JALO CENTER NORTHBOUND
TRADE IN FEATHERS AND IVORY
Jalo is one of the most
important oases in Cyrenaica, partly because of the dates which it
produces, but more especially because it is the destination of the
caravans coming north from Kufra. Ivory and ostrich feathers from Wadai
and Darfur come to Jalo to be forwarded either eastward to Egypt or
northward to Bengazi. This trade is chiefly in the hands of the Majabra
tribe, whose head men are the - merchant princes of the Libyan Desert. A
Majabri (singular of Majabra) boasts that his father died on the
basur (camels saddle) in the same way that a soldier boasts that his
father died on the held of battle.
From this oasis we moved
southward to Buttafal well, a day's journey from Jalo where water was
obtained for the trek across desolate sand flats to the wells of Zieghen.
Before setting forth the details
of the
(p242)
[photo]
(p243) [photo]
(p244)
long journey, it may be well to describe the organization of the
caravan.
EL HARASH
WELL, IN THE ZIEGHEN DISTRICT
This is the first water in the desert
after leaving Buttafal (see text, page 247). Two men are filling
girbas (sheepskins) with water. In the foreground is Bibo, the
expedition mascot (see text, page 245) [photo page 243]
DATE PALMS IN
THE VALLEY OF KUFRA
In the middle distance the light streak
is the Lake of Kufra (see also illustration, page 246). In the
foreground are the dwellings of the natives [photo page 244]
ZWAYA CHIEFS
OF KUFRA
The Zwaya are the conquerors of Kufra
and the inhabitants of it now. They are the tribesmen who destroyed all
the notes and scientific results of the German explorer Rohlfs when he
visited them in 1879 (see text page 236) [photo page 244]
In addition to our 15 men and 37 camels, an
important member of the expedition was Baraka, my chestnut Arabian
horse, which made the entire journey and endured the hardships
astonishingly well. Day after day, in midsummer, he stood tethered near
my tent, in the broiling sun, with the temperature sometimes registering
113º F. He is in Cairo now enjoying for life a well-earned rest.
 
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