even in the spring no vegetation grows among them. ict weet a fia thptetpootyirintetont bein istéeeigieeclcante ss Tehiee i" a wesportdhi tla pen itel igs . ae gic ta 1 = POSSE ys eed TT ogee ee eeenees Ei es! st rd eis ai BY Ri :pect tetsiigiesitvess road ves: a betetes Pests ett say 2 ee abso toad hi Feat beara ea peas eats es teat os tol ead Bi tl od pee eG Sst oecsee se: : La 2 ob es PS ROS 098 red cola es bs e245) Tes ay eeeraitiestacetesteeka coded thaaeeesteatess teria) F bakes chs ie eae laa ikl baba baad Lipa rusdotd bates brescyteotssas isos tase: Heated eats ted h eested reel eat endo i 58 Siwa This is a land of broken stone where huge boulders seem to have been hurled about by giant hands. The sun sank low before we had escaped from the mountains, and the fantastically shaped crags were silhouetted with monstrous shadows against the yellow sky. Sometimes the narrow road seemed to cling to the side of a towering cliff, and at other times it twined in and out through deep, echoing valleys in the shadow of the overhanging, jagged rocks. In places the camels had to be led in single file. Once the men began to sing, but the dismal echoes among the caves sounded almost inhumanly depressing, so they gave it up, and we marched along in silence. Finally a line of far distant green appeared down below between two great cliffs, and one could see, very faintly, the masses of graceful palms nodding their crests over the murmuring oasis. To weary men after a six days’ camel ride across the desert the first glimpse of Siwa is like the sight of the sea to those ancient Greeks on the far-away shores of the Euxine. When all the camels had come out from the last valley among the rocks we “ got mounted ” and rode for about half a mile, past groups of palm trees, already heavy with clusters of yellow dates, to Ein Magahiz, which is the first spring in the oasis. Here we camped for the night, watered the camels, who simply revelled in the water, and I enjoyed a luxurious bathe in the deep cool spring which rises among a cluster of palm trees. All night we could pe ebeenep an bpewsest paseveseeseiesrvert eserescen ert Tt ieis ae a pg vr, eo we AtKEG . a - = i : A = : > uel - esta = HE rs ie r erin Fe > , f AM EIThe Desert 59 hear the thudding of tom-toms in Siwa town, which is only a mile or so away. “ The cadenced throbbing of a drum, Now softly distant, now more near, And in an almost human fashion It, plaintive, wistful, seems to come Laden with sighs of fitful passion,” 30th. The mosquitoes last night were a reminder that we are no longer up on the high desert ; they were maddening, in spite of a net. This morning every- body bathed and shaved and generally polished up. We rode across to the town in great style; past the palm-shaded gardens with fences of yellow “ gerida”’ —palm branches ; past the white rest house, on the terraced side of a curious conical hill called “ The Hill of the Dead,” honeycombed with rock tombs : past the long low “ Markaz,” where the mamur and the police guard turned out to see us ; across the wide market square, and through the narrow streets between tall houses of sunbaked clay below the enormous high walls of the old town. The heat was already great, and the streets were almost deserted, except for a few recumbent figures in a shady corner of the market-place, who scrambled up as we rode by and then hurried off to tell their friends that the “ Hagana ”—Camel Corps—had arrived. The Camel Corps barracks and the District Officer’s house are out on the sand about half a mile south of the town. They occupy two isolated rocks about a quarter of a mile apart, which were formerly eb tiisebiil $54 4 Ge ti ie sts| =: bomige ii teioiistrcittes cost tet ied tet treatises itteegh det peat ciectre ttc) costed ti piesehati tates teeter tratetet toates! Seite ip tca tii ant teal taal eee en gg a Weeseaat eeteiA td radastatst { Ss eitEss es teases tees bales: 60 Siwa the strongholds of two Siwan sheikhs. The District Officer’s house stands on a limestone rock about 50 feet high. It is a high house built of mud and palm log beams. To reach it one goes up a steep path in the rock with roughly cut steps on to a little terrace with a sort of loggia that opens through the building into the large courtyard behind, which is surrounded by a high loopholed wall. There are two rooms on the ground floor, both high and long, about 30 by 15 feet, and two more rooms above with a roofed loggia and an open roof. The rooms have three windows in each, with glass in them, the only glass in Siwa, facing north and looking across the grove of palm trees below the house to the strange- looking town on its two rocks. The house was built by the former District Officer, who added to the old Siwan fortress which existed there; it has a wonderful position and is high enough to be free from mosquitoes. I spent a busy day settling down and fixing up things with S——, who starts with his section for the coast in two days. S—— is heartily sick of Siwa and longing to see the last of it. We dined on the terrace outside—to the accompaniment of throbbing tom-toms over in the town—on soup, chicken, caramel pudding and a dish of every sort of fruit, which was a pleasant change after months on the coast without any. Caramel pudding is the *‘ piece de résistance’ of every cook in Egypt; unless one orders the meal it always appears on the menu. S——’s cook is an indifferent one. Out hereThe Desert 61 I have noticed a universal habit of considering, or pretending to consider, one’s own servants absolute paragons of virtue, honesty, cleanliness and skill, and invariably running down everybody else’s. I have heard men hold forth for hours on the excellent qualities of their Mohammed, or Abdel, knowing myself that Mohammed—or Abdel—or whatever his mame may be, was a double-dyed villain and swindling his master right and left—but now I am doing it myself ! I think what impressed me most on arriving at Siwa was the intense heat, the excellent bathing, the enormous height and strange appearance of the town, and the incessant sound of tom-toms from sunset onwards. One misses “ the slow shrill creak of the water wheels, a mournful cry, half groan, half wail,” which is such a feature of Egypt and the Sudan. The average temperature in the summer was about 108 degrees in the shade, or on warmer days I10 degrees or 112 degrees, but the nights were cool, and every evening regularly at about eight o’clock a little breeze blew across from the east and freshened things up. The only way to keep the house cool was by leaving the doors and windows open all night, and keeping them closed and tightly shuttered during the day. It resulted in dark rooms, but at least they were fairly cool and free from flies. I soon made the house very comfortable with some rough home-made furniture and a few carpets and mats. When a new Section of Camel Corps arrived at sebelocetaatttpetetes lit eeresesest-rosssa tt aie Paeeietee fees n ™ ~rotrt shee pad ro ae STberesdi bt tleiliemristestastttesy eens ssonso— ths toeset i Tibatuettsoces tut seeituimatetecttrl --itetered lees isicteee abt tris tes bl ibcebedeeecese $4 pete ts 3 er rrresers ri $6 ps Ssh) bs bE Steyr oers Hy i } & rt { H cares pee Seactesery62 Siwa Siwa one of the first events that occurred was the “ taking over ” of wives. In most cases the men who were leaving handed on their wives to the new men, in the same way as the stores, barracks, camels, etc., were officially handed over by the officer who was going away to his relief. On the day before the new Section rode in all the ladies retired from the camp en masse to the houses of their relations in the town 5 the new men then entered into negotiations with the retiring Section for the taking over of the wives. A few of the men sought fresh pastures, but most of them took on the wife of a man they knew well in the other Section. On the day that the departing Section left Siwa all the ladies assembled on the road that they would pass, carrying their boxes and belongings, and when the camels came by they shrieked and wept, throwing dust on their heads, beating their breasts, pretending to tear their clothes, and showing signs of the most frantic sorrow at the departure of the men. As soon as the camels were round the corner out of sight they brushed off the dust, put on their bracelets, tidied themselves up and hurried merrily across to the “ harimat ” outside the barracks, followed by boys carrying their boxes, to their new husbands who were waiting for them. This performance happened regularly whenever there was an exchange of Sections. I used to watch the little tragi-comedy from my terrace. The harimat of Siwa consisted of a number of rush huts below the rock on which the fort was built. If any of the wives caused trouble, and they often did, they wereThe Desert 63 ejected and never allowed to marry a soldier again. Polygamy was forbidden, and each lady, before she married, was required to produce a certificate stating that she was a respectable person, signed by several sheikhs and notables of the town. The Siwans had no objection to these alliances between Sudanese soldiers and Siwan women, as women in Siwa outnumber the men at the rate of three to one. The daily routine at Siwa did not vary very much. In the summer I was generally called at 5.30, in time to run down from the house and have one plunge in the cool deep bathing pool in the palm grove below the rock before dressing. Clothes were a very minor matter; one wore simply shirt, shorts, shoes and stockings, all of the thinnest material. Then I used to walk over to the C.C. barracks and take the parade, sometimes mounted drill, sometimes dismounted. We did mounted drill on a stretch of firm white sand among the dunes south of the barracks. Breakfast was at about eight—eggs, coffee, bread and jam, the eggs being even smaller than Egyptian ones, about the size of bantam’s eggs, so one needed a lot for a meal. After breakfast I went across to the barracks again, and then rode down through the town on my pony to the Markaz. The path to the town passed over a disused cemetery where the. pony was very liable to stick its foot through the thin layer of soil above the graves, under an archway and into the street that divides the Eastern and Western quarters. The street itself was hard rock and very steep in parts, but owing to the SK sate feed UES fe | a iF aa aa eri + me 2 r en a 7 Ss a - ee aietet ia. ae pi Rape pats Poesy Lee TIED Fee STEEL aT eee aT Tame MN a robe peer si tN gd LSLLEZ poalewened bears feameseestires sieht Tipit ete hap eeemeat rarer A Bea verso ete Siecr ti: wasnt he Loe esi. buiet pop poarisos tii Deh t ba wa peters rei osbiite rt bs Fit berate prea haa sa bber este t sie stes tm ittah “ palicasety tote ter ae teeee any iets i sreecootsa th ahetiyyy) Wier si ° Mbresneiilenrcet-oceersreliisrettsiese 0) ee Fi psseeses os bier streeps tesa Pre pesrrorryererry Tastes y iat pedgease yrsTeattadetet teakest res fal ttatictte tes Les cestess Perea eet EiteEtEsed jpes tea tea testecy 49] ested fed bp seteeeg eat bated fea bag Eay Pee te i. 1 en ’ rt { ; HEBER E pesados} fsriii teste tsa) strizsipeisdpeicetrtiristee: Peat easaret teeter erste sie scat Sate Eat PSH Py Pet PEs eAGH ST Teet Seated oy Ea es osddy Test te dros gee fase THEE SH ee —————————— 64 Siwa height of the tall houses on each side it was generally cool and shady and a favourite resting-place of the inhabitants, many of whom lay stretched full length across the street taking their siesta. But the clatter- ing hoofs of my pony generally roused them, and they scrambled out of the way when I came. The Siwans are well mannered, a virtue that one never sees in Egypt nowadays, and even in the Sudan it is on the wane. When I rode or walked in the town everybody would stand up as I passed, and if I met people riding they would dismount until I had gone on. I have heard people at home say what a scandal it is that in some places the poor downtrodden natives have to stand up and move off the path for an Englishman, but after all they would do exactly the same for their own Pashas, and apart from being an Englishman one was entitled to respect as being the representative of the Egyptian Government in Siwa. Once I was badly “‘ had” over this. I was riding through the market with some policemen following me on my way to make an inspection. There was a group of Siwans sitting talking on the ground, and as I passed they all stood up—except one man who remained comfortably seated in the shade right in the middle of the path. I ordered one of the police- men to see who he was and to bring him along to the Markaz to answer for his bad manners. A few minutes later the man from the market was led into the office. He was stone blind ! The Markaz is a large building outside the town with square courtyard surrounded by prisons, storesThe Desert 65 and offices. It has a permanent guard of locally enlisted police ; they are quite smart men, but of little use when there is trouble in the town, and always at enmity with the Sudanese Camel Corps. At the Markaz I would usually find a number of petitions to be read and examined, some cases to be tried, and probably people applying for permits to cross the frontier who would have to be questioned and seen. Then the sheikhs would arrive and there would be discussions about various things—taxes, labour, work on the drains or Government buildings, new regulations and orders, and then perhaps the merchants would be summoned, and a heated con- troversy would follow about the price of sugar, or the butchers would come to complain of the cost of meat. It was like a daily meeting of a town council, and complicated by innumerable interests, rivalries and intrigues. All these matters, though they sound very small, were of considerable importance to the Siwans. There were six sheikhs recognized by the Adminis- tration, three of them eastern, and three western. Sheikh Saleh Said was the most influential and the most unbiassed by Personal considerations. He was a big handsome man with a dark moustache and features that might have been copied from the bust of a Roman consul. He always wore a long blue robe, and was the most dignified and impressive of the sheikhs. I never saw him in a hurry or at all excited. Sheikh Thom} was a little dark fellow, and reputed to be the richest man in Siwa. He had a . [Wish with Soghs STETIEE « Tiere ieee aR een piece “113 : : Heaiefieeaanteatne ety sTemsocsl tf ibagead lcgsaerescro-ncuad int rhea CO ee Higa REF ne reeaneseay Me febtazt | ccsterssed tzeentnon ttl Crse ts - STrpererrr Torry beeeapoerasael dee eeterstate they | riadiubiereesers Ss ss eotietge 4 i : ie t Hy 4 a ea / tg 4 4 ’ hay SPH Sheletocs. 7 Meriter petieeess ate eer ieseed faved est foes tnal ras iteateg ed eseetrecivetye ca) eqtet eerie tt PREBBLE U ICI ee IRL aeaecerr ete ener one ren tect ete bhiei aaa! ast ab eae eres es Fo i te theyy i PeeTitey estan iss: peaeaty eet Jalal pepo ts Pasi jeesteet enti bal tas tesa ete Oe es 66 Siwa queer, quick way of speaking, was intensely obstinate, a staunch Westerner, but honest—as far as I ever knew. I once offended him very grievously. One day he sent me a basket of grapes, the first that had ripened in his vineyards. I gave the servant boy a piastre for bringing them. The boy returned and presented the piastre to Sheikh Thomi, who was very hurt at being sent 23d. when he had made me a gift of fruit. Sheikh Thomi was a man of means and worth several thousand pounds. I heard about the piastre incident and explained it to him. To offer to pay for what is meant as a present is a real breach of good manners, much worse than refusing it. Sheikh Mohammed Abdel Rahman was a venerable white-bearded individual who had been to Mecca and apparently lived on his reputation of excessive sanctity ; he always agreed with everything I said, and then if I veered round and deliberately contra- dicted myself he did the same—it was not helpful ! Abdulla Hemeid was a sly, fat, greedy man with a pale face and blue eyes. He was very stingy and always complaining against taxation or anything that affected his pocket. He never gave an entertainment, but I always noticed him eating heartily in other people’s houses. His family were much esteemed and he had succeeded his father, who had been a very famous man in Siwa. Mohammed Ragah was a thin, dark, hawk-like man, more like an Arab than a Siwan. He was very badly off for a sheikh, but keen and clever, and not above doing a bit of hard work with his own hands. HeThe Desert 67 was the only man in Siwa at whose house one was given good coffee. He had shown great courage during the Senussi occupation in protecting some Egyptian officials who were in Siwa. Mahdi Abdel Nebi, Sheikh of Aghourmi, was the youngest of the Sheikhs, and the most reason- able and intelligent, though he had never been out of Siwa. He was a cheerful, pleasant fellow, but cordially disliked by the rest of the sheikhs. These Six were the men who to a certain extent controlled the destinies of Siwa. About once every week when I arrived at the Markaz I would find the doctor, or the mamur, or the clerk waiting for me in a state of tearful hysterics, begging me to forward his resignation to the Gov- €rnor, as he could exist no longer in the company of his colleagues—the two other officials. Then would follow a long infantile complaint. If I could not smooth him down I had to bring in the other two, who would also dissolve into tears, and try and get to the bottom of the affair, which was always absolutely childish and ridiculous. On one occasion the Mamur of inveigling his Cook into his service, or something equally smal]. Unfortunately the clerk was a Copt, the doctor a Syrian, and the mamur was a Cairene. It went on unceasingly, the most pre- Posterous things served to bring one of them weeping ‘O my office. And when they were relieved their Shes Rsthicer zistiircresctorsere septepehscrecacict reather er fipiestisaasirge he they sbedeatiNUo pers Eseeeretts tieseelt tte ri teFeras : i i =e) ee 23) ai 283 es ar teehee Pry) base tifad stiehiniististnstiel: HERE HEAT ia asc ada be eet 68 Siwa successors were just the same. Yet they were good men at their work; the clerk had a heavy amount of office work and did it well ; the doctor was quite clever andjhad been trained in America; and the mamur_was good at his job. Exactly the same thing occurred among the native officials on the coast, so it was not only the effect of Siwan solitude. From the Markaz I rode home, and after a light lunch either painted, read, or went to sleep till about four, when I had another bathe, followed by tea. After tea I went over to the Camel Corps for “ stables,” and then generally out for a walk. Some- times I went to Gebel Muta, the Hill of the Dead, a rocky hill on the north of the town full of tombs hewn out of the living rock, some of them being large and lofty with as many as eight coffin spaces round the sides. In one of them there were the remains of a coloured wall painting with figures of men and animals. Other times I climbed up to the top of the town. The view from the flat roofs of the highest houses on the rock is very wonderful, especially at sunset. On the south of the town there is a long ridge of rolling yellow sand-hills which change their contours when the desert winds sweep across them, and become pink and salmon-coloured in the even- ings; towards the north one looks across a Sea of palm groves and brilliant green cultivation to the jagged range of mountains that separate Siwa from the desert; on the west there is a great square mountain with a gleaming silver salt lake at its foot, and in the east one sees the little village of AghourmiThe Desert 69 crowning another high rock which rises above the tree-tops. At sunset the scene is exquisite, the hills turn from pink to mauve, and from mauve to purple, and their peaks are sharply outlined against the gold and crim- son sky ; long violet shadows spread across the rosy- tinted sand-hills, and the palm groves seem to take on a more vivid shade of green. The smoke ascends in thin spirals from the evening fires, and a low murmur rises from the streets and Squares below ; then sud- denly the prayer of the muezzin sounds from the many mosques, and one can see the white-robed figures swaying to and fro on the narrow pinnacles of the round towers that in Siwa take the place of minarets. When the call to prayer is over and the last mournful chant has echoed across the Oasis, and the glow in the sky is fading away, one hears far down beneath the soft thudding of a tom-tom and perhaps the faint whine of a reed pipe. When the deep blue Libyan night covers the city the music becomes louder and seems to throb like a feverish pulse from the heart of the town. Often in the evening I rode out and called on the Sheikh of Aghourmi, which is the little village on another rock two miles from Siwa. Mahdi Abdel Nebi had recently succeeded to his father as Sheikh of Aghourmi and was having some difficulty in sus- taining his authority, even with the support of the Administration, against the plots and intrigues of an old cousin of his, one Haj Mohammed Hammam, a sly old man who was rich, influential, and a thorough 4 a tes ee taal ia 13 tte ee ey; tty Sik pet 4 thers 4 eet His ths Ae ’ tH 4 reat E He] res . |Weed] Fereieatretties eati tested eletestieeta tiie rsietie Busia Mae Ua ie ee ttre te eT Tey + PiPete ty i rH . Fy : re c tt aetecret! eT oa bas bs ibs iit i i raged es 3 retreat es taste estisiis cabs — ee i he da. | eal 70 Siwa scoundrel, and wished to oust his cousin and become sheikh himself. After the war Haj Hammam had carefully cultivated the acquaintance of any British officers who came to Siwa, and he was inordinately proud of knowing their names and of certain small gifts that they had given him—a broken compass, a highly coloured biscuit tin and some photographs. These he showed on every occasion, and also re- marked that they used always to call him fie Sheikh of Aghourmi ”—this apparently being his only claim to the title. Hammam used to employ people to let him know immediately when I was riding out to Aghourmi, so that he, and not the sheikh, should be waiting to receive me at the gates; then he would try to per- suade me to accept his hospitality instead of the sheikh’s. Sheikh Mahdi always invited his old cousin to the tea drinking, though I could well have dispensed with him, but one could not object to the presence of another guest. Sheikh Mahdi’s house was the only one in which a woman ever appeared when I was there. She was an old Sudanese slave woman who had been brought many years ago from the Sudan. Once I got her to tell me her story, but she spoke such a queer mixture of Arabic and Siwan that it was difficult to follow. It appeared that when she was about eight years old she and her small brother were playing outside their village somewhere in the North-West Sudan, and a band of Arabs—slave raiders—swooped down and carried them off. They were taken up intoSHEIKH MAHDI ABDEL NEBI, OF AGHOURMI WITH HIS DAUGHTER AND COUSINeinelThe Desert 71 Tripoli and there she was sold to another Arab who brought her to Siwa on his way to Egypt. She fell ill and almost died, so the Arab, who did not want to delay, sold her cheap to the Sheikh of Aghourmi, father of the present one ; he handed her over to his wife who cured the child. She remained at Aghourmi for the rest of her life. She was a lively old body and told the story in a very cheerful way, giggling and laughing, not apparently feeling any wish to return to her own land. Aghourmi is almost more picturesque than Siwa. The road to the gate passes below the overhanging rock on which the houses stand, which is thickly surrounded by a luxuriant wilderness of apricot, fig and palm trees. The steep path to the village goes under three archways, each with an enormous wooden gateway, and this path is the only possible means of entering the place. Above one of the gates there is a high tower, and the houses alongside the path are loopholed so that an enemy making an attack could be safely fired at from all sides by the defenders. Inside the town there is the same dark maze of narrow streets as in Siwa, with wells and olive presses, but all on a smaller scale than those in Siwa town. There are a few houses below the walls. The sheikh lives in the middle of the town in a big, high house with a roof that has as fine a view as any that I have seen. I got home after sunset and often had another bathe—by moonlight—before changing into flannels for dinner, which I had on the terrace in front of the URLS tri ser 21 TESS Tate pean rome a ces IShie pepo SPSS aaEET aphe Sea PLIELTTSSSTLD PTE ras te MR Ba art’ M tebe dee fot tis peg gs . Ss rete tieeeieeeet en 4 fe STETS PTT eer et eeeeee > ~ a4 "i Reee sere i polite pu U er : . eye 71 7 n terse i jess revere rete rrTareees Littstbeetsazs at) thoes) bet hi Tao) spenpemmst et ii ieet eth fi = s cp) may Beah ss, od oy obs bine Bid Hits oA Oia eT Se ee Ere] oho res) aor |roesties Tite eateite stores t Sati bod $o0rat tg oe testes tects titers estos ere totes tagatss sae! ttedrdicp ets hs tt fj Hi Rin ire feittatas stit HPT TSH ries tpestiisese Testesiteitaiseesiedis test! aS Ste t el 72 Siwa house. I slept upstairs, on the roof, but I always kept a spare bed ready in the room as quite often a wild “ haboob ”—sand-storm—would blow up in the middle of the night, and even indoors one would be smothered and choked with sand. Such was the average day at Siwa, and by nine or ten o’clock one was glad to turn in. Occasionally after dinner one of the natives who were employed as secret service agents would arrive very mysteriously at the house on some excuse and report that there were fire-arms in the house of So-and-So. Sometimes the information was no more than an exaggerated rumour, but if it sounded true I would make a night raid on the person who was supposed to have rifles. These night raids were very dramatic, but did not always yield the harvest that HE was*expected. The informer would lead the way, on disguised by a turban pulled low over his head and : a scarf muffling his eyes. I followed with a dozen i armed Sudanese. The difficulty was to prevent the owner of the house getting wind of us before we surrounded the building, and to surround a Siwan house which has dozens of doors and passages and | exits over roofsyis no easy matter. It was not a 8 matter of entering a hostile town, but of surprising a household. We would pad silently into the town, and anybody who we met roaming the streets would be attached to the party to prevent his giving warning. On reaching the house the guide slipped away in the darkness, and I surrounded the house with men; then at a whistle each manThe Desert 73 lit a torch and I beat on the door and demanded admittance. Immediately the wildest hullabaloo began inside— men shouting, women yelling, donkeys braying and hens cackling. Sometimes this was done in order to distract our attention from somebody who tried to slip out and remove the rifles to a safe hiding-place. When the door was opened all the male occupants were marched outside and the harem sent into one room, where they sat on the floor with shawls over their heads and reviled us—but in Siwan, so nobody Was any the wiser. The house was searched from top to bottom, the ceilings probed, the mats raised, and every room examined. Sometimes the rifles were buried in the floor, or hidden in bales of hay. Occasionally a modern rifle and some ammunition was found, but usually some old Arab guns and a bag or two of shot and gunpowder. If we had a successful haul the master of the house would be marched off in custody to the jail in the Markaz, and next day he would be tried, and probably heavily fined or imprisoned. CPT UIT ts Sts aS wr bay tn bea Sb ais Te FRE pa oaty | ISO PES TEL TS TT rerers pboye ts tyridertitaul uensererom tithetn Pentel Bema ees re piee) eesttrit n : theese si bbets rs pd eS lw erikesssiat inc sceaa tess Mipitis erect ites iSite om recess i cosevonmed pncestethig abit tyr pesats Hip mri yi sis i eee TaRT ti +e 253 r Sierra te saath (ism ca paste ve od ti ppeeeos NUN TL Livest pooarer ss th ehel step seneey: He searersées tors: ith, ie | od Bi ae Al bein ie Veet Trewern:CHAPTER III THE HISTORY OF SIWA “ Cities have been, and vanished; fanes have sunk, Heaped into shapeless ruin; sands o’erspread. Fields that were Edens; millions too have shrunk To afew starving hundreds, or have fled From off the page of being.” IWA lies thickly covered with “‘ the Dust of History,” and its story is difficult to trace. For certain periods one is able to collect information on the subject, but during many centuries nothing is known. Some of the lead- ing sheikhs have in their possession ancient docu- ments and treaties which have been handed down through many generations from father to son. There is also an old Arabic history of Siwa, which appears to have been written some time during the fifteenth century, kept by the family whose members have always held a position corresponding to that of a town clerk, but this old history is so interwoven with curious legends and fables that it is difficult to separate fact from fiction. I used to sit in the garden of the old sheikh who owned the book and listen while he read. He was a venerable but rascally old fellow in flowing white robes, the greet turban of a “ Haj,” and huge horn spectacles. The 74The History of Siwa 75 book itself was a muddled collection of loose sheets of manuscript kept in a leather bag. Roughly the history of Siwa can be divided into four periods. The first, which is also the greatest period, dates from the foundation of the Temple of Jupiter Ammon. The second period begins at the Mohammedan invasion in the seventh century A.D. The third period commences with the subjugation of Siwa by Mohammed Ali, early in the nineteenth century ; and the fourth and last period is the history of Siwa during the Great War. (1) FIRST PERIOD THE TEMPLE OF JUPITER AMMON According to the late Professor Maspero, the great authority on Egyptian antiquities, the oasis of Siwa was not connected with Egypt until about the sixteenth century B.c. In about 1175 B.c. the Egyptian oases, of which Siwa is one, were colonized by Rameses III, but very little authentic information is available on the history of Siwa until it came definitely under the influence of Egypt in the sixth century B.C. Mr. Oric Bates, in his exhaustive work, The Eastern Libyans, states that the original deity of the oasis was a sun god, a protector of flocks, probably with the form ofa bull. The African poet Coreippus, mentions a ram-headed Libyan divinity a A | i 4} H } i i a Sepreidbesd id tieeeeeeeeeer een reeet ters Ry ge’ ieee: pubsaM Est Tessteeceesstvt ris neeen Tes Ape eaaaES EE. eedaiitieecseeeee Raa fF phepeheced es ' et UES a beat es ererys aoons roy “Ere Y ur eterenertats aryl rrritiiateretecrs sect rrsoet betes eC oeerrr rear: eee: my | 3 t ri : : eam co veoet peeeereMoriiyh sogeresireres = ores Teer; y4Peas) pond eat tees et rest bra te: terest testa tite ci aT tetiesioiest tritici er eti lelectra ate rH : aes is igs ghia eae ea a eet ua asa tases et eae sates Geen es 76 Siwa called Gurzil who was represented as being the offspring of the original prophetic God of Siwa. His priests fought in battles, and the emblem of the god was carried by the Libyans in the fray. A sacred stone at Siwa is referred to by Pliny, which when touched by an irreverent hand stirred at once a strong and harmful sand-wind. The theory of sun worship, and the idea of an evil wind directed by some spirit in a stone is substantiated by the local customs and legends which are prevalent in Siwa at the present time. S It is certain that when the Egyptians occupied i Siwa, in about 550 B.c., according to Mr. Bates, i they discovered a local Libyan god firmly estab- i lished and supported by a powerful but barbarous cult. So great was its reputation that King Croesus : | of Lydia travelled to Siwa and consulted the oracle a little before, or at the time of, the Egyptian occupa- tion. The Egyptians identified the local god of the | oasis with their own Ammon. In the fourth century B.c. the god Ammon, of the Ammonians, for this was the name by which the people of Siwa were now known, had become one of the most famous oracles of the ancient world. At the time when the Egyptians recognized and worshipped the god of the oasis, a number of stories became prevalent, tending to prove that the deity at Siwa originated from the Ammon of Thebes, and one legend even went so far as to assert that the Ammon of Thebes was himself originally a Libyan herdsman who was deified by Dionysius. The following are some of the many legends which sabes i isadmoetreestssset hs aThe History of Siwa 77 relate the origin of the Siwan god, and which suggest its connection with the Theban Ammon. Herodotus, in whose works there are frequent allusions to the Ammonians, describes the inhabi- tants of the oasis of Ammon as being colonists from Egypt and Ethiopia, speaking a mixed language, and calling themselves Ammonians, owing to the Egyptians worshipping Jupiter under the name of Ammon. He relates that the colonists instituted an oracle in imitation of the famous one on the Isle of Meroé, and mentions the following account of its origin. Two black girls who served in the Temple of Jupiter Ammon at Thebes were carried away by Phoenician merchants. One of them was taken to Greece, where she afterwards founded the Temple of Dodona, which became a well-known oracle; the other was sold into Libya and eventually arrived at the kingdom of the Ammonians. Owing to her Strange language, which resembled “ the twittering of a bird,” she was supposed by the inhabitants to POssess supernatural qualities; her reputation in- creased, and her utterances came to be regarded as the words of an oracle. There is a different version of the same fable in which the girls are represented as two black doves, one flying to Greece, the other to Libya. According. to Diodorus Siculus the Temple of Jupiter Ammon was built as far back as 1385 B.C., by Danaus the Egyptian. Rollins, in his History of the Ancient World, names Ham, the son of Noah, as the deity in whose honour the temple was built by Seti ee Tippee eer be pe tei tetstoesenT hit bsa ool F Be : eH ee deste Ghee earpiece iret tee Ht’ B hetietnMetiteiies ta Sat ies eee ities ol teteap en ene ee Pied att titrceripssesess peas halla Srtere lie Peart bepe et ms beesé dio) bi oS b ad Libs: ) bibiesresates :—scstt iret = aSeciftctcirsioestes! bor dtratcs cegeseet Peesa cities} ea tot teat ered ett et erat Diese a ain nae tui eel en ia ent otesitivsiastaleeteitratceateseterteet Hthreitettdtaiteerepstestiet 78 Siwa the Ammonians. Another legend tells that Diony- sius was lost in the desert on one of his fantastic expeditions and nearly died from thirst when sud- ‘ denly a ram appeared, which led the party to a a bubbling spring. They built a temple on the spot, in gratitude, and ornamented it with representations . of a ram’s head. It is interesting to compare this story with one of the legends written in the Arabic history of Siwa. A Siwan, journeying in the desert, was led by a ram to a mysterious city where he found an avenue of black stone lions. He returned home, 3 and set out again at a later date, meaning to rediscover i the place, but he never found it again. In both cases i it is a ram that led the way, and the god of Siwa is : represented as having a ram’s head. i The temple, whose ruins are to be seen at the a village of Aghourmi, near Siwa, was built probably during the sixth century B.c. The date is decided by the style of its architecture. This temple was known to the Egyptians as ‘“‘ Sakhit Amouou,” the | “ Field of Palms,” owing to its situation among groves of palm trees. It is evident that at this time Siwa was the principal island in a desert archipelago consisting of several oases, most of which are now uninhabited, obeying a common king and owing their prosperity to the great temple of the oracle. Such a cluster of islands would invest the dynasty to which King Clearchus and King Lybis belonged with considerable importance. Herodotus tells how certain Cyrenians held a conversation with Clearchus, King of the Ammonians, who told them that a partyThe History of Siwa 79 of young men had set off on an expedition from his country to the west, through a wild region full of Savage animals, eventually arriving at a great river where they found a race of small black men. They supposed this river to be a branch or tributary of the Nile, but it was actually the river Niger. Thus it is Shown that at this period Siwa was an independent monarchy. The Ammonians lived under the rule of their own kings and priests, and chieftainship was associated with priesthood. Silius Italicus describes the warrior priest N abis, an Ammonian chief, ‘* fear- less and splendidly armed,” riding in the army of Hannibal. Another early visitor to the oasis was Lysander the Spartan. Being disappointed by the oracle of Dodona he travelled to Siwa, under colour of making a vow at the temple, but hoping to bribe the priests to his interests. Notwithstanding “ the fullness of his purse” and the great friendship between his father and Lybis, King of the Ammonians, he was totally unsuccessful, and the priests sent ambassadors to Sparta accusing Lysander of attempting to bribe the holy oracle. But “he so subtly managed his defence that he got off clear.” The Greeks held the oracle of Ammon in great veneration. The Athenians Kept a special galley in which they conveyed questions across the sea to Libya. Mersa Matruh, sometimes called Ammonia, was the port for Siwa, and it was here that the ambassadors and visitors disembarked and started on their desert journey to the oasis. The poet Pindar dedicated an ode to Jupiter Ammon, sue: Stes oer SOLS Ia are I Tear as oy ey ener. OSS SS iSemilitnea eae Titres BF Ser oN & bie pa rracreoe: Sa eR Ds 1 ate bs oat saa Hi i F i! i z . ba costes Sensis panticsbrossaters80 Siwa which was preserved under the altar of the temple for some six hundred years; and the sculptor Calamis set up a statue to the god of the Ammonians in the Temple of Thebes at Karnak. In 525 B.c., Cambyses, wishing to consolidate his newly acquired dominions in Northern Africa, dispatched two expeditions, one against Carthage, the other into Ethiopia. He made Memphis his base of operations and sent 50,000 men as an advance party to occupy the oasis of Ammon. His generals had orders to rob and burn the temple, make captives of the people and to prepare halting-places for the bulk of the army. They passed the oasis of Khargeh and proceeded north-west. But the whole army was lost in the sea of desert that lies between Siwa and Khargeh. The Ammonians, on inquiries being made, reported that the army was overwhelmed by a violent sand-storm during a midday halt. But it is more probable that they lost their way during one of the periodical sand-storms which are so prevalent in this desert region, and were overcome by thirst in the waterless, trackless desert. There was no further news; they never reached the temple, and not one of the soldiers returned to Egypt. This huge army still lies buried somewhere in that torrid waste, and perhaps some fortunate traveller may at a future date stumble unawares on the remains of the once mighty host. In the old Arabic history there are two other stories of armies that were lost in the desert. In one case it was a Siwan army which opposed theThe History of Siwa 81 Mohammedan invaders, and in the other case an army of raiders from Tebu were lost on their way to attack the oasis. In 500 B.c., Siwa and the other Oases were sub- jected to Persia, and in the following year Cimon, the celebrated Athenian general, sent a secret embassy to the oracle while he was besieging Citium in Cyprus. The deputation was greeted by the oracle with the words, “‘ Cimon is already with me,” and on their return it was found that Cimon had himself perished in battle. The foretelling of Cimon’s death augmented considerably the reputa- tion of the oracle. Oracles were most frequently situated in the vicinity of some natural phenomena ; this at Siwa consisted of a sacred spring known as “ Fons Solis,” the “ Fountain of the Sun,” which by its strangeness contributed to the divine qualities of the temple. Very probably it was the “ Ein el Hammam ” which lies about a quarter of a mile south of the temple ruins and is to-day one of the largest and most beautiful springs in the’ oasis. Ancient writers describe its waters as being warm in the morning, cold at noon and boiling hot at midnight. Blind, black fish lived in the pool, according to the Arabic history, which was Connected with the rites of the temple. The water to-day is a trifle warmer than most of the springs, and for that reason it is the favourite bathing-place of the inhabitants of Aghourmi. I have stood by the spring at midnight and tested its warmth, but it seemed in no way to G LSTRISTI eerie ere PE CEA err ete seis wa Rhsceorseralines ert Sarssstat tte eee 3 trmeetie = be eventos shi east = pperibeci eso $ bo bdL a) ss Tesens Ieavisaaeapeeiccest ess easier tare et Thee osont bosehel heterosis) ht att sob bear sete? 4 ane Teseeenei ties Region sremasers +, stints Tistites) Eat cs ozoy Roane) sctst sctsseteltit ee sag enttst aserersreererr rr pececersere crest: toast = A A a orf coe | asi aa Bid eid ei > 4 i eat ss ipee atti hy § Hi ah aj sabia ed bt ead et sie ett riya tes tae Hees tied hreteti 82 Siwa differ from the other springs, except that it was a very little warmer. There are many contemporary descriptions of the actual temple, and antiquarians have from time to time disputed as to its original size and form. It appears to have consisted of a main building, or sanctuary, surrounded by triple walls which enclosed the dwelling-places of the king, priests and the guards, standing on a rocky eminence among the palm groves. A smaller temple stood a few hundred yards south of the acropolis. The rock on which the village of Aghourmi now stands was evidently the site of the original temple and fortress, and the ruins below the village, known as “ Omm Beyda,” are those of the minor temple. The two temples were connected by an underground passage. The old history of Siwa gives a detailed descrip- tion of the court of the king. The following is a rough translation. “ At one period Siwa ranked among the important towns of the Egyptian sove- reigns. It was ruled by a king called Meneclush who built a town and cultivated the land. He made the men drill and inaugurated a seven days’ feast in commemoration of his succession. The people of King Meneclush dressed richly and wore golden ornaments. The king lived in a stone and granite palace, and assembled his people in a great square which had four different courts, and in each court there was a statue which caught the sun at different times of the day, and when the sun shone upon the statues they spoke. When the people assembledMeSri Es behes a kbabes The History of Siwa 83 they stood on seven steps. On the highest step sat the king, below, in succession, the king’s family, priests, astrologers and Magicians, generals and courtiers, architects, soldiers, and, below, the people. Each step was inscribed with these words, ‘ Look down, not towards the step above, lest ye become proud ’—thus inculcating the principle of modesty. The king lived in a palace called Kreibein, inside the walls. In those days there were many buildings in Siwa, spreading from Omm Beyda to Gebel Dakrour, King Meneclush was stabbed by a girl and is buried, with his horse, in the Khazeena, underneath Aghourmi. . . . At a later period Siwa was divided into two parts ruled by two princes called Ferik and Ibrik. Afterwards a queen called Khamissa ruled in Siwa and gave her name to the Square hill at the end of the Western lake.” Much of the history is missing, and at times it plunges into descriptions of neighbouring countries, but it is interesting to find mention of “‘ statues that speak ” when touched by the sun. As recently as 1837 there was a considerable por- tion of the smaller temple standing. Travellers described the roof, made of massive blocks of stone, the coloured ceilings, and the walls covered with hieroglyphics and sculptured figures. But the dep- redations of Arab treasure hunters, and a Turkish Governor who committed an unpardonable van- dalism by blowing up the temple with gunpowder in order to obtain stone for building an Office, have ‘reduced the once imposing building to a single - oe = - paeeren” ee 77,8 , SET TSaF Sap pady opts Raa aE ed ETE STS PTET TP yp ete hehe eepy of : rea tietiee tie rsesee pioreiaste ten rieeeeestrens ie 5 itt: po) Ras bz eel ebeger es CUD. il = oi bel past pd ib 2 pass) bs pas ad a ecsesbepethi Hi peeeiecass ai! ; eperaseatee SEF sal pars aT fesgizgilt er) 1) sgsitonlastetedentt ie, 15 £84 3 pe ts roa tESb 1 bi feed hed ted ea teh cette ates rested ti oh Weber ttt tet ETE tSh Sei iateiee cuit Epeteee rat) 3! e 84 Siw a ruined pylon, or gateway, which towers above the surrounding gardens, a pathetic reminder of its M former grandeur. This solitary ruin, and two mas- : , sive stone gateways almost hidden by mud buildings in the middle of the village of Aghourmi, is all that remains of the temple that was once famous through- out the world. In a way the ruins are symbolic of Siwa which was once a powerful dominion, but is : now nothing more than a wretched desert station i | with three or four thousand degenerate inhabitants. f In 331 B.c. the fame of the oracle reached its zenith, owing to Alexander the Great visiting it after having settled his affairs in Egypt. The visit to the famous oracle was undertaken in order to inquire into the mysterious origin of his birth. Probably at the same time Alexander wished to emulate the deeds of Hercules, from whom he claimed descent, and who was supposed during his wanderings to have visited | the oasis. He marched along the coast to Paretonium —Matruh—where he was met by ambassadors from Cyrene, a wealthy city on the coast some 400 miles further west, who presented him gifts of chariots and war horses. He then turned south across the desert into a region “‘ where there was nothing but heaps of sand.” After journeying four days the water supply, carried in skins, gave out, and the army was in danger of perishing from thirst when, by a fortunate chance, or by the direct interposition of the gods, the sky became black with clouds, rain fell, and by this miraculous means the army was preserved from destruction.The History of Siwa 85 A little later the expedition lost its way, and after wandering for miles was saved by the appearance of a number of ravens who, flying before the army, guided them eventually to the temple. They found the oasis “ full of pleasant fountains, watered with Tunning streams, richly planted with all sorts of trees bearing fruit, surrounded by a vast dry and sandy desert, waste and untilled .. . the tempera- ture of the air was like spring, yet all the place around it was dry and Scorching . . . a most healthful climate.” Alexander was received by the oracle with divine honours, and returned to Egypt satisfied that he was indeed the authentic son of Zeus. As the son of the god he became a legitimate Pharoah, and adopted the pschent crown and its accompanying rites. About this time various nations applied to the oracle for permission to deify their rulers, and on the death of his friend Hephistion, Alexander dispatched another embassy asking that Hephistion might be ranked asahero. When Alexander died, in 223)B( Cy, it was suggested that he should be buried at Siwa. However, the Suggestion was not carried out and he was buried at Alexandria, the city to which he gave his name. One of the hills in the desert near Siwa is still called “‘ Gebe] Sekunder,” and tradition has it that from this hill Alexander saw the ravens which led him to the temple. The ritual of the temple was somewhat similar to several other oracular temples. The actual oracle Was made in human figure, with a ram’s head, richly to eT an Seen er rds eeeee ai beeen eee teat abe ten: esto shia poererar . = 4 ee : = sr Soe URINAL ae ee TS ee i ain Veoveras * iatinee tier etre esesbbrreitteeeeeeet ie eer miter ts ms bee : itlebishpeieeretieeneee ‘ “a m pases t-—osga ied ded ee nea sees tbe) 2: Eat os tin ot 53st, at be bieb ibs abate 3a a = / i] Hi aig : er a i FS ay : featx Rereieg gest ses! med that sae east eeee estes eat beh eatest eet vets fogs ptas ed oe tea toa tbstd bi ty g)] Ch pet eed ses ratte etc peat ie hag bes 18) FEE RTS HATTIE bist eases rte ead S35 td 8S Fed : types ras: Sed eausateasrateate tet testesttet tats Patyeted teste: , Eretrey Haitiieates ts fe eat eat ped sates baa geek: 86 Siwa ornamented with emeralds and other precious stones. The figure of the god appears to have been shown as though wrapped for burial, and this dead god, who was a god of prophecy, may possibly have set the fashion of menes-worship which one still sees in Siwa when natives resort to the graves of their ancestors in order to learn the future. When a distinguished pilgrim arrived for a consultation the symbol of the god was brought up from the inmost sanctuary of the temple and carried on a golden barque, hung with votive cups of silver, followed by a procession of eighty priests and many singing girls, “who chanted uncouth songs after the manner of their country,” in order to propitiate the deity and induce him to return a satisfactory answer. The god directed the priests who carried the barque | which way they should proceed, and spoke by tremulous shocks, communicated to the bearers, and by movements of the head and body, which were interpreted by the priests. | Those spaces among the palm groves at Aghourmi | must have witnessed in ancient days many a splendid spectacle. One can imagine the magnificent cere- monies and the awe-inspiring rites which were solemnized among the shady vistas of tall palm trees, in the shadow of the great temple on the rock, the processions of chanting priests, the savage music of conches and cymbals, and the gorgeous caravans of Eastern monarchs, carrying offerings of fabulous treasure to lay before the mystic oracle of the oasis, whose infallible answers were regarded by the wholesia + a8 ps sii eee Pag rhe toketots bes: i" rr hares yeh pestrte die e ristht 4 ittsdedbercasse4 aera is ot 4 F aH By ~~ - a. © & a RUINS OF §° RIV 29 R )F OMM BEYDA” THE TEMPLE OF JUPITER AMMONThe History of Siwa 87 world with profound respect. In those days cara- vans from the West, and from the savage countries of the Sudan, brought slaves and merchandize to Siwa, and the barbarian followers of African chieftains mingled with the courtiers of Eastern potentates, and gazed with awe on the white-robed priests and the troops of pale singing girls. To-day the people of Aghourmi build their fires against the great crum- bling archways that gave access to the holiest altar of Ammonium, and shepherds graze their flocks among the ruins of the smaller temple. “ The Oracles are dumb No voice or hideous hum Runs through the arched roof in words deceiving,” Towards the end of the third century B.c. the fame of the oracle declined, although, according to Juvenal, the answers of Ammon were esteemed in the solution of difficult problems until long after the cessation of the oracle at Delphi. But in the second century B.C. the oracle was almost extinct. Strabo, writing when its fame was on the wane, advances a theory in his Geography that the Temple of Ammon was originally close to the sea. He bases his argu- ment on the existence of large salt lakes at Siwa and the quantities of shells which are to be found near the temple. He considers that Siwa would never have become so illustrious, or possessed with such credit as it once enjoyed, if it had always been such a distance from the coast, therefore the land between Siwa and the sea must have been created er br pede pavshdber teed beeen re rt a a ai aed ca b= 2 i A! i Hf, if # ick ae i hog - af Hl - athe Sdbeteesettey th isrstiteiti | isd Walerteulltshs ine Tees Telit ere : pare aaee tea at tE Soh) as os . Deeeee yes Cree EP ees Sf Sas eee ee, prorat ihe ST atere SS Hien Sriecltrerseactitiittict+ Sf nnn dresteecihi pie x i SESE TER o I i eel ce esi si Feat eh bie ai te: ere } > errr Es ah Hoard tescerteeh te ihesslst ap tet yitgrecrres po scks sett rr yes eeemaiaa! sriies tse piaernyrererorre t= 1 ryan Saye iagyeee yr reser srerery res pe eeeee itso sr eneeet atte eetei ees88 Siwa comparatively recently by deposits from the ocean. Undoubtedly at some remote period the whole of the northern part of the Libyan Desert was under the sea, but there is nothing to prove that even then Siwa was a coast town, because one finds shells and fossils, such as Strabo mentions, over a hundred miles south of Siwa. The Romans neglected Oriental oracles, especially those of Ammon. They preferred the auguries of birds, the inspection of victims and the warnings of heaven to the longer process of oracular consultation. In the reign of Augustus, Siwa had become a place of banishment for political criminals. ‘Timasius, an eminent general, was sent there in A.D. 396 and Athanasius addresses several letters to his disciples who were banished to the oases, “a place un- frequented and inspiring horror.”” The French poet Fénelon, in his play, The Adventures of Telemachus, makes the mistake of describing Siwa as a place where one sees “ snow that never melts, making an endless winter on the mountain tops.” Somewhere about the fourth century Christianity penetrated to Siwa, and the ruins of a church, or monastery, built probably at this time, where one can still distinguish the Coptic cross carved in stone, are visible at Biled el Roumi, near Khamissa. The ruin is described in the Arabic history as the place where “‘ bad people ” lived. But apparently Chris- tianity was never embraced with much zeal. During the Berber uprisings in the sixth century Siwa relapsed into barbarism, and the Siwans probablyThe History of Siwa 89 took part with the Berbers in their struggles against the Byzantine rule which flourished on the coast. Early in the seventh century, when the Arab army invaded Egypt, the inland country west of Egypt was practically independent, the Berber tribes having won back their freedom. (2) SECOND PERIOD MEeEDIAVAL Srwa The second period of Siwa’s history is the most difficult to trace, especially with regard to the fixing of definite dates. One has to depend on the Arabic history at Siwa, and occasional highly coloured references to the oasis by the Arab historians and Seographers. Siwa was known to the Arab writers as “ Schantaria,” or “ Santrieh,” spelt in various ways, which at a later date became “‘ Siouah,”? and finally ‘‘ Siwa.” In 640 Egypt was invaded by a Mohammedan army commanded by Amrou, who seized the country from the feeble grasp of the representatives of Heraclius. The tide of conquest swept west along the northern coast of Africa. The disunion of the Berber tribes made the conquest of the country more easy for the host of Islam. Fugitives from the Arabs Hed inland to the remote places such as the oases, and it was not until several centuries later that the Arabs vs aie ss ' 27 besitos ter Hea aT eee rps bind de deidastairtdil Waleestalb trices LM Tee Py ese hsp bebeeed i i tere “ yj - Rit eats ara bes ba su Sad asc aere i sabe ch hk rere Bi 3 = = Ee ets ea st Bia 334 34 = phn cei ii ied Bae tie Le ipa! ‘pee 90 Siwa established their religion in Siwa. According to the Arabic history when Egypt was invaded by the Mohammedans the Siwans sent an army to help repel the enemy, but this army, like many others, was lost in the desert. Mohammed Ben Ayas, an Arab historian who wrote in 1637, gives an account of the mysterious country of ‘‘ Santarieh,” and describes how Moussa Ibn Nosseir was repulsed from its gates. In 708 Moussa attempted to reduce Siwa. He crossed the desert from Egypt in seven days. On arrival he found that all the Siwans had retired into their fortified town, which was surrounded by enormously high walls, with four iron gates. Finding it impossible to force an entrance he ordered his men to scale the walls and see what lay on the other side. With the aid of ladders they managed to reach the battlements, but each man who scaled the wall immediately disappeared over the other side and was never seen again. Moussa was so discouraged by this that he renounced his project and returned to Egypt, having lost a large number of soldiers. In 710 Tharic Ben Sayed, another Arab general, was also repulsed. The medieval Arab writers have many stories to tell of the strange things at Siwa. Among the wonders of the country was a magic lake over which no bird could fly without falling in, and it could only escape from the water if drawn out by a human hand. The four gates of the town were surmounted by four brass statues. When a stranger entered the gates aThe History of Siwa 91 deep sleep fell upon him, and he remained in this state until one of the inhabitants came and blew upon his face. Without this attention he lay unconscious at the foot of the statue until death claimed him. There was a sacred stone in the town which was called “‘ The Lover,” because of its strange power of attracting men. It drew them towards itself, and then when they touched it their limbs stuck to the stone. Struggles were of no avail, their only release was death. The neighbouring country was full of wild beasts, and serpents of prodigious length, with bodies as thick as palm trunks, dwelt among the hills and devoured sheep, cattle and human beings. Another species was particularly fond of eating camels. In one of the gardens there flourished a marvellous orange tree which bore 14,000 oranges, not including those that fell to the ground, every year. The author who mentions this tree asserts that he saw it himself! All the Arab writers mention the mines at Siwa. Among the mountains that enclose the oasis people found iron, lapis lazulis and emeralds, which they sold in Egypt. They also exported the salt which they picked up on the ground, and obtained barley from Egypt in exchange. The only manufactures were leather carpets of great beauty, which were much prized by Egyptians. The inhabitants of Siwa were Berbers; they worked naked in their gardens; the country was independent, thinly populated and showed signs of a former civilization. A strange breed of savage ied Satara fs sheer ners arden peseg tes teceentten] so ees] sPerishsmtcetrsiteistr-stectittineses si iaeceset es uals 8 > oe a rr papebers el ise: she ebeesessosrrr ys) at oo terercaaen ay ny sens tes abn pS oes 3 rsseasttiaee ese scteestoh floseetsaoats brecroteteenrecuie it rose ors tipteteereie iseetiecresty] SES RISER Tessas perrerre.cartteteottie tt teen coer tent een92 Siwa donkey, striped black and white—zebras—lived in the oasis. These animals allowed no one to mount them, and when taken to Egypt they died at once. People used to find enchanted cities in the desert near Siwa, but latterly they have disappeared and their positions are now only marked by mounds of sand. Abdel Melik, Ibn Merouan, made an excur- sion from Egypt into the desert near Siwa, where he discovered a ruined city and a tree that bore every known fruit. He gathered some fruit and returned to Fostat—Cairo. A Copt told him that this city contained much treasure, so he sent out the Copt with a number of men provisioned for thirty days to rediscover the place, but they failed to find it. On another occasion an Arab was journeying near Siwa and suddenly saw a loaded camel disappear into a deep, rocky valley in the middle of the desert. He followed it and arrived at an oasis watered by a spring where there were people cultivating the land. They had never seen a stranger before. He returned to Egypt and reported the matter to the collector of taxes, who immediately sent out men to visit this oasis, but, as usual, they never found it. There are innumerable stories of hidden cities in the desert near Siwa. This idea, and that of buried treasure, appeals strongly to an Oriental mind. Siwa itself, owing to its history, probably does contain a great deal that could be advantageously excavated. It is a field that would yield many treasures, as up to now no really thorough work has been carried out, though various people who have happened to beThe History of Siwa 93 there have “ done a little digging.”” The ex-Khedive spent some money in uncovering some old ruins near one of the lakes, but really there is a great deal that has never been touched. Labour, and the diffi- culty of reaching Siwa, are the most formidable obstacles to any excavating projects. It is interesting to note that nearly all the medizval Arab historians mention the emerald mines at Siwa, and in these days the natives still hold a belief in their existence. In the time of the Temple of Jupiter Ammon the figure of the god was deco- rated with emeralds, which were probably found in the country. According to a Siwan tradition there exists a cave in the hill called Gebel Dakrour, south of Aghourmi, which contains precious stones. But its entrance is guarded by a jinn, who makes’ it invisible except to a person who has drunk from the water of a certain spring among the sand-dunes south of Siwa. The spring is unknown in these days, but I have seen it marked on an old map of the desert. Possibly some of the peculiar shafts that pierce the hills round Siwa are the remains of old mines ‘Its difficult to imagine what else they could be. In 1048 the tribes of Hilal and Ben Soleim, who had been transported from Arabia as a punishment, and were living in the country between the Nile and the Red Sea, were given permission to cross the Nile and advance into Tripoli. Some 200,000 of them hastened like hungry wolves with their wives and families from Egypt to the west. They overran Tripoli and pushed on towards the shores of the tobeleerrecets Het eefeb egy ite in ges hee taiedt seerry eITIsTortrzit) s Pereauned ioeetitsl ean Seuacen saty) i Hi : tL) i " fz F : Fi es Les SI Ses Se eaaceseaa eee tsa ais os - ah + hanes Prevsees thi tit tonite t gyaess ter rtd Lk reeesi eet 5 ars Peoe went te ote sPer eens rata ae eressy oH < ar Sere04 Siwa Atlantic. It was some of these colonists who eventu- ally forced Siwa to accept the Mohammedan rule, and by 1100, according to the Arab historians, the Koran flourished within the precincts of the Temple of Ammon. From that date onwards Siwa has been fanatically Mohammedan. The Siwans were not swept into oblivion by this great Arab invasion 5 apparently only a very few Arabs remained in the oasis, and very shortly they themselves became in- distinguishable from the Siwans. From this time the Berbers, as a nation, ceased to exist, but they remained Berbers, not Arabs, and in a few out-of-the- way places, such as Siwa, they retained much of their original language. The history at Siwa tells how one Rashwan was King of Siwa when the Mohammedan army arrived, commanded by the Prophet’s khalifa. Rashwan summoned his priests and magicians and consulted them as to how the enemy were to be repelled. Acting on their advice he removed all the bodies from ‘‘ Gebel Muta,” a hill near Siwa which is honeycombed with rock tombs, and cast them into the springs in order to poison the enemy. Then he retired into the town, depending on the-wells inside the walls. The Mohammedan army arrived, but the water of the springs did them no harm. They stormed the town and captured it after a strenuous fight; Rashwan was killed, and the inhabitants embraced the faith of Islam at the sword’s point. During the period that followed the Arab invasion very little is known of Siwa. The oasis was inhabitedThe History of Siwa 95 by a mixture of Berbers and Arabs, the Berbers predominating. Occasional caravans of slave- traders passed northwards along the main desert routes, and some of the slaves, having been bought by the Siwans, remained in the oasis and inter- married with the inhabitants. The Siwans, dimin- ished in numbers and in power, began to suffer from raids by the Arabs from the west and from the coast. According to the old history, which is preserved at Siwa, there was another small incursion from the east at a later date. About the middle of the fifteenth century there was a great plague which carried off a number of Siwans. A certain devout man in Egypt dreamed that the ground at Siwa was very rich. He came to the oasis and settled there, planting a special kind of date palm which he brought from Upper Egypt; he also grew dates for the “ Wakf ?— religious foundation—of the Prophet, which custom still continues. Later he made the pilgrimage and described the country of Siwa to the people of Mecca, who had never heard of it. They did him great honour. He returned to Siwa accompanied by thirty men, Berbers and Arabs, who settled in Siwa. They built an olive press in the centre of the high town and inscribed their names thereon. From these men, and their Siwan wives, certain of the present inhabitants are descended, and some Siwans boast to-day that their forebears came with “ The Thirty ” whose names were inscribed on the old olive press. ~ The Thirty” occupied the western part of the SSGRIRI EAA ETT eye EE bees BUTS poaes pf edhdadeend ie ssse bbesteie ts} rit TSS a SaaS : rs peetnrthpenats try: prose ee sei rere eae rae br 4 tate iis essa ars rea] a fesse coteceeosees Reet earth eat or crt bos bio (Steer fares: fi Siscsalicslasenteacteeas wpasheetitod tHe antes tt (nligibibateibr ebb tial Ub atte be a3 cee: ais rai ee i $ Fi 3 ; ; ¥ Rt ‘f ; A | ; 3 145 FI Th i fe ‘Tes es - H i fs t i eg $5 S| + : peas os i96 Siwa town, and the original Siwans remained in the eastern quarter and in the village of Aghourmi. Later the Siwans elected a council and chose a ““ Kadi ”’—judge—who drew up a code of laws. Under this government the population increased and the people flourished again; they treated travellers well, especially pilgrims from the west on their way to Mecca. The people of Tripoli came to hear of them, and they made an alliance together. Siwa became a “ Zawia ”—religious dependency— of Tripoli, and the Siwans fought in the army of Tripoli. Siwa once more became a market for slaves and a halting-place for the caravans from the south and the west. Slaves came in great numbers from Wadai and the Sudan, via Kufra, Jalo and Jerabub. Egyptian merchants came to Siwa bringing merchan- dise, and returned to Egypt with slaves and dates. From the Sudan came ivory, gold, leather and ostrich feathers. During the time of Sidi Suliman, a very devout Kadi, the savage people of Tebu, in the south, made constant raids upon Siwa, and troubled the people greatly. On one occasion it was known that a large army of the enemy were advancing on the oasis. The venerable judge offered up prayers for help against the enemy, and every man in Siwa went to the mosques. As a consequence the whole army was buried in the sand and the road they came by was blotted out. Sidi Suliman encouraged his people to show hospitality to strangers, but some years after his death the people, forgetting his injunctions,The History of Siwa 97 drove away from the gates some poor Arab pilgrims who sought their hospitality. It is said that the door of Sidi Suliman’s tomb miraculously closed, marking the strong displeasure of the saint, nor did it open until the Arabs had been brought in and hospitably entertained. According to another legend Sidi Suliman, whilst walking near the town, suddenly became thirsty. There was no water at hand so he struck the ground seven times with his staff, and fresh water gushed forth, which flows in that place to-day. Before Sidi Suliman was born his mother felt a frantic desire to eat some fish. There was none in the town, and the sea lay 200 miles distant. The woman seemed on the point of death. Suddenly a pigeon flew through the open window of her room and deposited a large fish on the floor. She ate the fish, recovered, and Sidi Suliman was born. For this reason all Siwan women eat fish when they are pregnant, hoping that their offspring may be such another as Sidi Suliman. These, and many other legends, are told of Sidi Suliman, who has become the most venerated patron sheikh of the Siwans. The system of living in Siwa in those days was very curious. The high town existed, with a thin fringe of buildings huddled at the foot of the walls. None of the suburbs, such as Sebukh or Manshia, were built. At night all flocks and cattle were driven within the walls. Married men only, with their wives and families, lived in the high town. Un- married men, youths over fifteen years of age and H Saino panevannecasent so 04 es eh Sale ebsd Be of sash or Beige tat ghee SATE tbe seceteaesace ts A 3 (i 33; WB ~it eat Fe i" 3 ies 4 er 23 1S7 3 } i: fs - 3 +5 +e H - 7: rf T+ i iF z is% uj B Sy a } | + i 4 46 peph tony Peers ss Sete pearpt teers ss ti Ar ad 1h # 4 pyeeretrestses pewepretr tela rorererst re posers) peagneees bee ecrene ear ieee erica ties toc cal hahere pret ot fre seers ty ts Siecleerli ber leathetss 4} pow gheas oa be peneas eeota ed eoat og! Utes eetiy teeter tt: asiest 98 Siwa widowers shaved their heads, as a distinction, and occupied the houses outside the walls. The town was one vast harem. After sunset no bachelors were allowed inside the gates, and any man who divorced his wife was cast out—until he bought a new one. The bachelors, who were known as “‘ Zigale,”’ formed a kind of town guard. On the approach of strangers they sallied out to meet them and detained them until the council of sheikhs had decided whether they were to be permitted to enter the town. Strangers were almost always accommodated outside the walls. There was one family of Siwans who were always interpreters, for in those days, unlike to-day, hardly any of the natives spoke any language but their own. The council of sheikhs met in a room close to the main gate of the town, and near it there was a deep, dark pit which served as a prison. After Sidi Suliman a number of other kadis ruled in the oasis. One of them was called Hassan Mitnana, and during his lifetime a great quarrel arose between the eastern and western factions of the town. This began in about the year 1700. The dispute originated about a road which divides the town into two parts. A family on the eastern side wished to enlarge their house by building out into the street. Their opposite neighbours objected to the public thoroughfare being narrowed merely in order to enlarge a private dwelling-place. There was a dispute, a quarrel, and a fight in which the two sides of the street took part. One side called them- selves “‘ Sherkyn ”—the Easterners—and the otherADI . 1) THI MIOSOI igetpseentesnfong teserht pea SSaPINSESE He ices [eee dass be bv) Sti Ss eont ibys Rin teieie obs cities it Ser oa a4Porerss i 7 dt Ea i at 7The History of Siwa 99 side called themselves ‘“‘ Gharbyn ”—the Westerners. The whole population took up the quarrel, which developed into a permanent civil war. At times it died down and seemed on the point of extinction, then, quite suddenly, it flamed up, ending in pitched battles in the space before the town, where the casualties were often very severe considering the smallness of the population. Before the days of gunpowder these battles were fought in an open space below the walls of the town. On an appointed day the two opposing armies faced one another. The men stood in front, armed with swords and spears, the women collected behind the men, carrying bags full of stones which they hurled at the enemy, or at anyone on their own side who Showed signs of cowardice. Platoons, each of a few dozen men, advanced in turn and fought in the space midway between the two armies, then gradually the whole of both forces became engaged. The women displayed great fierceness ; they often joined in the fray, beating out the life from any of their enemies who they found lying wounded, with sharp stones. It seems amazing that, notwithstanding these fre- quent battles, the Siwans managed to live in sucha confined space, so close together. It is only during the last few years of peaceful government, since the war, that the violent animosity between the two parties has died down. A few families of opposing parties have intermarried, but even now one rarely meets a western sheikh in ogee Sree trerrererore: ri rae bs bene tor whe sess hase lei ineceteberenapa cet waar tiaeis : Toh isesasyersunistes ren tigre clagat le cise topes = El beara Tass revered (bare ergy] Hite Sin fi einetts sasesent rn Sas libetiiets! Cee taset corssveredibasteecutenstys Chri teiel ETT rososoiecrr prec Pisliitietesedepersiece tee? pansuees or babe fepetabests comer ert hee etepybessbabesbery tt 3 5 i ; + 3} + ae a ; i i : ei i 5 SPE PEPTRITENT ST ieee Tiere rary ensnepeue me siterrece rere: Croat lisa + Peace reir een tert te meer erent Heinen cies ees elas elerrmtreeeytimrperr eats tetas gay eee te rs ereorera feet h: r: PeTTIen ie tte of Ne tat hel ohabe ook bepres pro} Sree bbe es | “+ essere Tres ¢ erst nT rretesceeact tests’ te aati100 Siwa the eastern quarter, or vice versa. Both quarters are entirely self-supporting. They have their own wells, olive presses, mosques and date markets. At the time of writing I hear from Siwa that a few months after I left there was another outbreak between east and west. Some eastern men were riding home from their gardens, excited by “ lubki ”’ —palm wine. They rode through the streets of the western quarter, shouting and singing. The western people took this as an insult and attacked them. In ten minutes 800 men had collected in the square, the east and the west facing each other. A fierce fight began, but fortunately, as the men were only armed with sticks and tools, there were no fatal injuries. The local police and the mamur were unable to do anything, and the Egyptian officials retired to the Markaz—Government Office. A few minutes later the Camel Corps arrived with fixed bayonets and dispersed the crowd. There were about fifty cases needing hospital treatment, some of them being quite severe. Such were the lively conditions of internecine warfare when Browne, the first Englishman to visit Siwa, arrived at the oasis in 1792. He came in disguise with a caravan from Egypt. But against an infidel, a common foe, the Siwans stood united. Browne’s identity was discovered ; he was received with stones and abuse, roughly treated, and sent back to Egypt without having seen much of the oasis. But during his brief stay he formed no favourable opinion of the people. They were notorious forThe History of Siwa 101 their monstrous arrogance, intense bigotry and gross immorality. Six years later Hornemann, of the African Associa- tion, arrived at Siwa, travelling in the guise of a young mameluke, with a pilgrim caravan on its way from Mecca to the kingdom of Fezzan. He described Siwa as a small independent state, acknow- ledging the Sultan, but paying no tribute. He estimated the population at 8000 persons. The Siwans were governed by a council of sheikhs, who held their meetings and trials in public, and flew to arms on the slightest provocation when they dis- agreed. When Hornemann left Siwa he was fol- lowed by the inhabitants who apparently suspected his identity. ‘“‘ The braying of several hundred asses heralded the approach of the Siwan Army.” With great difficulty he persuaded the sheikhs that his passport from Napoleon Buonaparte was really a firman from the Sultan. They finally allowed him to proceed on his way. He sent his papers to Europe from Tripoli, but he himself perished while exploring North Africa. It is very curious that most of the few Europeans who visited Siwa in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were Germans. The difficulties that meet a European travelling in the guise of a Mohammedan are not so formidable as they would appear. Knowledge of the language would seem to be the greatest stumbling-block. But in North Africa there are so many dialects, and so many different pronunciations, that an Arab from one part of the desert would find it difficult to esdinenas rere ea DOTMARSSectta asta agen takes tare ahaa! eres re: ih poasiUseresstert oc pant net piveussibenesses be bberecde tsi eebsibetbs ater ivy seseras a serail ae a 94 (ERTIES pene ee) a aniriee erm IES lyiete Rie enn Leia : sEsteederremeatiderrrss rerreeed sea reeucwiee Mt acetate iby re reer er soress bsarerese | fe st mont bal woe! oa reid fe poe o! pens Perszess peceretreser riz siiestess TTS aS SAS ca er - rs a 5 ab obohadebsnodeset.it bro o4t (1 het prelyl jtabeeetenbe. ps sreepeat peeey) fn er oe rs pr erat pe Peery se poaegeseceesesess pesorresty preerereverry= eres rrr preese then srys ie se be es Saeaert berate] Shuheters peoSuens bees Te ot Siseecaninieeaie102 Siwa understand an Arab from another district, and the difference in the accent or pronunciation of an Egyptian from Cairo and a European speaking Arabic, would not be recognized in many of the more remote districts. (3) THIRD PERIOD THE TURKISH RULE “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” In the year 1816 there was a great fight between the two factions, in which the easterners gained the day. Ali Balli, a western sheikh, went to Egypt and described to the Government the independent state of Siwa and the condition of anarchy prevalent there. In 1820 Mohammed Ali invaded the Sudan. In order to protect his western flank he sent a force of 1300 men, with some cannon, commanded by Hassein Bey Shemishera, one of his generals, against the fanatical population of Siwa. They crossed the desert via Wadi Natrun and the oasis of Gara. A few of the western faction welcomed the army, but most of the population prepared to fight. After a desperate battle, lasting for several hours, the Siwans were severely beaten, and from that date Siwa was permanently secured to Egypt. The Turks entered the town, seized the principal men, and in course of time some sixty of the notables were executed byThe History of Siwa 103 Hassein Bey, who punished by death on the least suspicion of rebellion or revolt. A tribute was imposed on Siwa, and Sheikh Ali Balli was made omda, supported by the Turks. After some time Hassein Bey and the army returned to Egypt. The Siwans promptly refused to pay tribute, so in 1827 Hassein Bey returned with a force of 800 men, occupied the town after a brief contest, executed eighteen of the notables, confiscated their property, but paid the widows of the unfortunate men ten pounds each as full compensation for the life of a Siwan notable. He also banished twenty of the sheikhs, increaséd the tribute, and appointed a Turkish officer as Governor of Siwa, with a small force. Under Hassein Bey the Siwans suffered considerably. He seized their money, slaves, dates and silver ornaments, which he sent to his home in Egypt. He built the first “‘ Markaz’"—Government Office—whose ruins stand behind the Kasr Has- suna, the present District Officer’s house, where I lived. During the nineteenth century several Europeans visited Siwa, but they met with no encouragement and were in most cases badly treated. One of them, Butin, a French colonel, carried on his camels a collapsible boat in which he hoped to reach the island on the salt lake of Arashieh, which according to legends contained fabulous treasure and the sword and sealof Mohammed. He managed to bring the boat to Siwa, but the natives refused to let him embark. These early travellers all mention the ore yt) Bthests! Peritrrsers (iithtrrerietrresresrsetasesettesconcsge Tree piressaeboen sere be peereerersipeerereeers pesee Py store geaee cose ers ye) wri peeeseeeerr TP yt Pe peretatt tosecao al eaa Tr he Prtersteotresspehitarestrises meri iritceisitoctecitesbageatel aaresy Siri eisigtal seteapheldecesecetes ey TEE ROS te bell scenean meth cri yattge aucicca tet PeesttiTtirtisinttesterssn) @scrtitote rhe oye ri -copereeeevesrerer ences o=2 PRICE VET Tee eT r ret fein bs bese crea terht et a oF TE prt re Se eee bed) TIS saree Bee aaa Fe iB ied H i : re} +5 - Fs! 7 Ts ;: Fs =e) ; BI 54 ; te 2 ey Se el ene ace tite aeten roa eet os Re eee totic)104 Siwa subterranean passages connecting Aghourmi and Omm Beyda, also between Siwa town and the Hill of the Dead. The natives described these passages as having “ biute ”°—houses—or possibly burying spaces, opening out on either side. The entrances have now in all cases been blocked up by stones and rubbish, but with a little labour they could easily be excavated. Several old men in Siwa know the exact position of the entrances to these passages, which I have seen myself. The successor of Hassein Bey was Farag Kashif, who built a causeway across one of the salt lakes, making each family work on it in turn. It is a useful piece of work, a narrow path, wide enough for two camels to pass abreast, supported by rough stakes and palm logs, crossing the salt bog which would otherwise be impassable. Several more mamurs were appointed, but they were mere figureheads, as all the power lay in the hands of the omda, Ali Balli. Each year that the taxes were unpaid, and this was frequent, a punitive expedition arrived from Egypt. The omda was hated by most of the Siwans, who held him responsible for the Turkish occupation, and the years of oppression. Knowing his unpopularity he never left his house after sunset. Certain of the eastern sheikhs bribed two young western men to lure him from his house at night. They persuaded him to come to Mesamia, a narrow tunnel in the western quarter, and there they stabbed him to death. Yousif Ali, the omda’s son, demanded blood money, or the surrender of his father’s murderers, but theThe History of Siwa 105 eastern sheikhs refused and secretly sent the men to Derna. Then followed a few years with neither omda nor mamur, and a government, of sorts, by a council of sheikhs. Yousif Ali was a clever, ambitious man. Bayle St. John, who visited Siwa in 1849, described him as ““a broad, pale-faced man, with a sly, good- humoured expression, of ambitious character, with speech full of elegant compliments.” He wore a tarbouch, a white burnous and carried a blunderbuss. Except for the blunderbuss the description would suit several of the present-day Siwan notables. For seven years he went every winter to Cairo, trying to persuade the Government to make him omda in place of his father. He earned the nickname of ** The Schemer.” He spent a great deal of money on bribes in Egypt, but was always unsuccessful. In the year 1852 Hamilton, an English traveller, came to Siwa on his way back to Egypt, after journey- ing in Tripoli and North Africa. In his Wanderings in North Africa he devotes several pages to his experiences in Siwa. The following version of what happened to him is told there now by the Siwans. He pitched his camp near the Markaz, half a mile south of the town. The Siwans bitterly resented any European visitors, so Yousif Ali, knowing this, collected the fighting men and deliberately inflamed their anger against the stranger who had come to spy out their land ; he urged them that it was their duty to kill the ‘‘ Unbeliever,” so they determined to make a night attack on Hamilton’s camp. Then " = eiiiipiesrsasereseaeertrrtieetsiatneeeeeseaats Peas Evtststetr-te-sitsleaeaseL aererestic-sooecic ties eee sd bear rove wap bbygbe belts chrree til ns Bf Meets pees nowetsene Heli thal yee beed | Te mnt ett $ eri a area ratoegr yet Lycagted |) be vetedespane: vate bs a rey seness peas be arses peseeed soetey ite bay eet oe eB] tig aoa mor) ret tes ret ay tr ea oP fsb =t Peer SF: ity Bry! 3 Es es fei noe] ee 1 eTer etre hain ter eiw ess err Oey py endeses pereoss sence Soenens senr rere he orree Wetec str tecs eset etesesattl pocwrse SES APES Fs eepes pe a pesrorererers hb seretenens) its ro bose reins tpaete’ wererpres Soar ated meee106 Siwa Yousif Ali secretly warned Hamilton of the intended attack, and persuaded him to take shelter in his house. Hamilton left his tents standing empty, and during the night the “ Zigale ”»—fighting men— opened fire on them, but the Englishman was safely lodged in Yousif Ali’s house. Thus Yousif Ali gained credit for having saved Hamilton from the attack which he himself had instigated. This is a characteristic example of Siwan diplomacy. After the attack the Siwans refused to let Hamilton leave the town, and for six weeks he was practically a prisoner in a little house adjoining that of Yousif Ali. During this time the people amused them- selves by shooting and throwing stones at his windows, and collecting in crowds to stare and jeer at the ‘* Nosrani’’—Christian. Matters became worse and the most fanatical sheikhs on the town council advocated his execution. With great diffi- culty he managed to send two letters, by slaves, to the Viceroy of Egypt ; but he spent an anxious time as the days passed and no answer came. The Siwans found out about the letters, and as time passed and it became more and more probable that the mes- sengers were lost, so the people became more and more insolent. Some of the sheikhs offered to lend him camels to escape from the town, on the condition that he first wrote to the Viceroy saying that he had been well treated. They intended to murder him as soon as he left the town, and to secure his baggage for themselves, but he discovered the plot and refused to leave.The History of Siwa 107 One day an abnormally hot wind rose from the south and blew with great violence for three days. This was taken as a serious omen of coming disaster. The idea that a sudden violent wind, stirred by an evil “jinn,” foreshadows a catastrophe, is im- plicitly believed by the Siwans and by all Berbers. A number of Siwans who had been most aggressive hurriedly left the town, and the remainder endeav- oured, to the best of their ability, to conciliate Hamilton. The sheikhs who had been most vindic- tive now fawned upon their “ guest,”? who became a person to be conciliated instead of a despised Christian. Evidently they had secret news of the approach of a party of cavalry from Egypt. On the 14th March, 1852, two sheikhs arrived and an- nounced the approach of 150 irregular cavalry, who with 14 officers had been dispatched by the Viceroy to effect his release, in response to Hamilton’s letter. A week later, with much “ fantasia” and display, the army left Siwa accompanied by Hamilton and Yousif Ali. The Turkish Commandant, with typically stupid obstinacy, refused to take any prisoners, but bound over a number of the sheikhs to appear in Egypt in two months’ time. Needless to say they failed to appear. Shortly after Hamilton arrived in Cairo the Viceroy sent another expedition of 200 men to bring back a number of Siwan notables to answer for their conduct. The army reached the oasis and camped at Ain Megahiz. The Siwans retired into their fortress town. A certain Arab sheikh, who knew r3 ay rs bs ba seprverecesed bf petal es bt brs naserererretye) reerronrerdts batbbittrestere. Sith lstts peteteeecee: porate ss Mi beretery tet perros: Tae Rte pia Bae Nei beta pe sate saa Ts et aire a stone fetal saps be bboy bytes tbe set ete eemeestt: keer Lyentetes of ccdedacresobe fart tere besirissenibritsisteisizostvey ersa i tate tteryi eeoaes ort te beseresst ocestereetes om PTR ESE Ea be senses tats boapttlt pees t HS ; Hi | + 3 : i a bi ; er pensenepporareed ia aia wee Taare a a Te S48) Soretelelititis heqphbaeratbees o4bsee se +obese) 14 rpded ys pabsdsacquey seed} ihe Ree errr pehsbesrorse rt tir sors perereetse) nd ba bd od bowed oh pe ri radeas et sharaties es aus ings riperrsepotosetel Hass)108 Siwa Siwa and was with the Turkish expedition, went down to the town and persuaded forty of the leading men to come out to the camp and see the Commandant. He successfully tricked them with a promise of a favourable treaty, and they believed him. On arrival at the camp they were arrested and thrown into chains ; the army entered the town without opposi- tion, as the people, having lost their leaders, had no heart to fight. As before, the Turks spoiled the people, the soldiers robbed the inhabitants, seized the women, and shot down anyone who opposed them. Then at last Sheikh Yousif Ali was appointed Omda of Siwa by the Government of Egypt. Some years later, in 1854, Abbas, son of Mohammed Ali, died, and was succeeded by his son, Said Pasha. The latter, on his accession, granted an amnesty under which the Siwan notables, who had been condemned to hard labour and were working as prisoners, were released. ‘They hurried back to their oasis, eager to be revenged on Yousif Ali. On arrival they were joined by their slaves and retainers, but met with considerable opposition from the westerners. For three days there was sporadic fighting, then they surrounded the omda’s house. But Yousif Ali had fled to the house of one of his supporters in the suburb, called Manshiah, and garrisoned it with his few remaining slaves. His friends among the western sheikhs deserted him, seeing that popular opinion was entirely against him. From the house in Manshiah, which is a miniature fortress, he sent his two young daughters to bribeThe History of Siwa 109 the mamur to help him. The mamur was the same Arab who had betrayed the forty sheikhs, and was busy enough looking after himself. The two girls were caught by the eastern sheikhs. One of them was persuaded to go back to her father’s house, and at a given signal to let in the enemy. They surrounded Manshiah and forced an entry to the house. The slaves stopped fighting and surrendered. Yousif Ali was caught on the roof, trying to escape ; he was dragged down through the house, out into the street and strangled. The news of this outrage reached Egypt, and in 1857 a new mamur arrived with a detachment of soldiers. The system of two omdas ruling at once, one eastern and one western, was tried, but found to be a failure. The force under the mamur was quite inadequate to collect the taxes or to keep order. The post was an unpopular one, and was considered, as it is now, a form of exile by the Egyptian mamurs who detest a place that has not the liveliness and amusements of Cairo, or a provincial town. All the mamurs at Siwa used constantly to say to me, “‘ Saire—Siwa ees what you call exile!” There followed in quick succession a series of somewhat incompetent Turkish mamurs who were in most cases quite powerless to keep under this turbulent town and population. To add to their difficulties the power of the Senussi sect was begin- ning to make itself firmly felt, and this complicated still more the political situation in the oasis. The pFedhsiEbens Had be bboy sty th bese sielabsste? TH ae cereruitent a |] } feene seas pabooee +y ti rs prpeeeererr ori rr ay + i Sat eT res weer TTT pisceleyectetpest Tit tetieat tatfban st 1shtess vite See rent etree aif mene 0 ; syeereees Mais Saas sats cor seid i hasan pexpecserea reer sagc page| tas He aa se etrerstel htIIO Siwa Senussi brethren at Jerabub were regarded by the Siwans as the ultimate arbitrators in any disputes which arose among the people, thus ignoring the jurisdiction of the Turkish Government officials. One mamur married, on the day of his arrival, a girl of the eastern quarter, and oppressed the westerners to such a degree that they obtained his recall from Egypt. He was sent back to Egypt, and as he entered the Governor’s house in Alexandria one of his men stepped forward and shot him. Another mamur infuriated the people by wishing to demolish the tomb of Sidi Suliman, in order to build a house on the site. He made all preparations for the work, but on the night before the building began he died mysteriously, possibly from poison. Another mamur imitated the Siwans in every way— eating, dressing and speaking as one. He kept his position for fourteen years, becoming very popular on account of the interest he took in the well-being of the people. But few of the mamurs were liked ; they generally sided definitely with one faction or the other, which resulted in intrigue against them by the opposite faction, who tried to procure their dismissal. In 1896 Mustapha Mahr, Governor of the Behera Province, was dispatched to Siwa, with fifty soldiers, to inquire into certain disorders. He arrived to find Siwa in an uproar, the administration of justice at a standstill, and three years’ taxes unpaid. A powerful western sheikh, Hassuna Mansur, had retired to his stronghold, KasrThe History of Siwa 11 Hassuna, a fortress on an isolated rock south of the town, with a large number of slaves and adherents. He refused to pay taxes and defied the Egyptian Government. This individual became the nucleus of opposition. He was besieged ; but friends among the besiegers supplied him with water, and even helped him when he sallied out from his fortress and carried away corn, sheep and cattle from the neighbourhood. The Turkish official was helpless. Mustapha Mahr and his fifty men were unable to cope with the rebel. On the advice of the sheikhs he appealed to the Senussi brethren at Jerabub, and very soon Sheikh Ahmed Ibn Idris, a relation by marriage to Sheikh El Senussi, appeared on the scene. The Turkish Commandant asked his assist- ance. Sheikh Ahmed ordered Hassuna to surrender, which he did at once, and after much discussion an agreement was made, signed by the Senussi sheikh, by which the Siwans promised to pay taxes, but on the condition that they should not be retrospective. The Senussi sheikh then returned triumphantly to Jerabub. This illustrates conclusively the power of the Senussi at this period. A few months later another dispute arose, about some goats, which ended in a battle between east and west, in which Hessuna Mansur was slain, and with him over 100 Siwans. In 1898, five years after the death of this firebrand of the desert, another affair began which is known as the “ Widow’s War.” The Omda of Siwa died leav- ing a son, Mohammed Said, and a wealthy young oorenes roa.npes yas sarssas ; dereteritetotaeetacr] oa Wes foiatsrstoesubasianeatit estaester m Ocuhg ot toes iit jor een geer co eee) Lesseeperetian Ea retest HS112 Siwa widow of great personal attractions. An eastern Siwan, named Ahmed Hamza, wished to marry her. It was considered a suitable match, and all her relations approved, except her stepson, Mohammed Said, who was supported by the Medinia sect of Siwans, who had another prospective husband. One night she disappeared. It was found that she had fled to the house of Osman Habun, a very powerful western sheikh, the most influential man in Siwa, who was the representative of the Senussi. The son demanded his mother from the Habun family, who refused to surrender her. The war drums were beaten, and a fight between east and west was imminent. But at the last moment Habun surrendered the woman, who returned to her own house. On the next day she ran away again; this time she went to the house of a western Siwan, called Abdulla Mansur, whom she wished to marry, although she herself should have held no views on the subject. The whole town was disturbed by the widow’s unseemly behaviour. Finally her stepson forced her to marry the man whom he had chosen, and the widow retired from the scene. But Ahmed Hamza resented losing her, and in revenge, some of his friends attacked some relations of Mohammed Said’s, on the road to Aghourmi, and killed two of them. Then Mohammed Said, with the easterners, raided the western gardens, and the westerners retaliated by carrying off sheep and cattle. The war drums were beaten, which signal meant that every man must be ready and armed withinLARTER Ol INTO THE WESTERN GATE Shr isirestecsees pores} pied; : ‘The History ot Siwa 14 twenty-four hours; flags were displayed on the western hill and on the highest fort of the eastern quarter, and the doors leading into the street that divides the town were barred with palm logs. At the end of the twenty-four hours the eastern force assembled’ on Shali—the high town—and the western forces stationed themselves on their rock. The easterners opened fire and shot, by mistake, a small Arab boy. A truce was called while both parties discussed the compensation. But during the truce an eastern man, going out to his garden, was killed by a party of westerners, so the fight began again, both sides firing across the street with long, Arab guns and old-fashioned blunderbusses. The Turkish mamur and his little force retired to the Markaz, well out of harm’s way. The westerners had only one good spring within convenient reach of the town. They posted a guard round it, and the easterners, not expecting to meet with resistance, made a sortie, intending to capture the spring. The attacking party was beaten off and driven away from the town towards the gardens. The rest of the easterners, seeing their comrades in flight, came down from the town and followed after them. Then the entire western force, led by their chief, Osman Habun, on his great white war-horse, the only one in Siwa, surged out of the town, through the narrow gates, firing and shrieking, waving swords and spears, followed by their women throw- ing stones. Every able-bodied man and woman joined in the battle beneath the walls, and only a I care eRe FSi I ctaseeeheiserrests races heh hs jeged ETS + Sbivescsrtsesesartredderstistsvesenresyas i + i ff a4 fer eat erparsmesed trades 2 509 : Re = Mazya b a opsSame: we A AST RSE a rersery rer errs rrr obeht ire 4 yates pbs Sb temel thd yneber arly (Ti dope posheve SPrrariCat mis eiecksees mr OO . Res rr prpneveqeeceg sees tenet erases i straceess114 Siwa few old men and children remained on the battle- ments watching the fight. After a fierce combat, lasting for nearly a day, resulting in many casualties, the western force was beaten back towards the town, and “‘ The Habun” found himself in danger of being captured. The western women had followed their men out from the town and were watching the battle from the gardens. Habun’s mother, seeing her son in danger, collected a dozen women of his house and managed to get near him. He left his horse and slipped into the gardens where he joined the women. They dressed him as a girl, and with them he escaped to the tomb of Sidi Suliman, where he hid. While in hiding Habun communicated with the Senussi brethren at Jerabub, who intervened and patched up a peace. Nowadays, if one wants to insult one of the Habun family, there is no surer method than by inquiring who it was who escaped from a battle disguised as a woman. After this the Egyptian Government realized that a stronger force was needed to keep order in Siwa, so they}sent some more men and a few cavalry. The Senussi Government also tried to make a lasting peace between east and west. Sheikh Osman Habun, agent of the Senussi in Siwa, was at this time the most wealthy and powerful man in the oasis. He was a large landowner and employed a small army of slaves. He was related by marriage to most of the western sheikhs, and many of the Siwan notables were beholden to him for financial assistance. From his large fortified house in theThe History of Siwa 15 town he dominated the western faction, and his armoury included some modern weapons which he had stolen from a certain English traveller. In appearance he was a fine, handsome man, with a masterful manner and a commanding presence. When he went abroad a numerous retinue followed him, and he received visitors to his house with almost regal state. He married several times, and had nine sons and daughters. Several years before the Great War a certain Arab called Abdel Arti, a notorious smuggler of hashish between Egypt and Tripoli, made a raid on some bedouins who camped at Lubbok, a little oasis where there is water and good grazing about eight miles south of Siwa, among the sand-dunes. He called at Lubbok to get water on his way to Egypt via the oasis of Bahrein. One of the bedouins came to Siwa and warned the mamur, who summoned the sheikhs and the people. Osman Habun was at this time an ally of Abdel Arti and knew his plans. The eastern people assembled, but the westerners delayed. Eventually, after many absurd excuses, Osman Habun arrived and accompanied the mamur and an armed party to Lubbok; but they found that the smugglers had escaped, carrying off several women and leaving two of the bedouins dead on the field. The delay caused by Osman Habun had saved Abdel Arti from capture. When they returned the mamur held a court on Osman Habun and threatened to depose him and make another man omda in his place. Habun retired to his house Feabbedases heb brserte th seieies * i Hes jd eri | bos pdpedeetereee psa l He sas Es 4 zt =I | i it og Be) my 4 EI 3 = mH et of sty \Bt rashest seerpratveataaneeeneeee. -- rat bt peas h Pperowserepeneie set Peer ererten apatite esata eos recor ss > penateees apes erisitad, etree rtod tel stars rat Tele iat St tects tater anaes alten aes Thal sleoty Ui heer tates ies, ibbieroresserees reas borate 4 ru ete ty r eet betsy116 Siwa and sulked, refusing to appear again when sum- moned by the mamur. One of Habun’s sons was ordered to bring his father to the Markaz, but he returned with a message that being the month of Ramadan his father was fasting and could not go out. Then the mamur, with his few soldiers and some Sudanese camel corps, followed by a shouting mob of Siwans, went up the steep, dark streets that lead to the house of “‘ The Habun.” By the time that they had arrived night had fallen. They found the great wooden door locked and barred, and the house full of armed men, but they managed to break in the door and enter the ground floor. But the stairs were strongly barricaded, so they went outside and lit lanterns while they discussed what to do. Then the soldiers started firing up at the windows, and the defenders fired back, people in the adjoining houses joining in. The soldiers retreated under some buildings across the lane, but as they did this the mamur was shot and left lying in the narrow alley. A Camel Corps man dashed out and dragged him into shelter. Meanwhile Osman Habun had escaped by a private door through the mosque behind the house. Eventually the soldiers entered the build- ing and captured the defenders. Osman Habun attempted to escape through the town to Jerabub, but he was caught by Sheikh Mohammed Said, his rival of the eastern faction, and brought a prisoner to the Markaz where the mamur lay dying. He was tried for the murder of the mamur, foundThe History of Siwa 117 guilty, and hanged, and his eldest son, Hammado, was awarded penal servitude. He is still alive, in prison at Tura. Osman Habun was one of the biggest men that Siwa ever produced, though he had many bad qualities. The Siwans say that he sacrificed himself for his son, Hammado, being an old man and not willing to see his son hanged, though Hammado is said to have killed the mamur. Abdel Arti, the cause of the trouble, had a fight with some of the Egyptian Coastguard Camel Corps, and killed one of them. They met him again among the desolate sand-dunes south of Siwa, and killed him, together with several of his followers. Their graves are distinguishable—rough stone cairns—on the unmapped desert where a route from Egypt to Tripoli is still called “Abdel Arti’s Road.” qa THESES ee ner pastel eacezetts tm sends ho seoees eeapates its anes et See eretre a oeeoer TE Stee eee eereenteas reas Peene Se aeeeseey = peeeey aiseetore rath Merry trode bes mrTege ye eater Lbtticretcestrismediiireterisse hl trrstersiristeessesant reve testkgerety ee tieess i Ea ER (4) FOURTH PERIOD SIWA AND THE WAR Jose et eter tracts inal The history of the British operations on the Western Desert of Egypt against the Senussi in 1915-1917 has been well described in several books, and by people who were actually present at the vari- ous engagements. I was not there at the time, so I am unable to give a first-hand account of it, but no history of Siwa would be complete without a sketch of the principal events of that campaign, which was de enepeds on tanyontssa baeett iw Terre eee a eth ee peepee: rope tesheease hd #4 oar) Rete caer ie ce ary pyyerereerrerer Serer ory Troe on raper repre sbracoese Pitty reetie pa ie bererereierie” = wees = eet pmaeeey ae a2 fi ce a ue fe he 118 Siwa one of the most brilliant and successful ‘‘ side-shows ”’ of the Great War, and has left a lasting impression on the Arabs of the Western Desert, which will be remembered for many years to come. After the war in Tripoli between the Italians and the Turks, in 1911, the suzerainty of Italy over Tripoli was formally acknowledged at the Treaty of Lausanne, but although the whole of the country became an Italian possession only the coastal towns were held firmly. The Arabs in the south, and the Berber inhabitants of the various oases, strongly resented the Italian rule, and for this reason the seeds of propaganda sown by Turkish and German agents found fertile soil among the natives of Tripoli. Germany had for a long time cast envious eyes on North Africa, and early in the war the Germans seem to have hoped that by their influence in the country they could stir the Arabs to sweep their much-hated Italian masters off the coast, and to advance against Egypt from the west. At the out- break of war the Arabs in the south listened readily to the Turkish agents, who encouraged them with arms and money to revolt against the Italians and to take part in the Holy War, which was declared by the Sultan of Turkey against the English and the Allies. But the most important military and political factor on the Libyan Desert was the Senussi confraternity, and they, up to this time, had been decidedly pro- British. The Senussi confraternity was founded by Sidi Mohammed Ben Ali es Senussi, who was born ofThe History of Siwa 119 Berber stock, but claimed descent from the Prophet, in Algeria, in 1787. In 1821 he went to Fez and became known as an ascetic religious who held severely to the simple teachings of the Koran. Just before the French occupation of Algeria he left his country and began travelling in North Africa, teach- ing his doctrine of a pure form of Islam. The occupation of his native country by Unbelievers probably contributed to the dislike of Christians which characterized his later life. After spending some years in North Africa he went to Cairo and settled at El Azhar, the great Mohammedan univer- sity of Egypt, but his strict ideals found no favour and his teaching was condemned by the Ulema. From Cairo he went to Mecca, where he studied with Sidi Ahmed Ibn Idris el Fasi, the leader of the Khadria confraternity, which had some influence in Morocco. On the death of Sidi Ahmed, Mohammed es Senussi became head of the sect and travelled for some years among the bedouins of the Hedjaz. But his doctrines were too peaceable for these fierce Arabs, and in 1838 he returned to the west and settled at Siwa. In Siwa he inhabited the caves in the limestone rock below the Kasr Hassuna, living in one of them and using the other as an oratory. With his own hands he carved out the nitch—or “ mihrab”— which faces Mecca. During his sojourn at Siwa he became very ill and at one time he almost died. The people of Siwa accepted his teachings with enthusiasm, and since then the greater proportion of i i if / i | : MW eter a Seserr eter’ PUR Tein etree rreerrcrrr rib bedbeoye tots fbi} fiapregunyd beserteorrer sry int My ISIETETetetitess posse bot PPS POLE RS temat oscar TRE e reer eres: vers pees eiePIA TRGS SP sts Seca ey Leased ti tad cerisomesethis rte prresps acter (ili La oan Se 5 : siesis heed eeeer Trt aire eat “tata hy Hoh abate Ht red Pies 120 Siwa the population have been ardent Senussiya. For this reason it has always been considered very dangerous for anybody who is not exceedingly religious and virtuous to inhabit these caves in the Kasr Hassuna. When I was in the Kasr one of my servants asked for permission to live in the cave. I reminded him of the superstition, but allowed him to do so. It was most disastrous ; after about a month he moved out and complained to me of the persistent misfortune that had dogged him. His wife ran away, he became ill, he had some money stolen from him, and was badly bitten by a tarantula. Another man, who had a reputation in the Section for being particularly religious, moved in, but he only remained a week, and after that the caves were left severely alone. None of the Siwans would live in this place under any consideration, and the Siwan wife of my Sudanese orderly lived in a little hut outside the entrance. After eight months in Siwa Mohammed es Senussi went on to Jalo and came into contact with the Zouias, a fierce and warlike race of Arabs who held various oases in southern Tripoli. They adopted his teachings, and in 1844 he founded his first zawia— religious centre—at El Beda, where his eldest son was born. From this centre the Senussi brethren carried their teachings all over Africa, travelling with the great caravans of the merchants who traded in slaves, ivory, arms, etc., between the Sudan, Tripoli, Wadai and Egypt. Gradually they grew to be regarded as arbitrators in disputes, and important cases were brought to Mohammed es Senussi for his: z Pa Deir ait i hE +: OFFICER’S 35 SI HOU I HASSUNA, THE DISTRI ~- KASR i 3. ; i fees ry 7 / pores reer i hy plat si eae os bri fegeeees pera rer)aa eini bared eres riat eeThe History of Siwa © 121 judgment. They successfully combined the duties of merchants and magistrates, acquiring great wealth and great influence. The Senussi were at all times opposed to luxury and intolerant of Unbelievers ; they claimed that their form of Mohammedanism was more pure than any other, and as far as possible they kept aloof from politics. In 1852 Mohammed es Senussi returned to Mecca, and shortly afterwards he formally excommunicated the Sultan of Turkey. In 1856 he came, for the last time, to Jerabub, ninety miles west of Siwa. He died here three years later and was buried in the tomb in the mosque. At the time of his death his prestige was enormous; pilgrims travelled many thousands of miles to visit Jerabub, and Senussism had spread all over Central and North Africa. The Senussi zawias became rich from the profits of trad- ing and owned large numbers of slaves, also arms and ammunition were imported from Turkey, landed on the Tripoli coast and taken down to the south. One of the greatest authorities on the Senussi estimated their numbers at between one and a half and three millions at the time of the death of Mohammed es Senussi. But their importance as a military factor was not great ; being spread over such a vast area they lacked cohesion, and any combined action would be almost an impossibility. Mohammed es Senussi left two sons, Mohammed el Mahdi and Mohammed el Sherif. The former suc- ceeded his father as the leader of the Senussi. He spent a considerable part of his life at Jerabub, Stee ROCR Nr Tr oN adnate 6 Se sieew sabe be bbryes te wescen be becres but balase lit aazesstte rm peteg rau fpgee SE SERRE Est to a) : ae eat ; fides TYE sta) yteieets eae pear brea erests ss ites pessecs sessteeruaibes:ea ea te ee ees Uy i J! yf 122 Siwa acquiring great wealth and strengthening his influ- ence by peaceable penetration. In 1884 he refused to help the Sudanese Mahdi, who appealed to the Senussi for assistance in driving the English out of Egypt. If the Senussi had risen then and joined with the Sudanese the position of Egypt would have been very dangerous. Mohammed el Mahdi died in 1902 and was succeeded by his nephew, Sayed Ahmed, as the son of Mohammed el Mahdi was still a boy. When Sayed Ahmed succeeded, the French were pushing their conquests inland from the coast, and the Turks were also advancing southwards in Tripoli. Sayed Ahmed did all he could to oppose them, but gradually he was forced to retire. One by one the various zawias were occupied, till finally the Senussi chief was driven back to Kufra and Jerabub. In 1911 Sayed Ahmed allied himself to the Turks, although the Senussi had always been at enmity with them, and when the Italians landed on the Tripoli coast the Senussi supported the Turks in the war against the Italians, and when the Turks were finally beaten the Senussi in the interior became once more practically independent. In the summer of 1915 the Senussi were still ostensibly at peace with Egypt and Britain, but the pro-German agents had successfully fomented an anti-British feeling, and the Arabs were being armed and organized by German and Turkish officers who landed in submarines—from Constantinople—evaded the Italians on the coast, and went down south intoThe History of Siwa — 123 the Senussi country. The British and Italian alliance was an incentive to the Arabs in Tripoli, who bitterly resented the Italian occupation of their country. Sollum, the frontier post, was garrisoned by a small detachment of the Egyptian army and the Coastguards, native troops with two or three English officers. In August, 1915, the crews of two English submarines, wrecked on the coast west of Sollum, were fired upon by the Senussi, but Sayed Ahmed apologized and declared that he did not know what nationality the men were. In the autumn it was known that the British attempt at Gallipoli was doomed; there was a danger of disturbances in Egypt, and the Turks attacked the Suez Canal. On November 5th the Tara, an armed patrol boat, was torpedoed off Sollum. Three of her boats came ashore a few miles west of the frontier, and ninety- two men of the crew were captured by some Senussi Arabs and carried inland to a place called Bir Hakim, a well which lies about seventy miles south of the coast; here they were kept prisoners for several months, and during this time they suffered the most excessive privations at the hands of their captors. They were so badly fed that they were forced to eat snails, which are very plentiful in some parts of the desert ; several men died, and their attempts to escape were in all cases unsuccessful. The history of their sufferings and adventures forms the subject of two books written by one of the survivors on his return home. Even after this incident Sidi Ahmed Lispecdeigsns ete ]4? thgeetentetesetetost pabetsdisehesetelesats. 5 pag STS ee ap He ee Dan eae en at ra aia tec ca iacs) Petree Lselehes a 3 cid Fi EH chy ig ees es as 4 | 3 ci ss ar ats 43 sr H Sal itatet lebpteles cpg esede fore) erys er . itrtotetircrts eer taa eee ties Abit anelabe Test) pede tote Litiras ooe ths teren bree ve sere Sis serptteses lett ite Bi [itssta i anata peeeeee res Ty acrensonencponent i Piraccte}ipae-s) as! t} rrr pissee mrertlirrerserss wees oe i babe bonny so mene ee ee ee eheveyetes - Sseesrierrrerseane detrei se): - rE a pee sssspeqscetesesererir sts “i 124 Siwa continued to protest his friendship for the British, and disclaimed any knowledge of the whereabouts of the Tara’s crew. About this time large numbers of Arabs began to collect on the high desert above Sollum. The garrison was slightly reinforced and some armoured cars came up the coast from Egypt. On November 23rd Sollum was attacked by a numerous force of Senussi, armed with a miscellaneous collection of fire-arms and some old guns. The garrison was evacuated on to the Rasheed, an Egyptian gunboat, during a heavy sand-storm, and on the same day the garrison of Barrani was taken down the coast on another boat. They landed at Matruh, which was put into a state of defence, and the garrison was very soon considerably augmented by British troops who were hurried up from Alexandria in trawlers and in cars from the railhead. A few days after they arrived at Matruh some of the men of the Egyptian Coast- guards went over to the enemy, and Colonel Snow Bey, of the Coastguards, was shot while speaking to some so-called friendly Arabs on a reconnaissance. Colonel Snow and Major Royle, another officer of the Coastguards who lost his life later in the war, after joining the Flying Corps, were both very well known on the Western Desert. As a rule, the bedouins do not talk much of the Englishmen who lived and served among them, but even now, several years later, one constantly hears these two names mentioned round the camp fires of the Arabs.The History of Siwa 125 While the British force was building up the defences of Matruh, the Senussi collected a few miles west of the town. On December 13th the garrison advanced against the enemy, and a force of about 1300 Senussi was cleared out from a long wadi and driven off with heavy casualties. On this occasion a squadron of Yeomanry, who were fired on from a gully, charged at the enemy and came suddenly on a deep and unexpected drop. Towards the end of the month another large force of Arabs, under the command of Gaffar Pasha, a Germanized Turk and a very capable officer, occupied a valley called Wadi Majid, near Matruh. It appeared that they intended attacking Matruh on Christmas Day, when they supposed that the garrison would be eating and drinking—though, as it happened, there was not even any beer in the town. On Christmas Eve the British force, consisting of part of a New Zealand brigade, some Sikhs, Aus- tralian Light Horse and British Yeomanry, supported by aeroplanes and naval ships, which shelled the enemy from the coast, went out of Matruh and fought a successful action on Christmas Day. The Arab camp was destroyed, and the enemy were beaten off with heavy casualties. After the engage- ment the British force returned to Matruh. By this time the usual winter weather had begun ; floods of rain fell on the coast, filling the wadis, swamping the roads and turning the country into a morass. Once again the enemy concentrated, at a place about 26 miles west of Matruh. They were located by is I is ; ; i \s u ests lrsilectscnsedestiguss theless tuseenysssrsnneled titl ee rete cal St etree aaa porpetee Prt eT eee ecedecsLapaiioloncs@aationtiestoralsentaipeseuhosd Stcneer soul tii sans ate poseseessents pf) rod tseeusot ress sbri pe sees sie he SE eptereeeeta Rptplotesntenstetose! 126 Siwa aeroplanes, attacked and again driven westward. On February 26th another engagement took place at Agagia, near Barrani. The enemy lost heavily and Gaffar Pasha, the Commander of the Senussi army, was captured during a brilliant charge which was made by the Dorset Yeomanry. After this defeat Sayed Ahmed, the Senussi chief, with a number of his supporters and a huge quantity of baggage, retired from the coast, which was getting too hot for him, and trekked across the desert down to Siwa, travelling in great comfort with gramophones, clocks, brass bedsteads and a large harem ! On arrival at Siwa he settled himself in the Kasr Hassuna, but he lived in a very different style to his ancestor, the original Mohammed es Senussi. A renegade Coastguard officer, Mohammed Effendi Saleh, was appointed as his second in command. At first the Siwans welcomed Sayed Ahmed with great enthusiasm, but their feelings rapidly changed when the ill-disciplined mob that made up his army took to spoiling the gardens and robbing the people. Mohammed Saleh had been in Siwa before and he knew exactly how much money the various inhabi- tants had. This acquaintance with everybody’s financial position was of great use when he began to extort money from the natives. Those who could not or would not pay were beaten in the market- place and forcibly enlisted into the army; those who paid a little were made corporals and officers, and only the people who gave much money were exempt from service. The richest sheikhs andThe History of Siwa = 127 merchants were presented with Turkish and German medals and orders and promoted to Pashas and Beys. The officers of the Senussi force attired themselves in bright green putties, which they manufactured from the green baize tablecloths in the offices of the Markaz; all the files and the Government furniture, etc., was seized by Sayed Ahmed, who carried it about with him during the rest of the campaign, eventually leaving it at Jerabub when he finally left the country. Meanwhile the campaign on the coast was going badly for the Senussi. Barrani was occupied after the battle of Agagia, and from there the British force, reinforced by the Duke of Westminster and his armoured cars, pushed on towards Sollum, which was occupied on the 14th of March. Sollum was captured by a rear attack from above the Scarp, armoured cars and troops having managed to find a way up the cliffs by a steep, precipitous pass known as “‘ Negb Halfia,” or ‘‘ Hell Fire Pass,” as it was afterwards called. The Senussi blew up their large ammunition dump at Bir Weer, on the frontier, and the remains of their army were driven over the desert for many miles, pursued by the British cars, which scattered them far and wide and inspired all the Arabs with a holy dread of ‘‘Trombiles ”—motors— which will never be forgotten. The capture of Sollum virtually ended the fighting on the coast ; after that only Siwa remained to be cleared out. The country was full of fugitives and their starving families, who were fed and provided for by the | feenes caren preeeoeeseceel Sipe seeroeers ese Milbieesseesee 4 rs] fol s--tecstibeg ott t tears = es) H be ES Fe] ae Gee e5-| ain ie Bats iEFi i See eases ease ase et ete gen seers oe rh PLPT IAS Sosreeerrenal trian bro prey Rabe-rars pave by rene mpoempedi bag) ¢ tdi s) jh re h-vons pososecsserd) ef rt iiss Stovecleeeth Aldtesice thee wratetelee-oh ibeerees 2 be mere od oat nt 2 petdabeterriscesrcesre-cibheeretinbasatatess pewsoebett wi Sipe -APaDiRid is -tmein iba adaliSciROABL aL costss lei reseese cs beard friiil incetesyiteteetirpiieereeeess ay: miethigbenitete tees LH Hrestebecrtesiesy ee Eee SE oe ee 128 Siwa British. Arab women flocked round the garrisons at Sollum and Matruh offering their silver orna- ments and jewellery in exchange for food. On April 16th, much to the relief of the inhabi- tants, Sayed Ahmed left Siwa en route for the Dakhla oasis. He took with him most of the able- bodied men in the place, as well as a number of Senussi soldiers and many camel loads of luggage. The Siwans were expected to bring their own food, but by this time they were reduced to such a state of poverty that they had not even enough dates to support themselves. A number of men died on the road, and still more deserted and made their way back to the oasis. Sayed Ahmed stayed for several months at Dakhla and then returned to Siwa, hurry- ing back like a hunted hare. On each of these little desert trips the Grand Sheikh shed a little of his baggage. During his absence from Siwa the sheikhs of the Medinia sect organized a very successful little re- bellion. The people revolted against the Senussi sheikhs who had been left in charge, drove them into the Markaz, and besieged them for two days. Eventu- ally peace was made, but not before the Senussi sheikhs had sent frantic messages to Sayed Ahmed complaining of the scandalous behaviour of the Siwans and imploring him to return. The Siwans at the same time sent letters to Sayed Ahmed with complaints against his sheikhs who had stayed in Siwa to keep order. The messengers met on the road and journeyed together till they came uponThe History of Siwa 129 Sayed Ahmed and his party between Dakhla and Siwa. They handed their letters to the sheikh and he read them together. The news of the “ goings-on ” at Siwa hastened his return. Once again he established himself in the Kasr Hassuna. Here he indulged in severe religious observances and urged the people to pray for divine help against the Unbelievers who had destroyed the Senussi army on the coast. In January Sayed Ahmed and Mohammed Saleh, his second in command, were considering retiring to Jerabub, so as to be still further away from the British. On the 2nd of February a force of armoured cars, lorries and light cars arrived a few miles north of Girba, a little oasis in a deep rocky valley north-west of Siwa. On the following day the cars successfully descended the pass and attacked the enemy camp at Girba. The Senussi were absolutely astounded. They had already learnt to fear the British cars, but they never for one moment thought it possible that a large force of motors could dash across the desert from the coast, almost 200 miles, and attack them in their stronghold. Owing to the rocky ground the cars were unable to get at close quarters with the enemy. The action lasted a whole day. The Senussi, who numbered about 800, were under the command of Mohammed Saleh, and another force of about 500 men were at Siwa with Sayed Ahmed. At the first alarm the Grand Sheikh bundled himself and his belong- ings on to camels and fled frantically over the sand- dunes towards Jerabub, followed by a straggling K poe rr ester ie seed] pavnd pee ee' po srerrrey ie Eyrerereeryy AE 4 et. tt G 2B! 1 5 iS Bt 3 'coronas rarnesss ped pow weed SL Ay Stes Or Nesetgre sees eee petra reacts oe ~eaerare rah dest Pye ee RPE Trt sot opens ss Ets teretre srosnaees on etto Sit ootesi eens it t LPL se mend So pe pehs webs AF ob hee? | Tere here r ; ps beet rte ree pers teres A bepe thoes pp obes ps posoeeg ree sistebs tet atet i peperes sor teehee bor seeboetr RTS AINA SUIE SL neece SOMA RLS LAS LIMMREL IF Lies ices peepee tse —sedLL “ Sirs ranisaee 130 Siwa mob of Arabs. On the evening of the 4th the enemy began to retire from their position at Girba, burning arms and ammunition before evacuating, and on the 5th of February the cars entered Siwa and the British force was received by the sheikhs and notables at the Markaz with expressions of relief and goodwill. The column left the town on the same day and reached “‘ Concentration Point,” north of Girba, on the following day. Another detachment had been sent to a pass above the western end of the oasis in order to intercept the fugitives, but only a few cars were able to get down from the high country above, but the one Light Car Patrol which did descend managed to cut off a number of the enemy who were retreating to the west. On the 8th February the whole column went back to Sollum. The enemy’s losses were 40 killed, including 2 Senussi officers, and 200 wounded, including 5 Turkish officers. Sayed Ahmed and Mohammed Saleh both escaped, but after this crush- ing defeat, and the capture of the Siwa oasis, all danger from the Senussi forces was at an end. Some time previously, after the occupation of Sollum by the British, information was found as to the whereabouts of the prisoners from the Tara, who had been joined by the survivors of the Moorina, who had also landed on the coast and had been captured by the Arabs. A force of armoured cars and other cars, under the command of the Duke of Westminster, set off on the 17th from Sollum with a native guide. They dashed across the desert to BirThe History of Siwa 131 Hakim, rescued the prisoners and brought them back to Sollum, having travelled across some 120 miles of unknown desert and attacked an enemy whose numbers they did not know. This gallant enterprise was perhaps the most brilliant affair which occurred during the operations on the Western Desert. The Duke of Westminster received the D.S.O. for his exploit, and was recommended for the Victoria Cross. After the capture of Siwa there was no more fight- ing on the Western Desert. Sollum, Matruh and the various stations on the coast were garrisoned with British infantry, gunners and Camel Corps, and a standing camp of Light Cars was made at Siwa, where they remained for some time. The F.D.A. took over the Administration of the Western Desert, and gradually the garrisons were withdrawn and replaced by F.D.A. Camel Corps. To-day there only remains one small detachment of Light Car Patrols in the fort at Sollum. Sayed Ahmed and Mohammed Saleh were never captured. The Grand Sheikh’s progress terminated on the Tripoli coast, where he was met by a Turkish submarine and carried over to Constantinople. He was received by the Sultan and has remained there ever since, an exile from his native land, probably regretting that he ever allowed himself to be per- suaded to throw in his lot with the Turks. Sayed Ahmed did not distinguish himself in this campaign. Whenever he thought that the fighting was too near he hurriedly retired to some more distant place. His cowardly conduct was to a Less} irbetegpsneesiysgsters ees esate tal tint ithe eerortieter ore Fae iB 7 re bid pee ded el et srribursi genre tt SSS +ooseaes - , —— acon = 7 - Ups eyes . . Seolshyoslabens Leap ferences, eee eO SS Sea eer eT Tar etae> P| pmo mewe beet opi betel pa 55s Sarees serps nt rem ah elphth thepewentye: 4 pores | coder hd ets teeters Fy Tt sseptatagsabessPirsanenetiteiiassiitestoeseeatb init etetores cers rEPEdt tt Pett Ssbe reeehses pees een + cass bhayest bil agucesartybidveccecreree sees hid Litre. bepeecestersbed bidaees 4 rhe eho khe pes Shope py opagigas ly | espe lise Eri pases SeeSE rl Tintes fi eas Lhest Bet re beogoks at heesebpe rescests bs se evert re vemrerhey ip) pec habersen res esas 5 1 ag ES obairisiserntirerseteeeitipgasstiiinis isateet tht by rower sit bedi Pepere rE a Ledaterneyy Tri peu: bia betes leneg/mabta ra es i es i spzaeie betceesciaee beatin! elespesepertrei== en aetna Pane eet eeMeretiptatecsteostasetoes ismilinitinaietliote sok castel-tepetebetetactetotes ersiter} Hy ae 1 iE fe 4-4 i rt Priees ee 132 Siwa certain extent responsible for the failure of his troops; he never took part in the fighting and never led them in person. His behaviour was very different to that of Ali Dinar, Sultan.of Darfur, in the Sudan, who was also persuaded by the Turks to rebel against the English at the same time. The latter showed considerable personal courage, and was killed on the field at the end of the war. Sayed Ahmed was succeeded by his cousin, Sidi Mohammed Idris, the son of Mohammed el Madhi, who had always shown himself to be strongly pro-British, and had carefully refrained from taking any part in the Senussi rising and the subsequent campaign. An agreement was drawn up by the British and the Italians which arranged that Idris should be respon- sible for keeping order inland, and that he should receive money and assistance. This arrangement has been in force up to now, and is in every way a success.H , iy > - * 3 y nn = _—— —— <.. SHEIKH MOHAMMED IDRIS, THE CHIEF OF THE SENUSSI ~ . a a a roth rps siesasese 14 be Merges errr rr it af iCHAPTER IV SIWA TOWN “Through sun-proof alleys, In a lone, sand hemm’d City of Africa.” IWA town is like no other place that I have seen either in Egypt, Palestine or the Sudan. It is built on a great rock in the centre of the oasis, and from a distance it resembles an ancient castle whose rugged battlements tower above the forests of waving palm trees, and the rich green cultivation. It is somewhat similar to St. Michael’s Mount, but the inside of the town reminds one more of those enormous ant hills which are found in Central Africa. The houses are built of mud, mixed with salt, with occasional large blocks of stone from the temples let into the walls. The builder works without a line, gradually adding to the wall, sitting astride the part which he has completed, so few of the walls are straight. Another architec- tural peculiarity is that owing to the necessity of constructing walls thicker at the base than at the top most of the houses, especially the minarets of the mosques, become narrower towards the summit. The houses are built one above the other against the face of the rock, and the outer walls form one great 133 > m4 haps rl iia neppacsurrect, acarsett 3) fp PeSRESaRa ncitnd bb hbase th pie Tas east ee tia eeesiat ere! beosSsesttesihge a aCe STer tp pesekctinl ecleletetans sats speliii rs terstts = rer peoareet bebeies [pp ti rest mane iy Hess ike teas Toot pilalistrrersesetet brorpe seas bets LiFe nesye yf popp peers perpen sect "4 rr srt eresetl Ola rASSnaneeOaT tele tteety ace sersSebesstaletioastt ess Terie etereeay rebel thie beret pear ge ALE i Pe | : arr sg tes passes yaa. senses oy otrNi134 Siwa line of battlements, pierced by little groups of windows, encircling the town, and rising sheer above the ground, in some places to a height of almost 200 feet. The original site of the town was the summit and sides of two limestone rocks which rise abruptly from the level of the plain; but as the population increased more houses were built on the top of the old ones, and the town, instead of spreading, began to ascend into the air, house upon house, street upon street, and quarter upon quarter, till it became more like a bee-hive than a town. Fathers built houses for their sons above the parental abode, till their great-grandsons reached a dizzy height on the topmost battlements. The mud of which the walls were built gradually hardened and became almost of the consistency of the original rock. In course of time the inside of the town has become a vast warren of houses connected by steep, twisting tunnels, very similar to the workings in a coal mine, where one needs to carry a light even in daytime, and two persons can scarcely walk abreast. This labyrinthine maze of dark, narrow passages, with little low doors of split palm logs opening into them from the tenements above, forms the old town of Siwa. In some places the walls are partly ruined and one gets little views of the green oasis, or the lower part of the town with its flat roofs and square enclosures, framed by the jagged ruined masonry. It took me nearly two years to know my way about this part of the town, at the expense of hittingSiwa Town 135 my head many times against the palm log beams supporting the low roofs which are in most cases only about 5 feet high. This human warren is surprisingly clean and free from the smells that one would expect in a place where there is such an absence of light and ventila- tion. One of the most curious things that one notices is the subdued hum of human voices, from invisible people, and the perpetual sound of stone- grinding mills, above, below and all around. When one meets people, groping along these tortuous passages, they loom into sight, silently, white robed, like ghosts, and pass with a murmured greeting to their gloomy homes. It is a great relief after stoop- ing and slipping and barking one’s shins to reach the open roof on the highest tower of the town where, for a moment, the brilliant sunlight dazzles one’s eyes, accustomed to the murky gloom of the lower regions. When, on rare occasions, I had visitors, I used always to take them up to see the view from the highest battlements, with a few stout Sudanese Camel Corps men to help pull, push and propel the sightseers. But most of them, especially the elderly colonel type, were too hot and exhausted to appreciate the view when they finally arrived, so I eventually kept this “‘ sight” for only the most active visitors. High up in the heart of the town, in a little open space surrounded by tall grim houses, there is an ancient well cut out of the solid rock. It contains excellent water. Apparently there is a spring in the a Mii chica eres rT a peice os bei belie ae reece eee ecedeatecebentddiiaarer ee eet errerestens as ; i f bri tes tre te slit cage bs Lae: teepbeaereneke p risacmy fo TESUlity SESH RSHt UG Linget besteanwetdboees ayers ; a! : : } q ii S ra Las 3: a) "a speret te itathbertest?sabes pease atl secre ee ts srsssay Hides inn sy panes 136 Siwa centre of the rock which supplies the well, and two smaller ones close by. Half-way down the well, about 30 feet from the top, just above the level of the water, there is a small entrance, wide enough to admit a boy, which leads into a narrow tunnel bored through the rock, terminating in the precincts of a mosque on the level ground. Nobody has traversed this passage for many years, owing to fear of snakes —which certainly exist, also jinns and afreets. The tunnel is about 150 yards long, and must have taken years to complete, but it is difficult to guess its original object. This old well is specially popular with women, as by drawing water here they can avoid going out to the springs where they would necessarily meet with men. Often when I passed out from the narrow entrance of a passage I would see a dozen women busy with their pitchers, veils cast aside, laughing and thattering—in a moment, like magic, every one would have silently vanished, and only the eyes peering from the adjoining windows would show any signs of life. Below the old high town, huddled at the base of the mighty walls, there are more houses, and these, too, are surrounded by an outer wall. Beyond this more modern houses have been built when there was less fear of raids from hostile Arabs. Most of the sheikhs and the rich merchants have deserted the high town and built large, comfortable houses down below, or among the gardens in the adjoining suburbs of Sebukh and Manshia. Many of them have also country houses, where they retire in theSiwa [Town 137 summer when the heat in the town becomes intoler- able, on their estates in different parts of the oasis. Residences of sheikhs and notables are distinguished by a strip of whitewash across the front, but woe betide a poor man if he decorates his house in a like manner. Tombs of sheikhs and holy men are whitewashed all over every year, at public expense. One of the most wealthy, and most unpopular, merchants covered the whole of his house with whitewash. This innovation caused grave dis- approval among the conservative sheikhs of Siwa. They complained to me, saying that from time immemorial the notables had distinguished their houses by the strip of whitewash, but nobody had ever whitened the whole house—therefore nobody should! When a few days later some thieves broke into the “‘ whitewashed sepulchre ” and stole twelve pounds, the whole population agreed that it was a just retribution on unseemly pride. The three date markets are large walled-in squares where every merchant and family have a space to spread their dates for sale; one of them is common, the other two belong to east and west respectively. There is a little house by the entrance of each market where an old Sudanese watchman lives, paid in kind by contributions from everybody who uses the market. In the autumn thousands of Arabs come from Egypt and the west to buy dates, which are considered among the best in Egypt. Round the markets there are enclosures for camels and lodgings for the Arabs, who are only tolerated in the town berergihteteretes Citra sitssteersreree «be berpes ders ii ERT Ty b+ te aa i Sten rah ' = Sa teteeeese Tees tect tira e ieee br bbvyad sabdaeso coves brsens i SaRSsTars Teche eine bee eee oP Seat eea aT atpiambebesiteseosetec seit See hectare ete teri eee sires a eteisizesteesttssbegeasit ares mci 1 pea Pe ean hg SepE ee neereeer ey rT) a = 44> eka [hreteceetebitor teri perry rors Per errs penees eo eeereres' estaseeina| ot a SLA ee cas rebatseetsscs138 Siwa because they come to trade. At the height of the season there is a busy scene. Hundreds of white- robed Arabs wander among the heaps of red, brown and yellow dates, arguing and bargaining loudly, while their camels gurgle and snarl outside, and over everything there rises a swarm of flies. Half-naked negroes toil and sweat as they load the camels with white palm-leaf baskets pressed down and full with sticky dates. Lively diversions occur when a shrill- voiced she-camel shakes off her load and runs wildly through the crowd, scattering the people, with her long neck stretched out like an agitated goose. Arab ponies squeal and shriek, donkeys bray and the pariah dogs snarl and yelp. There is a custom in Siwa that anybody may eat freely from the dates in the markets, but nobody is allowed to take any away ; so the beggars, who are very numerous, crawl in among the buyers, clutching greedily with filthy hands at the best dates, and adding their whining complaints to the general din. Also all the dogs, children, chickens, goats and pigeons feed from the dates before the owners sell them. The most popular form of date food is a sort of “‘ mush,” which consists of a solid mass of compressed dates with most, but not all, of the stones removed. I used to like dates, but after an hour in the markets one never wishes to eat another. The square white tomb of Sidi Suliman dominates the date markets. Although not actually a mosque it is the most venerated building in Siwa. Around it there are a few white tombstones, and on most nightsSiwa Lown 139 the building is illuminated with candles burnt by votaries at the shrine of the saint. Close by there is a large unfinished mosque which was built by the ex-Khedive, who left off the work owing to lack of funds. Mosques in Siwa are conspicuous by their curious minarets, which remind one of small factory chimneys, or brick kilns; otherwise they are very similar to houses, except that they generally include a large court with a roof supported by mud pillars. In several of the mosques there are schools, and one sees a number of small boys sitting on the ground, with bored expressions, droning long verses of the Koran in imitation of the old sheikh who teaches them. Lately the ‘“‘ Powers that Be” decided that a regular school would be beneficial to the youth of Siwa. With some difficulty I secured a building and ateacher. The school began in great style. Almost every boy in the town attended. They learnt reading and writing, and after sunset they did “ physical jerks ” and drill, marching round the market square, much to the admiration of their parents. But the novelty palled. Attendance diminished. Attendance at school was to be quite voluntary, so I could do nothing. In about a month it had ceased to exist, and the little boys sat again at the feet of the old sheikhs in the mosque schools. Such is the conservatism of Siwa. Shopping in Siwa is very simple. Each shop is a general shop and contains exactly the same as the others. Prices do not vary, so one deals exclusively140 Siwa with one merchant ; the shops are sprinkled about the town and the customers of each are the people who live nearest. The shops themselves are hardly noticeable. There is no display of goods, nothing in fact to distinguish a shop. One enters a little door and the room inside looks rather more like a storeroom than a living room; sometimes there is a rough counter, some shelves and a weighing machine, but measures consist mostly of little baskets which are recognized as containing certain quantities. The sacks and cases round the room contain flour, beans, tea, rice and sugar; in one corner there are some rolls of calico and a bundle of coloured handkerchiefs hung on a nail from the ceiling. In the storeroom which opens out of the shop there are more sacks, tins of oil, and perhaps a bundle of bedouin blankets. Yet some of the Siwan mer- chants clear over a thousand pounds a year by their shops and a little trade in dates. Egyptian money is used, the silver being much preferred to the paper currency, and credit is allowed, which enables the merchants to obtain mortgages and eventually possession of some of their customers’ gardens. The merchants’ wives attend to the lady customers. There is a side door in every shop which leads to an upper room, and here the Siwan ladies buy their clothes, served by the wife or mother of the mer- chant. Their purchases are mainly “ kohl” for darkening the eyes, henna for ornamenting fingers and hands, silver ornaments, soft scarlet leatherSiwa Town 141 shoes and boots, blue cotton material manufactured at Kerdassa, near Gizeh, grey shawls, silks for embroidery, dyes for colouring baskets and very expensive flashy silk handkerchiefs made in Man- chester, which they wear round their heads when indoors. Some of the merchants’ wives sell charms and amulets besides clothes. The women are very conservative in their fashions, only certain colours being worn. I once wanted a piece of green material to use in making a flag. I sent to every single shop in the town, but without success. However, it caused great excitement, and I heard, on the follow- ing day, that the gossips of the town had come to the conclusion that I was going to marry, and the green stuff was to be part of the lady’s trousseau. They were disappointed. There is nothing in Siwa that compares with the gorgeous bazaars of Cairo, or the gaily decked shops in the markets of provincial towns. These dark little shops have no colour, only a queer, rather pleasant smell, a potpourri of incense, spices, herbs, onions, olive oil and coffee. Meat is bought direct from the butchers, who combine and kill a sheep or a camel. Sugar and tea are the most popular necessi- ties on the market. During the war, and for some time after, there was a sugar shortage. The supply for Siwa arrived at the coast, but rarely reached the oasis. When a small quantity did reach Siwa it was bought up immediately, and the merchants who obtained it took to gross profiteering. The price of an oke (24 Ibs.) reached as much as 40 piastres (8s.), at one if a conte bara octets besitaiiasoe Ford raha hos TS ras rarer meettihetsear iti teiste142 Siwa which in Egypt is an excessively high price. Eventu- ally the sale of sugar was supervised by the Govern- ment and sugar tickets were issued. Even then there were cases of sugar being smuggled across the frontier to Tripoli, where the shortage was even more severe. Arabs or Siwans are simply miserable if they have to go without sugar in their tea. It makes them cross and tiresome, and they say them- selves that it injures their health. For the rest people depend on their garden produce, on dates, onions, fruit and coarse native bread. The women make their own clothes, and generally their husbands’ too, sometimes weaving the wool for the long ** jibbas,” worn by the working men, on rough hand- looms. There is a carpenter in the town and several masons, but as a shopping “ centre ” Siwa is not much of a catch. Although Siwan houses are unprepossessing from the outside their interiors are comparatively comfort- able. What I personally objected to was the exceed- ing lowness of the doors, and yet the Siwans on the whole are tall. They told me that doors were made small for the sake of warmth. Roughly the houses are built on the usual Arab pattern; on the ground floor there are storerooms, stables, and servants’ quarters, upstairs there are guest-rooms, harem, and living rooms. The entrance hall has seats of mud similar to the walls, and is usually screened from sight by a corner inside the door. Stairs are steep and narrow with sudden sharp turnings; they are always pitch dark, as only the rooms in the outerSiwa Town 143 walls receive any light. Each house consists of two or three storeys and above them there is an open roof, sometimes with several rooms built on to it. The old houses of the high town are different, only those on the topmost level have open roofs. The immense thickness of the walls makes the houses cool in summer when the temperature often reaches 112 degrees in the shade, and warm in winter when icy winds sweep down from the high desert plateau. The rooms in the houses of the better classes are large and high, lit by little square windows, which are made in groups of three, one above and two below in order not to put unnecessary strain on the masonry. Each window has four divisions with a shutter to each division ; these shuttersare kept open in summer- time. The windows are very low, a few feet above the level of the floor, which allows people sitting on the ground to see out of them. The ceilings are made of palm trunks covered with rushes and a layer of mud; the ends of the trunks, if they are too long, project nme the walls and serve as pegs on which to hang bundles of bones to avert the “ Evil Eye.” Mud, which becomes as hard as cement, is used not only for the walls, but for the stairs, the divans, ovens, and most of the kitchen utensils. Old stone coffins, discovered near the temple or in some of the rock tombs, are utilized as water-troughs in most houses. The floors are covered with palm matting, and an occasional old Turkish or Persian Carpet ; the divans are furnished with a few cushions, white bolster-like objects, or beautifully stamped Se aa ie - Ses EDSTSSSES TS LGT REGTT pT eee Bee eee eee er ne ME Be eed oa b resspeetstetiiyiis Lotcoreesqeerecoreyrasy arverr ery reste at) ea ee] thasses pea sirstis x 7 is! a i pOROS RABIES TS Sata os ar sata bees sheaths RLAIT ue sancidnbes poegruneiiisi eis sbiiies MM Sananotepeuets ee TEES | bisededpcpeee ede bets Pemariietietr een TeeenT Tee a rovaeas powephens | eal slbl ey Hague. ~ ps tubenebarsaeebideteit vstrterehion! bapsse is epecepeneenirer es reer rer yy: pgeceenebeserrysetjentee retires ie | Fa i i | at144 Siwa leather from the Sudan. The walls are whitewashed and sometimes ornamented with crude coloured frescoes, and in almost every room there are several heavy wooden chests, handsomely carved, sometimes of great age, which are used for keeping valuables. Occasionally one sees a couple of chairs and a round tin table, like those which are used outside cafés, but personally I have always felt much more comfortable sitting cross-legged on a heap of cushions near the window than perched up on a rickety chair above my hosts. A brass tray, a low round table, a few baskets and an earthenware lamp hanging on the wall, com- pletes the furniture of a guest-room. I have spent many pleasant hours sitting in one of these high rooms looking out over the feathery palm trees and watching the colours change as the sun sank behind the mountains, gossiping to some old sheikh, puffing a cigarette, and drinking little cups of sweet, green tea. In summer-time the people sleep on the flat roofs of their houses, which for that reason are surrounded by low mud walls to ensure privacy from the neigh- bours. They lie on the roofs, men, women and children, always with their faces covered from the moon, because they say moonlight on sleeping faces causes madness. In the daytime the women gossip on the housetops and carry on intrigues, for there is nothing easier than hopping over the walls from one roof to the other, and it is not considered comme il faut for husbands to frequent the roofs in daytime, Often when I climbed up to the citadel and lookedROOK EASTERN AN FROM QUARTER WESTERN DHESiwa Town 145 down over the town I saw a group of girls sitting on the roofs, generally singing and dressing each other’s hair. When they caught sight of an intruder watch- ing them from above they bolted down the steep Stairs like rabbits to their burrows. One sees real rabbits, too. Almost all the natives breed them, and for saf. ty’s sake they are kept on the housetops. One of the features of Siwa town are the “ Du- lulas,” or sun shelters. They consist of spaces shaded from the sun by a roof of rushes and mud, supported by mud pillars. Often in the centre there is a stone basin containing water, which is kept always full at the expense of one of the sheikhs in memory of a deceased relation. Here the grey- beards of the town assemble in the evenings, strangers sit and gossip when they visit the town, and the Camel Corps men wander through to hear the latest news. It is a sort of public club, and one hears even more gossip than at a club at home. The largest of these sun shelters has become a little market, and a few decrepit old men spread out their wares in its shade— a few baskets, a dozen Onions, an old silk, tattered waistcoat and some red pepper would be the stock- in-trade of one of these hawkers. What they say in the “suk” corresponds to the “ bazaar talk” in India, and it is incredible how soon the most secret facts are known there. The Siwans are a distinct race quite apart from the Arabs of the Western Desert, but in appearance they differ very slightly from their bedouin neighbours. Owing to their isolated dwelling-place they have L pa AS EEET ESE + ee ory SU Te ice ee erent: iy peg ba begesbe bps obeash Ror eT Srarieistn init tees eee re ment eben Serr etayh u Oe eh eee ied issi a fi ao = is pas ages is pase d- sii gun ig od! 5, fé : STAT yeeel tears’ crea) Hatire ea) eed ee 3 38 EI EI cr ried Hse an146 Siwa retained their original language, which appears to be an aboriginal Berber dialect. They are unquestion- ably the remnants of an aboriginal people of Berber stock, but constant intermarriage with outsiders has obliterated any universal feature in their appearance, and through intermarriage with Sudanese they have acquired a darker complexion and in some few cases negroid features. On the whole one does not see the Arab type, or the Fellah, or the Coptic type among the Siwans. The men are tall and powerfully built, with slightly fairer complexions than the Arabs. In some cases they have light straight hair and blue eyes, and one whole family has red hair and pink cheeks, though they themselves do not know where this originated. Most of the younger men are singularly ugly and have a fierce and bestial expression, but with age they improve, and the elders of the town are pleasant, dignified-looking men, though effeminate in their manners. The children are pallid and unhealthy in appearance. The Siwans have high cheek-bones, straight noses, and short, weak chins. They are very conceited and think much of their looks; on feast days even the oldest men darken their eyes with “kohl” and soak themselves with evil-smelling scent. The wealthy Siwans wear the usual Arab dress— white robes, a long silk shawl twisted round the body and flung over one shoulder, a soft red, blue- tasselled cap and yellow leather shoes. On gala days they appear in brilliant silks from Cairo, and colouredSiwa Town 147 robes from Tripoli and Morocco, but on ordinary occasions the predominating colour is white. The servants and labourers, who form the bulk of the population, and include many Sudanese who were brought from the south as slaves, wear a long white shirt, white drawers, a skull cap and sometimes a curious sack-like garment made of locally spun wool ornamented by brightly coloured patterns in silk or dye. Siwa is the only place in Egypt where one does not see the natives apeing European dress or slouch- ing about in khaki trousers or tunics—remnants of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force. The women are small and slender, and very pale Owing to the inactivity of strict seclusion. The palest women are the most admired. Their large black eyes are ornamented with “ kohl,” and their small hands are tinted with henna. In public they wear a universal dress which is quite distinctive. It consists of a dark blue striped robe, reaching below the knees, with full sleeves, cut square and embroidered round the neck, white drawers with a strip of embroidery round the ankles, and a large Square grey shawl with a dark blue border, which covers them when they go abroad. Their ornaments consist of innumerable silver ear-rings, with bunches of silver chains and little bells, silver bangles, anklets, and necklaces. An unmarried girl is distinguished by a “ virginity disc,” which is an engraved silver disc about the size of a saucer, suspended round the neck by a heavy silver ring. These rings are generally very old and beautifully engraved with a mh el , Se TUSTIN ese te tee tence abe. pte erty rt TY: saieitiietiiee wreas erthestsbictstetasd seal tt peas baal ryt: TSser trees " ri - estes set NOVA POUNIRT TSA TAOS 75, 8 at8b io hen nas aperpiater yest Tetetecedersteetlynrirers rte my re te bhezowt see ik eaasssie sy. 3634 ES isi ee eetaeal fee cou wu 5 bes ik bore bteeneoess bt. a Heb edeng ys pee? geen otter we rf Pylabel a piscictestesntredibeceseriseenb Criitsst veer aaa 2 oe ee rrr sere Ty ]) 42 chotesete. Teeeee este histns recerecs: tithe? pesery : A! i 4 ai a pat bY pe 4 if f it #3)148 Siwa arabesques. When a Siwan woman is wearing all her silver ornaments she tinkles like a tinsmith’s cart, but her husband poetically compares her to a caparisoned pony. Their general appearance is quite pleasing, but they are very unlike the hand- some, healthy-looking Arab women of the coast. At home the wealthier women wear coloured silks and richer clothes. They wear their straight black hair thickly oiled and dressed in a complicated coiffure. A fringe of short curls hangs above the eyes, and a number of plaited braids are worn on each side of the face, like the fringe of a mop. Strips of scarlet leather are twisted into the tresses, which must always be of an uneven number, and on the ends of the leather are hung silver bells, rings and amulets. One of the first travellers to Siwa remarked on the strength of an ear that could bear such heavy silver ear-rings, but instead of hanging from the actual ear the rings are fastened to a leather band across the top of the head. All the material for women’s clothes is made by one family of Egyptian merchants at Kerdassa, near the Pyramids. One brother has a shop in Siwa, and the others live in Egypt. Owing to this the price of clothing is very great, yet none of the Siwan mer- chants have ever considered setting up an opposition trade. Women of the upper classes rarely appear in public during the day, except at funerals, when hundreds of them squat round the house, like a crowd of grey crows, howling and shrieking. When one rides pastSiwa Town 149 they hop up from the ground and run a few steps, with long grey shawls trailing behind them on the ground, and then they squat down again, like vul- tures scared off a carcase. They never work in the fields or drive the flocks to pasturage like the Arab women, or the fellahin, but occupy themselves in making baskets, or pottery, and in household duties. When one woman calls on another she wears all the clothes she possesses, and gradually discards them in order to impress the people she is visiting with her wealth. When I met a woman in the streets she would scuttle into the nearest doorway, or if there was not one handy she would pull a shawl over her face and flatten herself against a wall; even hideous old harridans affected an ecstasy of shyness on seeing an Englishman. Hardly any of the women can speak Arabic, and it is owing to their strange secretive lives that the Siwans have retained their language and are so unprogressive to-day. They resolutely oppose all innovations, refusing even the help and advice of the Egyptian Government doctor. It is to their influence as mothers that the women owe what power they have, because Siwan men care very little for their wives. Most men keep one wife only at a time, but they often marry as many as twenty or thirty, if they can afford to, divorcing each one when she ceases to please. The Siwans are typically Oriental. They are hos- pitable, dishonest, lazy, picturesque, ignorant, super- stitious, cheerful, cunning, easily moved to joy or anger, fond of intrigue and ultra conservative. They : pepe Se rau: Src: - = ~ sear shahaadyy bald esse: ae oH =: SESE rome spevorsel talelesgy eee ape feats a ; . ott breyeds by ap seenrtF ts asitietitetets itr " pyres bers . seeetabatesty oo peaeveciseenss (ate ib aan, peteae ss» 5s a peer te ETEIST: egcacdres heey Fi Es i 3 t i a eee Ppeottrrsistintiretestrsstiectiattt spe PT TT - Ppesersepesescssseseeere es te eet settee TT) moa powers t4 ets Tit pad $6545) Fo reve vores pyeesrite etter Bare pee tert etree Seeley testi tte sdeteoetsebtatoertanee> yeaa ry r=) pesaeursrees reves thbeswrreoe be aber150 Siwa are not immoral, they simply have no morals. The men are notoriously degenerate and resemble in their habits the Pathans of India. They seem to consider that every vice and indulgence is lawful. It is strange that these people who are among the most fanatical Mohammedans of Africa should have become the most vicious. Yet most of the Siwans are Senussi, members of that Mohammedan sect which corresponds in a way to the Puritanism of Christianity. It advocates a simple and abstemious life, and condemns severely smoking, drinking and luxury. Yet the most religious sheikhs are generally the most flagrantly outrageous. In spite of their unenviable reputation the Siwans are quite satisfied with themselves, and speak with tolerant pity of the Arabs and the Sudanese. The Siwan Sudanese have become like their original masters, and do not seem to object to being called “slaves,” but there are constantly furious rows between the natives and the Camel Corps originating with the word “ slave” being used with reference to the latter. The Arabs, and to a greater extent the Siwans, consider themselves very superior to the Sudanese who, until quite recently, they could buy and sell. The population is divided into two classes, the one consisting of the sheikhs, merchants and land- owners, the other of the servants and labourers. The former class is an all-powerful minority. There is no middle class. There is also a religious division ; the Senussi predominate in numbers, butSiwa lTown 151 the Medinia sect is the richest. The latter sect is said to be the successor of the Wahhabi con- fraternity; it is connected with the Dirkawi, which was founded by Sheikh Arabi el Dirkawi. It was established about one hundred years ago by Sheikh Zafer el Medani, who was born at Medina in Arabia. His doctrines found favour in Tripoli and were adopted by the Siwans some time before the arrival of the Senussi, and Sheikh Zafer himself visited Siwa on several occasions. The two sects are very similar. The Medinia have still several religious centres in Egypt and Tripoli, but they lost ground considerably on the advent of Senussiism. In spite of their similarities the two sects are by no means well disposed to each other. Membership is hereditary, and no one has been known to change from one party to the other. They have their own mosques, sheikhs and funds, and on religious festivals they hold their meetings in different parts of the town. I used always to make a point of visiting the gatherings of each sect. There are two other less important religious bodies known as the “‘ Arusia ” and the ‘“‘ Sudania,” but they only consist of a few dozen old men who perform strange dances on festivals in honour of their particular saints. The Siwans are very religious, more so than the average Arab, but this is probably owing to the fact that their mosques are conveniently near, and if one is absent from mosque the neighbours notice, and talk about it!* One has heard of such things at home. espe REE TRS Te SeR TTT eae Teena pea eeeee eeee Tae ye fee ee ie oe - ro aed oa Sue a oor ‘TT, M rt “ Tr of pa tet vt b+ ey coat beers nee setit)is)s aoe = am] Tr peatiesetgaytelotest tele UT tas as 4 coud abe fritters! beet Lerten ys by Se UL tore th ms fParect sores redienrestris bares) rere: Trek platebelesy tecery) & pr Tae 4 Fe 5 z _ be + “ae ARRAS at rob mee ft perTae 4 PEE ipee mere epererebeoses srotrte i " vexnate wae its tate eer C “ PS sear tE Sesig Pie St reree ome Bb LOOM EY eect stra citeal rey pp blogananhedtteves borrr pests paosgavesfosescoritievorregrerccou ss Faseceta pet oreserrete tbeetesebey ts tt pacatatees ; orate t pend $6 podeoyes pepeiesessys) enh iad Pee reer eT ee ee rer re errr Hepear tc Sepepeorss Pi beies weeerer ie baby See et ace152 Siwa The prosperity of the people depends almost en- tirely on the date harvest. The date groves, which form the wealth of the Oasis, are watered by some two hundred fresh-water springs. The water rises through natural fissures, or artificial bore-holes, from a sandstone bed about 400 feet below the surface. The largest springs, such as the “ Fountain of the Sun,” measure as much as 50 yards in diameter, with a depth of about 40 feet. Each basin is fed by a group of little water-holes, and the water comes up from the ground sometimes in continuous streams of bubbles, and sometimes with sudden bursts, so the surface seems constantly moving. There is a theory that an underground river flows east towards the Nile and its water comes to the surface in the various oases between Egypt and Tripoli. The fact that Siwa lies considerably below the level of the desert plateau, and even below sea-level, supports this theory. Or possibly the water comes from the high desert plateau north of Siwa, where there is a heavy rainfall; but the water supply never varies, and has never been known to run dry. The water in the springs differs considerably. In some it is very brackish, in others it is quite sweet, and some springs are~flavoured with sulphur; again, some Springs are warm, and others are several degrees colder, so one can chose a bathing-place, hot or cold, according to inclination. Many springs, often the Sweetest ones, rise a few feet away from the salt marshes, and one spring, which used to be salt, has now become sweet. The largest springs are edgedSiwa Town 153 to a certain depth with squared stones and blocks of masonry, which looks as if it might have been finished yesterday, though it was probably built almost a thousand years ago. The basins are gener- ally round, shaded by a ring of palm trees, beyond which lie the gardens. The sides of the basins have been gradually built higher and higher, so that the surface of the water is now several feet above the level ground, and little brooks run down from the spring heads into the gardens in all directions. They are regulated by rough sluice gates, made generally of a large flat stone, which is removed to allow the water to flow, and replaced, with a plaster of mud, when the water is no longer needed. Each spring forms the nucleus of a garden which belongs to a number of different people. The gardens are divided into little beds of a uniform size, about 8 feet square, lying an inch or two lower than the level of the ground. These beds are known as “ hods.” When the water is flowing the labourer goes in turn to each “hod” and scoops a passage with his hands connecting the “ hod ” with the water channel, which is on a higher level, then he makes a rough dam across the channel so that the water flows into the “hod ” and fills iti; afterwards he closes the entrance of the “ hod ” with a handful of mud, pushes aside the mud dam, and the stream flows on to the next “ hod,”’ where the same thing occurs. I have seen little boys at | the seaside doing just the same sort of thing. In et seh 2 ao — bests — : a eae - SE ao a ae bat eer HET a iay ht teen) seh abarkeas : s ATi ede sratseltrtac setts ht eleseed peueenatnsateee stan cag) tree Preheat soe site Tats asece tag acai eda t peewee etre bee te ’ PETE pebadal srilieiysooren te ehe bent ys the Fakir ioet art ee ar rier orate ori bec oreoerdin ret ath guereeragereers T~ rs i i zt eee etree a rf rf i! + eeiertiectert Biers itr erce otal | i :ety earl 154 Siwa some cases two water channels cross, and then one of them flows through a hollowed palm trunk. The cultivation round every spring is made up of a number of gardens owned by different men, some of them consisting of no more than half a dozen palm trees and a couple of “ hods.” All the ground is watered by the central spring, so a careful water system has been evolved by which the water is divided and portioned out to each piece of garden. For each spring there is a ponderous tome called “ Daftar el Ain”—the Book of the Spring, which records the exact quantity of water, or rather the time of water, that each garden is allowed. This is followed with the greatest care by the Keeper of the Spring, who regulates the irrigation, and is paid by the owners of the adjoining garden in proportion to the number of trees that they own. Each day is divided into two halves, from sunrise to sunset, and sunset to sunrise; this again is subdivided into eighths, and each subdivision is called a “‘ wagabah.” Thus if Osman Daud’s garden receives an allowance of four “ wagabah ”’ every other day, it means that he receives the full strength of the water from the springs for twelve hours on consecutive days. When one buys a garden the water rights are included, but men often sell part of their water right to a neighbour, this, of course, being recorded in the Book of the Spring, which is kept by one of the sheikhs. The “‘ Ghaffir el Ain,”’ or Guardian of the Spring, takes his time from the call of the muezzin, or in distant gardens by the sun and the stars. AtSiwa [Town 155 night a special muezzin calls from one of the mosques for the benefit of the watchmen on the springs out in the gardens. The system has been in force for so many centuries that there are very rarely any disputes on the subject. All questions are referred to the books, which serve also as records of ownership of the gardens. Each Siwan, however poor, keeps a book of his own in which he enters, or rather pays a scribe to record, an account of his property. It states the boundaries, number of trees and water rights of his garden. When a man buys a garden he writes down the particulars in his “‘ daftar,” and this is signed by the person who sold the garden, and witnessed by several responsible sheikhs or “‘ nas tayebin ”— respectable people. This entry serves as a title-deed for the purchase. When I was at Siwa there was a lengthy and involved law case about the ownership of some property, in which one party, in order to prove inheritance, forged an entry in his “ daftar.” But cases of forgery were not frequent—fortunately, as they added considerable complications to an already difficult case. There is more water in Siwa than is required for irrigating the gardens, and in many cases sweet water flows to waste among the salt marshes. The Siwans are unenterprising. They only cultivate just suffi- cient for their own needs, and not always that: they only work in the gardens where the soil, after cen- turies of watering and manuring, has become very rich. They grow a very little wheat and barley, but156 Siwa not enough to supply the population, who depend on imported barley from the coast, yet there are many fertile plots of land which would raise corn, and which could easily be irrigated. Lack of labour and implements is their excuse when one questions them, but in the spring numbers of Siwans go up to the coast and hire themselves out to the bedouins as labourers, preferring to work on the coast instead of increasing the cultivation in their oasis. The palm groves of Siwa are very beautiful. It seems a veritable Garden of Hesperides when one arrives there after a long trek on the waterless desert which surrounds the oasis. One appreciates the slumberous shade of the luxuriant gardens, long, lazy bathes in the deep cool springs, and feasts of fruit on the banks of little rushing streams. Perhaps it is not surprising that the Siwans are lazy and indolent, for their country is in many ways a land of Lotus Eaters. The natives have a happy-go-lucky Omar Khayyamish outlook on life which is accentuated by the place they inhabit. The gardens consist mainly of date groves with some olive orchards. But among the date palms there are many other trees—figs, pomegranates, pears, peaches, plums, apricots, apples, prickly pears, limes and sweet lemons. The numerous vineyards produce quantities of exceptionally fine grapes, which last for several months and are so plentiful that large quantities rot on the branches. The natives are not very fond of them and no wine is made in Siwa, except “ araki,” which is distilled from ripe dates.Siwa Town 157 Dates and a little olive oil are the only exports, and it is on the produce of the date palms that the life of the people depends. The poorer Siwans live almost entirely on dates; the beams and the doors of the houses are made from palm trunks; mats, baskets and fences are made from palm fronds; saddle cross- bars are made from the wood ; saddle packing con- sists of the thick fibre, the branches are used for fuel ; the young white heart of the budding leaves is eaten as a special delicacy, and the sap of the palm makes ** lubki,” a drink which is much liked by natives. The wealth of the whole community is derived from the sale of dates, so it is not surprising that they watch anxiously in springtime to see if the crop will be a good one. Generally, on alternate years, there is a good crop, then a fair crop, and when dates are plentiful olives are few. Nature seems to have made this careful arrangement. The cultivation of dates is by no means as simple as it would appear. The trees need careful watering, manuring and trimming, and one notices very clearly the difference in crops from well or badly cared for gardens. In the early spring the work of artificial pollination is carried out by special men who are skilled in the process. A branch is cut from the male date tree, which bears no fruit, sharpened, and thrust into the trunk of the female tree. Unless this is done to every tree the fruit becomes small and worthless. There are about 170,000 trees, each of which bears, after the fifth year, an average of three hundred pounds of fruit. Little attention is paid to the other gerne hee Set TROR TG Fite te 14) bah kee eiay! ) te al ew hp meaw ks nay beer precsreryesrererccsesy Ssopntasas reel ieieT ter! Seesesatiis SIT SSSI See err ihh Hs yee ppresseccuravercens] . SUTDIsripetareerrraeacr rth ieotgtetetsless teteteitiriecencleiatse 33: Sears actsebt aissseyety etetstsstsiet Wath ep greta Tithe tested abt te vIbtE Spocoeenorr yes rr ees ii teeteee tiestiosesiaie iassdl sereensieey sl esotesenal 3 poocarereyiecs: rrp eet aaests iS i H H : fs rT ee bearereess ™ TT sree basset SSLEBERTEEES Spi si ese ene ene reer Eis rseees eae area rie tit es eeshand etre Rs158 Siwa fruits which deteriorate from lack of pruning, but with a little trouble and proper methods they would improve. Formerly the oasis produced rice, oranges, bananas and sugar canes, but these no longer grow as they needed more trouble to cultivate. Only dates and olives are sold, and it is considered very shameful for a man to sell other fruit; the same idea applies tomilk. Siwans either eat fruit themselves, give it to their friends, or let it rot; only the very poor natives sell any. I had considerable difficulty in getting a regular supply, but eventually I accepted “ gifts ” daily from certain men, and repaid them with sugar, which they liked, though if I had offered them money they would have considered themselves grievously insulted. While at Siwa I dried large quantities of figs and apricots—mish-mish—which were very successful, and especially useful for taking out on trek when fresh fruit is unobtainable. None of the natives had attempted drying fruit, though the excessive heat and the flat roofs offer excellent opportunities, and quite an industry could be developed in this way. A variety of vegetables are grown, but only by a very few people. The most common are onions, watercress, radishes, pepper, cucumbers, gherkins, egg fruit, mint, parsley and garlic. The gardens are manured with dry leaves and dried bundles of a thorny plant called “ argoul,” which grows about the oasis and is much liked by camels. Bundles of it are cut and left for some months to dry, and finally dug into the soil round theSiwa Town 159 fruit trees. The streets, markets and stables are all swept carefully, and the manure is sold to owners of gardens. The contents of public and private latrines are all collected and used as manure in the gardens. It is a good system, as it ensures sanitary arrangements being promptly carried out. The soil of Siwa is strongly impregnated with salt. In many places there are stretches of ‘‘ sebukh” which consists of earth hardened by a strong proportion of salt which feels, and looks, like a ploughed field after a black frost. It is almost impassable, and the occasional deep water-holes, hidden by a layer of thin soil, make walking as dangerous as it is difficult. Two large salt lakes lie one on the east and one on the west of the town. The water in these lakes rises irregularly during the winter months, and subsides in the summer, leaving a glistening white surface of pure salt which looks exactly like ice, especially in places where the dark water shows between cracks in the salt. One can lift up white slabs of salt in the same way as ice, and send a piece skimming across the surface, like stones on a frozen pond at home. Sometimes there are deep pools in the midst of the marshes where the white salt and the vivid blue sky combine to colour the water with the most brilliant greens and blues. Causeways built by the natives traverse the marshes, and by these alone it is possible to cross them. In ancient days the Ammonians sent a tribute of salt to the kings of Persia, and such was the quality of the salt that it was used for certain special religious rites. The glitter of the salt lakes in Seer iaesste wean int esebatteans scobeitee tei teesstocstabemebede! 1 yaeerte3 es iti hae. pesspnesevescoveni iisrecesgevoccoer’ SG Paclbletaash paperiteeseees size sebpitnesoce’t (4! *hgey-epeetety toteseet bole tel itelosesenps. ops foe = os ei fershge aistvys tesstrestoessttate, Rae es td ci sessevsrel iter: spear] ret ESE ereeeryITE rp pede adaees bibresoesrey resoeantrerysss! HaeyL See cesentty egewetest rire peryeryeceeecsrrs Pathbertrererss ts een rrnepeery reve ere sT Try ta pyar rarer pry wares em sserever bb be be bere te pe bert | i ' he 5 | ‘ eperercere rr rerorr: peeteldy iiaye be ad § 4 epeeenTD prec ee: rerperrerre grec tir) bubpbooese ies160 Siwa the middle of the day is intensely trying to the eyes, but at sunset they reflect and seem to exaggerate every colour of the brilliant sky. The salt lakes, the numerous springs, and the stagnant water lying about the gardens bred mosquitoes and fevers. Formerly this low-lying oasis was a hotbed of typhoid and malaria. Its evil reputation was known to the bedouins who never stayed there a day longer than was necessary, and even now they speak of almost every fever as ‘‘ Siwan fever.” The natives themselves attributed the fever to fruit, and still call it ‘‘ mish-mish fever,” owing to its prevalence during the season when apricots are ripe. But nowadays conditions are enormously improved. Typhoid is practically unknown, the malarial mosquito has been banished from Siwa, though it still swarms in the neighbouring oases ; several thousand pounds has been spent by the Egyptian Government in draining and filling up stagnant pools, and fish have been imported by the Ministry of Health which breed in the springs and feed upon the mosquitoes’ eggs. The town is kept clean and there are very strict regulations about sanitation, and thousands of sugar-coated quinine tablets are distributed to the people each week. They have discovered now just how much of the sugar can be licked off before the quinine begins to taste. The result is that since the war there have been very few new cases of malaria, though many of the people are so sodden with fever that it is impossible to cure them._ SPRING PAMOUSY CLEANING Pecrer iti tet es mre Ei thd HUME RE oy yy estsas 4 = ‘3 23 , ' ipeeteyears a dnendeser wi esslond : ; Phecesies spesesecy Wh tas t Mee pegetrt #4 droerttreyyrecsSiwa Town 161 It is supposed that the fever is a form of malaria, but when I got it myself, very badly, and had several blood tests taken in Cairo, no germ of any known fever was found. The same thing happened to three other Englishmen who caught the fever in Siwa. So far no careful analysis has been made of the disease, which is spoken of as “‘ malaria ”’ because it is certain that malaria exists in the oasis. Each spring in Siwa is cleaned out once in every two years in the summer-time. On these occasions the owners of the gardens give a free meal to the labourers, and a luncheon party to their friends. It is a popular and pleasant entertainment. Almost all the men in the town turn out and work in relays of fifty or a hundred, baling out the water from the springs with old kerosene tins, leather buckets and earthenware pitchers. It is a slow proceeding; some of the largest springs take several days to finish, and the work must be continuous, as the basins are continually filling. The men and boys, covered with mud, shout and sing as they work, every now and then diving into the water and swimming round. Every man, woman and child in Siwa can swim, and most of them are expert divers. The women swim like dogs, with much splashing, but the men are very good. A pump would drain a well in a single day and save much labour and wasted time. As the water sinks masons and carpenters repair the sides of the basin, fitting in new stones and patching up old ones. A curious custom terminates these occasions. Each guest and labourer is presented by the owners M aWaswull ileeessted sg sesies ng herpes ba rrp eedisitehie RR DS SS . rT raat perme nt s pb ISLE vy + Tite y ers ihe HR reves es 8 oted; +“ a ihe Hee Bars r= os abs Fa Sg fe eel ee162 Siwa of the spring with a handful of berseem—clover—as a partial payment for his labour. When the men ride home in the evening they twist the clover in wreaths round their heads and round the donkeys’ ears, then, when they arrive at the town, the donkeys are allowed to eat it. One of the “ characters” of Siwa, always very much in evidence on these occasions, was an old, half-witted man known as “ Sultan Musa.” He suffered from a delusion that he was the Sultan of Siwa, but I fancy that he was trifle less foolish than he pretended to be. He played the part of court jester at all entertainments. The Siwans found him intensely comic; they asked him questions—how old was he, how many wives, and what he had done ; when he mumbled that he was 100 years old and had 20 wives, and various other domestic details, they simply shrieked with laughter. I got heartily sick of the old imbecile and announced that I did not wish to see him when I went anywhere. Sometimes when I arrived at a party I would catch sight of him being hurriedly bundled out of sight, and later I heard the servants in the background laughing hilariously at his dreary witticisms. A few days after my arrival at Siwa I received an invitation to a luncheon in the garden of one of the leading sheikhs. The messenger announced that Sheikh Thomi would call for me at eight o’clock on the following morning ; I wondered at the hour—but accepted the invitation. The next morning, while shaving before breakfast, I was disturbed by aSiwa Lown 163 terrific hullabaloo. My dogs, who strongly object to unknown natives, a trait which I encouraged, were circling furiously round a party of Siwans who sat on their donkeys below the house. My servants went out and rescued them, explaining that I would be down soon; a few minutes later I joined them. After many salutations and polite inquiries I was intro- duce to the other guests, a crafty-looking, one-eyed merchant, two venerable, white-bearded sheikhs and several notables of the town. They were all dressed very distinctly in their best, wearing coloured silks or spotless white robes. Sheikh Thomi, a cheerful, rotund little man, with the reputation of being the richest sheikh in Siwa, wore a long white burnous and a gorgeously embroidered scarlet silk scarf, and rode a big black donkey with a satanic expression. I was offered the choice of a number of donkeys. I picked out the largest one, and off we went. The donkeys have no bridles or reins ; one steers them by beating their necks with a stick, and very occasionally they go the way one wants them to. Mine was the fastest, so I led the cavalcade, hoping that my mount was sure-footed. We dashed through the town with a tremendous clatter and a cloud of dust, scattering children, hens and old women, out on to the roads, and then for a mile or so at a hard gallop towards some gardens. My donkey knew the way. We arrived at the garden as it was beginning to grow hot, and were met at the entrance by a troop of servants who took the donkeys. Sheikh Thomi led me, slightly dishevelled, through sogigertaryradetosagenh eeteret Ip bas ry pesrerssrryersrss rst 5 Ti c. rrr robot tetas babes fe =| Fa ire | GE? id tz fig eee its Fe ests ae rei t= i at EJ eH EF i ‘ aI Bi we, 5 ey rhea ehsdaat pick én be PELE REIT UT Tepe powoeeanperers ates) + ier etic oel wharei bles ry ssegesteesaiats oo ae + Pipleitphnorbevwreoe dest) 4 re on Ms igtpabacegteetrecrsoess fisitereeeserenes = vines rere Either bel a bth164 Siwa a thick palm grove, followed by the rest of the party, to a large summer-house built of logs and thatch, set on the edge of a round spring from whose green-blue depths constant streams of silver bubbles rose to the surface. Little green frogs swam in the water and numbers of scarlet dragon-flies hovered over it. The walls of the summer-house were hung with gaily striped Tripoli blankets—vermilion, white and green —the floor was covered with beautiful old Persian carpets, and cushions were ranged round the sides. Through the open ends of the building I saw long vistas of palm trunks, and the sun caught the scarlet blossoms of the pomegranates and the shining, purple grapes on their trellis frames. The air was heavy with the scent of orange blossom and “ tamar-el- hindi,” and the deep shade inside the hut was a welcome relief. Outside the white-robed servants hurried to and fro, carrying baskets and dishes, while two boys, in the distance, sang curious Siwan songs, answering each other back as they swung to and fro high up on two palm trees. Sheikh Thomi, with much whispering and smiling, went outside. I leant back on my cushions lulled by “ the liquid lapse of murmuring streams,” thinking how abso- lutely Eastern the whole scene was. Suddenly—to my horror—I heard a hideous grinding sound and a shrill, raucous voice with a pro- nounced American accent began singing, “‘ Waiting for the Robert E. Lee,” a tune which I always object to. It was a gramophone, very old and decrepit, the most prized possession of Sheikh Thomi. I tried toSiwa Town 165 look as if I enjoyed the tune, which was played over and over again for about half an hour, and followed by some slightly less repulsive records of native music. After listening to this musical interlude a servant brought in a bunch of pink and white sweetly scented China roses which were distributed among the guests, and then the meal began. A dozen boys served as waiters, carrying the dishes from an open- air fire round the corner where several cooks pre- sided over the food. At first it was suggested that I should eat alone, in solitary state, but I protested, so Sheikh Thomi and three others ate with me, while the rest of the guests retired outside to eat later, probably with more ease in my absence. We sat cross-legged on the ground, a position that without considerable practice causes the most agonising “pins and needles.” ‘The meal was eaten almost in silence, broken only by the noisy sounds of eating. A round wooden table was placed in the centre, and each guest was provided with several flat round wheaten loaves, which served as plates, and some strips of thin native bread, which looks rather like pancake, only darker and more solid. The meal consisted mostly of mutton, cooked in various ways —boiled, fried and stewed—with different kinds of vegetables, salads, spices, curries and flavourings. One of the dishes, a very excellent one, was stewed doves, eaten with fresh grapes. The pudding was the least appetising dish on the menu, it was made cam iia asi pn bers jel Toca Fe STE TEE : whe Spey te peebshisaeicee atti ea Ls Fe aah Fogeal erste nsecire bs hhepes byes ital t PRT orerpiirste ity tery eaae peepee reama bale syeost alent saad nett keoese eee eeeees fats piveteren etsy err pera yer Troe | ; Pextvers | : te aasyt ont Seeestiii Me : Ter trrysat at peleest sess tat eeserettt it ppesasurrerei rere slarr oe ae aan Shsioa iba eee ans i epithe -¥ sheer yy! bebthd M4 Oe ane prayer errrrm—y Pepi seeseres Se srevecs ' wrpai tite tetera sedsbotiestcens bebenrtet <2? I: Fi é : : rai # zi or shaeel rye: neers (Ty Tee bo—seetets Epasttitthttl sepy ayE reas Seite torstweses wetea! we La} 5 CT166 Siwa of crumbled bread, mixed into a sticky mass with ““semna ” oil and sugar. There were about a dozen courses. Each one was brought in in a big dish of polished ebony and placed on the table. The guests ate from the central dish, using the thin bread to pick up the meat. One takes a piece of thin bread between finger and thumb, dips into the dish, sand- wiching the meat in the bread. It sounds a messy proceeding, but after a little practice I found it quite simple. Servants brought round a brass ewer, and each guest washed his hands after every course ; the Siwans also rinsed their mouths—noisily. Every now and then some one would fish out an extra succulent morsel and hand it to me, or if one man had secured a tasty bone he would tear off the meat and heap it on to my loaf. Towards the end of the meal a few loud hiccoughs are not considered amiss, and to loosen one’s belt, very obviously, is thought most complimentary. One needs it too! The food was very good, excellently cooked, and so tender that there was no difficulty in separating the meat from the bones. When I thought, and felt, that we had finished, there followed an enormous dish heaped high with perfectly plain boiled rice. This is called ‘‘ Shawish ”—The Sergeant—because it clears away the other dishes! Afterwards an enormous copper tray was carried in by two boys loaded with every kind of fruit—plums, peaches, pears, grapes, apricots and figs. Last of all came tea, and bowls of palm wine for those who liked it. It is made from the sap of the date palm, and whenSiwa Lown 167 freshly drawn it tastes like sweet ginger-beer, but a little goes a very long way. Tea-drinking in Siwa is as solemn a ceremony as after-dinner port at home. The host either dis- penses jt himself, or as a compliment invites one of the guests to pour out. Towards the end of my time at Siwa I was ‘thought to have acquired sufficient experience, and occasionally I poured out myself. The guest invariably pretends to refuse, protests that he is not worthy, but eventually accepts the honour. The pourer-out is called the “ Sultan ” of the party, and every “ Sultan ” tries to make the best tea in the town. People are very critical, and opinions vary as to who is the super Sultan in Siwa. As soon as the “ Sultan” takes over the job he becomes, for the time, master of the house. He calls loudly for more sugar, boiling water, and scolds the servants as if they were his own. If he doesn’t like the quality of the tea, he says so and the host apologises. A servant brings a low table with a number of little glasses about 4 inches high, a locked chest containing three divisions for red and green tea, and sugar, and a bowl of hot water to rinse the cups. One is asked which kind of tea is preferred, red or green, and the safest and most popular reply is ‘‘ A mixture of both.” The “‘ Sultan” then very deliberately rinses the glasses from a kettle of boiling water which stands on a little brazier at his side, measures out the tea into the pot, adds a little water, pours it away, then carefully makes the tea, pours out a little, tastes it, and finally, if he approves of Srereraree ser res Serenen ; SSESERSEISSERLSETS TST oy ESET a aOR prea ana Re IEE eae an Hs za Ee ie TT trascstear me tie iesieeneteercea rerio ca MLParerebLPAPyt brave eet st tense eats - . aaa A i bs ibs bas - eae if 5 = Gary ih py awk daca ae ve a borg ecpepetpattaiceb ra Selbiaanees . rose fesvbseertiters| pews 2m Ke 7 ibe ihe te Peers ol pa] reese petresesee tte fabpesetet sottsrerestenses 1D pelasdios ti errverer: Ti ae rs oirseyy Ih : shosacotits Epcot ri eratbeenti errs set sttiatys j E ; i PYaTTiy, pan sesge seve peseres operryy168 Siwa the flavour, hands one glassful to each guest. The tea is drunk with no milk; the first brew is rather bitter, with a very little sugar, the second is very sweet, and the third, and best, is flavoured with rose petals, orange blossom, or fresh mint. Each guest drinks one glass only of each brew, and what is Over is poured out and sent to the servants, or into the harem. It should be sipped noisily, and Satisfaction expressed in the sound of drinking. One drinks either three glasses, six, or nine. I have known twelve, but that is considered rather an excess in polite society. Personally I consider it one of the best drinks I know, but at first people dislike it. The Siwans are greedy, when they get the chance, and on these occasions their appetites are enormous. They have the greatest admiration for anyone who eats copiously. A certain Government official, whose fondness for large meals was famous, came down to Siwa. He attended a luncheon party, which was given in his honour by some of the sheikhs. The meal was a matter of some dozen or fifteen courses. I myself, by using the greatest discretion, and only eating a few mouthfuls of each dish, managed to last out. But the guest of the day took, and ate, a liberal helping of each course. The Siwans themselves became a trifle languid towards the end of the meal, but he persevered. Even the plain boiled rice did not daunt him, or the sticky oily pudding. It earned him an everlasting admira- tion in Siwa, and his name is always mentioned atSiwa [own 169 Siwan parties as a really fine fellow, “‘ The English- man who ate of everything.”’ Meat is difficult to get in the oasis. When a bedouin convoy arrives the Arabs often slaughter and sell a camel. There are a few sheep and goats imported from the coast, but the price of meat makes it impossible for the poorer folk to buy it. I had with me a number of dogs. One of them, an attractive mongrel, produced a litter of pups. Several people asked me to give them one, and I did so. I was pleased to see how well their new owners looked after them; they appeared even fatter and fitter than when I had them. Then I went into Cairo on local leave. When I returned, about a month or so later, I inquired after the puppies. One of the men who had taken one told me, ‘‘ They were fine, so fat and so large——”’ But “‘ Where are they now?” I asked. He looked surprised, pointed to his stomach, which was a very obvious one, and explained that they had all been eaten last month on the “ Eid el Kebir,” one of the Mohammedan festivals. He said that nobody could ever imagine that I had given them away for any other reason than for eating. There was nothing to be done, but I never gave away another puppy. I drowned the next litter, and it was considered extremely wasteful. The Siwans eat cats too, and mice and rats. At one time there were many cats in Siwa and no rats. Now there are rats but no cats. Cats were easier to catch than rats, so they went first. One man, a merchant, complained that his house and shop H i i di i } : t i i 4 : } g i { B = a € eg puddin a * a et ere err errr tari tele * my 26ngrobs dad bone ip s » a eesgrerreeit? 7 eet SEessalisseetineesesestiont nent es epreees} van bes dete teesds Me sNtstetelete ess sddt alate 1 teraescttarwenctsa Me lett useenststiatecetaae scott Teese Te eT gt Fie a S170 Siwa was overrun with mice and rats. He had gone to great trouble and brought a cat from Egypt, but as soon as it was full grown it disappeared! Dogs are considered “‘ unclean” by the Mohammedan religion, and they are never eaten in any other places in Egypt. Dogs are useful at Siwa both as watch-dogs and companions. My dogs used to sleep on the high terrace of the house, and they always gave one warn- ing of anybody coming over the half mile of sand from the town. Besides, dogs are the most human and affectionate of all animals, and one gets to feel the need of companionship at Siwa. It is a solitary life. One either likes it or hates it ; there is no com- promise, and most men hate it. Sometimes one does not see a single white man for several months, and then, when a car patrol arrives, they stay a few hours in the town and dash back on the same day. One needs a certain temperament to stand living at Siwa. In the summer the heat is so great that one does not go out much in the middle of the day, unless there is urgent necessity, consequently for many hours every day there is nothing to do. If one sleeps much in the daytime one is unable to sleep at night. A man at Siwa must have some form of hobby in which he can interest himself without needing the assistance of other people. Painting, writing, photography and reading all serve the purpose. I mention them as they formed my own Spare-time occupations. But without something of this kind life becomes unbearable. It is an ideal placeSiwa Lown 171 for painting and photography. The strangely varied scenery, the brilliant sunshine, the picturesque natives, and the wonderful colouring, especially the sunsets, provide a variety of subjects on every side. Siwan men quite enjoy being photographed, but the women strongly dislike it. Eventually by teaching my Sudanese servant to use a camera I managed to secure a few indifferent photos of women. When one “snaps” people they immediately demand a copy of the photo, imagining that the camera is also a simultaneous printer and developer. According to the proverb “‘ Two is company, three is none,” but I think most men who have experienced it would agree that in an isolated district three is generally company and two 1s purgatory. The odds are one in a thousand that “the other man” will be congenial, and if he is not life is insufferable. If there is a third man things feel better, but to live for months on end with one other man, who one does not really like, results in mutual detestation. This may sound morbid and unnatural, but one sees so many examples. I knew two quite ordinary normal men posted in a lonely district where they rarely saw another Englishman. For the first month they lived together quite happily, in the second month they quarrelled, in the third month they took to living in separate houses, and at the end of four months they were not on speaking terms! ‘Then there are other men who cannot stand living alone. They have no personal occupa- tion, they become depressed, take to whiskey in f Ul q i is weMessi} titsiisttcs bisyeperebeetey tty tes wees) Tae Si tpabesteraeeae 172 Siwa large quantities—or worse, and therein lies the way to madness. Then there is the question of marriage. In most cases the authorities do not encourage, or rather do not allow, men to marry. They very reasonably consider that married men are unsuitable for desert work ; they either leave their wives in Egypt, and worry about them, which is not surprising, or they manage to “‘ wangle ” a permission out of the powers that be and take their wives out to the desert. Then, of course, a married man is stationed in a pleasanter place than one who has no wife. It is a difficult problem, and in most cases results in men wasting the prime of their life in a bachelor condition on the desert. But one was kept fairly busily employed at Siwa. A considerable part of the work consisted in judging cases, similar to the duties of a magistrate at home (this, to my mind, was the most interesting part of the routine) ; also there was a section of Camel Corps to keep in training, and the local police. I went out on patrol for a few days every month, but after once exploring the whole neighbourhood these “ treks ” were not exciting. Most of the law cases were not of great interest ; they consisted mainly of petty thefts, assaults and infringement of Government regula- tions. Divorce and questions of inheritance were not supposed to be dealt with by me, as they came before a special Mohammedan court, whose representative, an old kadi, went on circuit every year, though he always avoided Siwa, owing to the tedious journeySiwa Town 173 and the huge file of cases that were waiting for his decision. The Siwans knew almost to the penny how much they would have to give him for a favourable decision on any case. Sometimes, however, I did get curious cases, and the following one illustrates the social conditions in the town. A young Siwan woman called Booba, about fifteen years old, after a series of very varied matrimonial experiences, married an Arab who was settled in the town. Although she had been married many times she was considered a very respectable person and related to one of the leading sheikhs. Divorce is considered no disgrace, and a divorced woman does not lose caste as in other parts of the country. Very soon the Arab husband died. This occurred in January, by the end of March she had married again ; this time her husband was a Siwan merchant. He quickly grew tired of her and divorced her after a month of married life, but he treated her well and paid the residue of her marriage money to her brother who was her nearest male relation. She returned to her brother’s family, who were by no means pleased to see her. Being an exceptionally good-looking girl she was courted again by another man, the young son of a sheikh, who was considered rather a “‘ catch.” He married her in June, and very soon after she gave birth toa child. As the child was a girl, the husband divorced her two days after its birth. The wretched woman was turned out of the house in the night by her late mother-in-law. She managed to get to her — pe SATA Is Soak AEUTLELERS peesh oeor Gree se -eeeeeea pepe e ECT TET Ty cere sy Te papeae pa ibig aby csescry er oy beperorrects STL st weveest hehehe rhesenmer annie ne isos bitlelsieiepssenyil breiet poceeaeesasertpe=t) ibvial manabbonan, ch A NE ig # a : I 4 i ri Hy at] Fat ieea.t ed arin ope Berotbensesteseeistees esti tater eseaee Pierre ee te ttt tein boy fife Lireortens Teer eres iteteritieiesetes esastpissrsaseseswaatier tes ps ‘ SSieaeeses eri erieae eeseeeaTERES COTE Daedteetesentasd teeatiaeeees reipectionss Seeryatt sett174 Siwa own home, but her brother’s wife refused to let her in. The brother himself was away. Eventually she found a lodging with an old woman, a relative of one of the earlier husbands, who had, it seemed, some liking for the girl. While staying here the child died—possibly from exposure, possibly from other reasons. Immediately the families of the last three husbands hurried to give information against her, and charged her with murdering the child. The doctor examined it and found signs of possible suffocation. I listened for several days to the evidence of a number of witnesses, mostly repulsive old women who enlarged with horrid keenness' on the most disagreeable details. But eventually nothing was proved, and the girl was acquitted. It was a disagreeable case, but one could almost find parallels to it in the English police-court news. Female witnesses at Siwa were very difficult to manage. They never spoke or understood any Arabic, so the six sheikhs, who acted as a jury, inter- preted for them. I used to sit on a platform at one end of the room, and the six sheikhs occupied a bench along one side. Women pretended to hate coming into the court-house, but I think they really rather enjoyed it. The orderly, one of the police, would firmly propel the lady into the middle of the room, she being completely covered from head to foot with clothes. As soon as the orderly retired she sidled over to the wall and propped herself against it, generally with her back turned on me. The sheikhsSiwa Town 175 would remonstrate, “‘ For shame, turn round Ayesha, daughter of Osman, and speak to the noble officer.” The lady would wriggle round a little and allow one eye to appear through the drapery. When questioned she mumbled inaudible replies, growing slightly more coherent if she was personally concerned in the case, but if there was another woman giving evidence she would gradually lower her veils, speak louder, and finally show her whole face as she shrieked abuse at her opponent—dquite regardless of the eyes of the court. The sheikhs were invaluable on these occasions; it would have been very difficult to work without them. One woman, who sued her neighbour for throwing stones at her hens, disturbed the court considerably. When she was led in by the policeman she appeared particularly cumbered with clothes. Suddenly a terrific disturbance began among her shawls and draperies; she gave a shrill squeal and two hens disentangled themselves from her clothes and dashed madly round the court-house. Two of my dogs, who were lying at my feet, sprang after the birds and chased them round the room, which plunged the proceedings into the wildest confusion. The woman had carried in the hens intending to confront her Opponent, at the critical moment, with the injured victims. Judging from their activity they had not been much injured. One man, Bashu Habun, son of the old sheikh who was hanged, caused more legal work than the whole of the rest of the population together. He spent his ietessadestntntanat sa Fad Foopee pasy ce ieyecaa! cescina he fats ersteetrraconrsss ; ah piitstefesstset gee iT oger sje bidremttboe ot bes wort sae ti get 5S soststebeAteeshentbesens = i i . : 2 i za : % _ a —_ Pram cere = m . ooo — om - I Sa ey Ne ee PEE eee mn at’ alertese heute io - teen He ae ane alae ae ~ bayer $9 a a ' seh ieee Soi) 8 [or oti ST Lgrereee ss pet hd 5 bib sd oils, ee Stet tees: eens) ie rivepehs Heres: vot PP ply See hd 95544 os bh oy resess a att ping bead ei ber) oe A ty ety be md La SI =P it a3 ae ei!176 Siwa time appropriating the property of one of his brothers who was in prison. The brother had an agent in Siwa, a foolish old sheikh called Soud, who was too honest, or stupid, to withstand the sly cleverness of Bashu Habun. At one time there were seven cases between them, involving many hundreds of pounds. I settled the first three, but found that the latter dealt with inheritance, and so were beyond my jurisdiction, but I got heartily sick of the sharp, foxy face of Bashu Habun and the noisy, foolish obstinacy of old Sheikh Soud. Both of them tried to secure my support by sending donkey-loads of fruit to my house before the cases were tried, and on one occa- sion the servants met both bringing presents, and returned together with their offerings to the town. The idea of ‘“‘ baksheesh ” is so firmly planted in the native mind that it takes along while to die out. Still, one finds that the natives really appreciate and prefer an impartial administration of justice, in place of justice—of sorts—which depends on which of the two parties can offer the highest bribe to the judge. The Senussi were by no means above this method, but they let political considerations weigh equally with “‘ baksheesh ” on their scale of justice. In the days when a Turkish governor ruled in Siwa he made his money by accepting and extorting bribes, and if, when British Administration retires from Egypt, the Oasis is ruled again by a native mamur, the same system will possibly flourish.perenne s Y nahn iene = EB 4CHAPTER V SUBURBAN OASES “*. .. tufted isles That verdant rise amid the Libyan wild.” IWA itself is the largest, richest and most important oasis in a little group of oases which are mostly uninhabited. Similar oases, such as the Kufra group and the Augila group, are scattered at intervals, few and very far between, over the vast arid surface of the great Sahara desert. In most of them there are fresh-water springs surrounded by small patches of green, which have an appearance of almost magical beauty to those who arrive at them, weary after days of travel over the hot and barren solitudes of the desert. Ancient poets compared the yellow desert to a leopard’s tawny skin, spotted with occasional oases. Doubt- less when Siwa was more thickly populated than it is to-day each of the outlying ones was inhabited, but now the ever-shrinking population is insufficient even to cultivate all the gardens in the immediate vicinity of Siwa itself. About 20 miles east of Siwa town, at one end of a long salt lake, there is a village called Zeitoun, and close by it a cluster of rich gardens which are the N 177 gp Tae appease retca na aca tne esa BRAT ssbemittitristersitesssesied degen tet cenaezseers ia oped petreriore: Rp rT arr rseieat babes Lal Ul nhemeew tet eee ts eeoet Peeters seesteltietsharss Se erea eres eeesr agers ts poorer itptlsedeereeey Po benereter beeen ict bet tmeette estes ed 7 be ETN peti fect ta teatee? Ser togetely yee seperti tae tates greys ye eaeys yr) pevaneoreccrrs erie)178 Siwa finest and best cared-for in the oasis, famous for the olives which give the place its name. In the whole of Siwa there are about 40,000 fruit-bearing olive trees, and a large quantity of olive oil is manufactured locally. Rough wooden olive presses are used by the natives, which are so primitive that a large propor- tion of the oil is wasted. The oil is of an excellent quality and is very profitable when exported, but Owing to the difficulty of obtaining suitable tins and vessels to store it in only a small amount is sent up to the coast. It is bought by the Greeks at Matruh and Sollum, who dilute it and sell it at an enormous profit to the Arabs. Along the shores of the lake there are several other groups of gardens, and at one of them the ex- Khedive proposed to start a model farm, but as usual he got no further in his scheme than erecting some huts for the labourers to live in. He also did a certain amount of excavating in this neighbourhood, and according to hearsay he carried away camel-loads of “ antikas ” which he dug up among some ruins at a place called Kareished. Some of the gardens slope right down to the shores of the lake, and there are several fine springs among them. I often thought that Kareished would be quite a pleasant place to live in if one built a good house and had a boat to cross the lake to Siwa. The people in these outlying villages ride into Siwa town every few days to do their shopping, across a long causeway which divides the lake and the mud swamp. North-east of Zeitoun, across 90 miles of highOF ZEITOUN SPRING CHESuburban Oases 179 desert tableland, one comes to the oasis of Gara, or “Um es Sogheir”—the Little Mother. The word “ Um ”—mother—is used indiscriminately by the Arabs in names of places, hills, valleys and rocks. According to one theory this practice originates from very ancient times when places were named after certain female deities or goddesses. Gara is a lonely valley about 10 miles long and 5 miles wide, surrounded by precipitous cliffs that one can only descend in a few places, sprinkled with vast isolated masses of rock, upon one of which the village is perched. Many of the rocks have had their bases SO worn away that they look like gigantic mushrooms, and one can camp most comfortably in their shade as under an umbrella. There are nine wells and springs in the oasis, but the water has an unpleasant bitter taste, which is mentioned in the accounts of Alexander’s journey to Siwa. Owing to the bad water and lack of labour the Garites are unable to grow anything except dates of a poor quality and a few onions and tomatoes. Grapes and fruit trees will not flourish in the oasis. The people eke out a miserable existence by selling dates, mats and baskets to the caravans which pass between Siwa and Egypt. They are wretchedly poor, exceedingly dirty and very distinctly darker in complexion than the Siwans. In former days they were too weak-spirited to be aggressive and too poor to be attacked, although Owing to the position of Gara on the Siwa-Egypt Caravan route they might easily have made them- Selves very awkward to travellers by levying a toll on | rs : The = SESE, ae em: Cit mee ‘wi rosy eropsecsegsivoosedugigeesds tf iamrtrttliieteretetateti res mt 1 TT eae ee ere Thtetteer : + ee , , - it aroessets trssesia 94 we perye es 352) Fina tats os) bees sa REA Rts os seco bobes spanesthietisie ih stii la ee Ne yells eneeeceeteteearrerset sigue sevoeesdeer eon earel \ it janes « Pe ekeet iio coeet FSU a rpebite ited tb eseeeeat) beerrt trav eretey Hisrstt ca stotersesenctenrssentt tec teiat180 Siwa convoys calling at Gara for water on their way to Egypt. But on the one solitary occasion when the Garites did attempt to do this they fared very badly. Ac- cording to the tradition a famous religious sheikh called Abdel Sayed was travelling from Tripoli to join the pilgrim caravan at Cairo. He had with him a few attendants and some devout men who were also on their way to do the Pilgrimage. When they halted at Gara the inhabitants, instead of feeling honoured and entertaining the travellers, came out of the town and attacked them. The sheikh and his followers managed to escape, and when they were safely out of the valley the venerable Abdel Sayed stood on a rock and solemnly cursed the people of Gara, swearing that there should never be more than forty men alive in the village at once. Since then, although the total number of inhabitants is over a hundred, there have never been more than forty full-grown men. When the number exceeds forty, one of them dies. On this account the Garites have a great objection to strangers, and when I arrived, with a dozen fully grown Camel Corps men, the sheikh anxiously begged me to forbid them to enter the village, but as there were under forty men living there at the time I myself and an orderly went up into the town. Presumably if we had all walked up several of the Garites must have died. The village is a miserable imitation of Aghourm1, but dirty and squalid. A steep winding pathwaySuburban Oases 181 leads up the rock to the gateway, and in the centre there is a square open market where nothing is ever bought or sold as nobody has any money except the sheikh, and he spends it at Siwa when he rides in every fortnight on a donkey to report at the Markaz. The sheikh himself is an intelligent man, but scarcely able to speak any Arabic. One of his duties is to look after the telephone from Siwa which passes Gara on its way to Matruh. This telephone was erected by the army after the Senussi operations, and is remarkably clear considering the distance of desert which it crosses. My visit caused a great sensation, as the people had not seen an Englishman for a very long time. The inhabitants came out to my camp and sat in silent rows gazing at us, until they were politely “‘ moved on,” and the women spent the whole day looking down on us from the roofs. I believe, during the war, a car patrol visited the place, but as the sheikh said, “ They came— whirrrr—and they went—brrrrr ! ” According to another legend some bedouin raiders once attacked Gara. The people retired to the village, shut the gates, and prayed to the patron sheikh, who is buried outside, for help. The spirit of the dead sheikh rose to the occasion and so dazzled the eyes of the enemy that they wandered round and round the rock and were totally incapable of finding the gate. Eventually they became so exhausted that the Garites were emboldened to come down from the town and kill them. The old muezzin of the mosque of Gara related this story to me, and an Ie frdhdb dis sesind dobbs orte thei His esr a 3 as 2 = ee | i s = mk : : - —_——— ees rT Hen 7 ein ath atiiel iil iat i liane ini debbcebbesilt Tt Fp ETISALAT as eee NTT Pt phy ese hyo kbs ARTO PMSTisiisdttites sculls tes eee eee eet eran een % | ml ° oes apa peat bib at 2 LiL y BBE rst (8404 eseeess peCeRSEEO Sey #9 4 Selbrtss Tell trreterrteesde the erent her errs) ete i182 Siwa audience of Garites, who evidently knew it well, with what I considered unjustifiable pride, and he did not seem to think at all that his forebears had played rather a cowardly part in this signal victory. Between Siwa and Gara there is a pass through a rocky gorge called Negb el Mejberry. Across the track there is a line of fifty little heaps of stones, each a few feet high. Once, many years ago, a rich caravan set out from Siwa to the coast, via Gara. They reached the negb (pass) at twilight and noticed the heaps of stones, but thought nothing of it. Sud- denly, when they were quite close to them, a bedouin leaped up from behind each heap and rushed on the caravan. With great difficulty the merchants beat off the robbers, and the ambuscade failed, but not without several men being killed. The merchants buried them close to the place, which is haunted to-day by the ghosts of the brigands who still appear lurking behind the stone heaps. The pass has an evil reputation, and natives prefer to cross it in broad daylight, and not when the sinking sun plays strange tricks with the shadows of the rocks, or when the moon lends an air of mystery to the rugged ravine. Due west of Zeitoun there is a string of ** sebukha ”’—salt marshes—which lie at the foot of a line of cliffs, a continuation of the mountains that surround Siwa on the north. In this country, which is rarely crossed, one finds little plantations of gum trees that remind one of the Sudan, and also patchesSuburban Odases 183 of camel thorn bushes. I have not seen these growing in any other part of the Western Desert. Possibly they may have grown from seeds dropped by caravans passing up from the Sudan. There is no fresh water in this area, but the country is very full of gazelle. South-west of Siwa there are two other unin- habited oases, El Areg and Bahrein—the two lakes. El Areg is a very surprising place. Riding along the flat rocky stretch of country on the east of the Pacho mountains, named after a European explorer who visited Siwa in the early nineteenth century, one arrives suddenly on the brink of a precipice which is the top of the cliffs that surround the oasis. There are two steep, difficult paths leading down between enormously high white rocks with bunches of straggling, overgrown palm trees at their foot. Much of the oasis is a salt marsh, but at one end there is a mass of bushes and tall palm trees, with two springs of drinkable water among them. The cliffs are very high indeed, and their whiteness makes them look Strange at night. In places there are stretches of fossilized sea-shells, and I especially noticed sea- urchins and starfish. In a kind of bay in the cliff, between two enormous high rocks, there is a natural terrace, and in the centre of the terrace there are remains of a building; in the surrounding cliffs, sometimes so high up on the face that one wonders how and why they were made, there are the square entrances of rock tombs or dwellings. Some of them are quite large, but in all cases very low, All the ¢58087 bisebebeneteee dt [019 hpheepacteteinsesest bale ttifnerpenselpenp nat ret yeses poteDA Mitt tee See Ti ee eerste ests ene ea rt poespeltiecestcy paeeh- Pe os ones} i Hs is ;184 Siwa lower ones are full of skulls and human skeletons, but many are so covered with sand-drifts that I could not get inside. The oasis is full of gazelle, which feed on the luscious vegetation round the marshes. At Bahrein there are two long, brilliantly blue salt lakes, fringed with a tangled mass of vegetation and palm trees, surrounded by yellow sand-dunes. Bahrein always reminded me of “ A tideless, dolorous, midland sea; In a land of summer, and sand, and gold.” Here also are rock tombs in some of the cliffs, and in one of them I discovered the remains of a coloured mural painting, a picture very much obliterated, of a cow and some palm trees with large clusters of dates on them, roughly done in brown and blue colours. Evidently at one time the oasis was in- habited, and if one sought complete seclusion it would be quite a pleasant place to live in. There are several thousands of date palms at El Areg and Bahrein which would produce fruit if they were pruned and looked after. At one time men used to come out from Siwa and tend the trees, collecting the fruit later on, but now there is not enough labour in Siwa to cultivate all the gardens, so both these oases are deserted. The route from Siwa to Farafra passes through El Areg and Bahrein, and there is another caravan track from El Areg to the Baharia oasis, and thence to the valley of the Nile, which it touches somewhere near Assiut. But practically no travellers pass this way, and the Mashrabs are almost lost to knowledge.Suburban Oases 185 West of Siwa town, at the end of the lake, at the foot of an enormous flat-topped mountain, there 1s a little hamlet called Kamissa, and a number of gardens. Beyond this, if one crosses the cliffs by a rocky pass, one arrives at a valley called Maragi, where there is another salt lake surrounded by gardens which belong to a colony of about sixty Arabs who settled here some fifty years ago and have remained ever since. They do not intermarry with the Siwans but “ keep themselves to themselves,”’ as they consider that they are very superior to the natives. They live in tents and breed sheep and cattle, and are to all appearances similar to the Arabs on the coast, except that they have no camels. At one time two of these Arabs moved into Siwa and settled in houses, but they were regarded as rene- gades by the remainder. Further west there is yet another salt lake called Shyata, a long patch of blue among the yellow sand-hills, with good grazing around it and fresh water which can be obtained by digging in certain places, which one needs to know from experience, as there is no indication of its whereabouts. North-west of Shyata there is a cluster of un- inhabited oases, Gagub, Melfa and Exabia. They are queer wild places with wonderful rock scenery, huge towering limestone cliffs, deep morasses, and stretches of shining water, edged with rotting palm trees, like “... That dim lake Where sinful souls their farewell take Of this sad world.” perry STEM RS ay Feet SE RUESERE 5 2 pj nla aan Mein by borg te ys nue bubeaba ate Te Er otegrerstotitatpoy oes eeeeae pema leet ppeeee eon teed ROME ete eet eae EE Seteetyteeteriita ht eocrettiese! tev tr tsosteitinceetriand ' Sve SORTS tees ueAR A ake a kth : q seen eee FTF eerste pecacesorererryere: sHnie: rons rirsbattbenrtscrtres sce aL etauene tetesttot 22% is t i } Ef | t i ‘ 7 be addid nd errr tes aaees caret 8 pyre pone baby meer hee n raters oo eabiee ooSe aoe Seta186 Siwa These oases have a strangely evil appearance, one could well imagine the witches of Macbeth cele- brating their midnight orgies in such places. At night a feverish miasma rises from the dark rotting vegetation, and with it myriads of venomous mos- quitoes. By moonlight the scene is even more macabre ; the gigantic masses of strangely shaped rocks take on the appearance of “Dome, pyramid, and pinnacle, A city of death, distinct with many a tower And wall impregnable ——.” and the dead branches on the gaunt palm trunks sway like corpses on a gallows tree. When I trekked in these parts I always tried to camp for the night above the cliffs, but this was no easy matter, as in places they rose perpendicularly from the ground. Yet the presence of innumerable sepulchral cham- bers cut in the cliffs shows that these melancholy valleys were once inhabited. The water here is prac- tically undrinkable. At Gagub there is a well, and on one occasion my men all drank from it, but it was so strongly impregnated with sulphur that it had the same effect as a very powerful dose of physic! There is a great difference between these deep gloomy valleys, with their oozing marshes and dead funereal palm trees, and Siwa itself, with its rich gardens, cool defiles and long green vistas among the trees. From the top of a hill near Melfa, the westernmost oasis, one can see the dome of the mosque at Jerabub. In Siwa the mosques have no domes, so one becomesSuburban Oases 187 unaccustomed to the sight of them, and for this reason the dome at Jerabub looks quite impressive, though it is actually only about the size of those that one sees over tombs in numbers of the cemeteries of Cairo. Jerabub used to be the Mecca of Senussiism, but what glory it ever had has now passed away. To-day it only contains about a hundred half-starving natives, and a few old sheikhs who still teach the children in the zowia (religious school). Lately the people were in such sore straits that the Senussi Wakil, Sidi Ahmed, had to send down a convoy of grain from the coast, and the Siwans who rode into Jerabub to sell things returned with their goods and complained that nobody had any money to spend. The dates in the Jerabub gardens are very inferior, so the Siwans export quite a lot of dates to their neighbours. The only man of any wealth in Jerabub was an old retired merchant called Mohammed el Ithneini. He was so old, and so enormously fat, that he was unable to walk, and had to be carried about by his slaves in a litter. In his day he had been a great merchant, travelling between Tripoli, Wadai, Egypt and the Sudan, and in course of time he had amassed considerable riches. But lately, finding himself short of cash, with a large family to support, he began to raise money on his belongings. One day I got information that two men from Jerabub had passed through Siwa on their way to the coast and Egypt without coming to the office to see whether they had anything on which to pay ipl es ti, tie 3aa PADRE