Kufra

“ Hamad Zwayi, another boy who was a pleasant singer; Sad, the Aujili; Faraj, the slave; two Tebus, with their three camels. In addition there were three other Tebus with three camels loaded with merchandise which they were taking to deliver to merchants in Kufra.
We set our faces southward and journeyed toward Kufra. It was hot and windy, and the desert lay about us like an interminable pancake. The ground was serira, which is flat hard sand, with a little gravel scattered over it. Our first objective was the Zieghen Well, which we ought to make in eight or nine days. ”

“ While an ocean of shifting sands rolls away to the north and north-east, dunes are everywhere rare in the Kufra district, except towards the centre, where they enclose the Buseima oasis. West and south they disappear completely, and here is everywhere visible either the bare rock or the marshy soil constituting the ground of the oases. ”

“ In fact there is a legend among them that he is not dead but wandering over the earth until such time as he shall come again to his desert people. To the Zwayas El Mahdi is the most beloved of the Senussi leaders because it was he who moved the center of activity of the brotherhood to Kufra, their headquarters. The kubba of the mosque that he built is the glory of Kufra. ”

“ Here and there the surface is also strewn with lound sandstone masses of all sizes, producing the effect as if the plain were some vast arsenal stored with shells, balls, and bullets of all kinds. Of these concretions some are hollow, while others have a solid core or are filled with loose sand. Good water exists in superabundance in the Kufra oases, and may be everywhere reached by sinking wells to a depth of from 3 to 10 feet. In ihis respect Kufra is favourably distinguished from nearly all the Libyan oases. This abundance of ”

“ He is always armed with a long matchlock provided with a rusty bayonet. The Zwiyas leave to the despised Tibbus of the southern village the use of their primitive weapons, such as the long heavy iron club tipped with steel, which describes a whirling motion in its flight through the air. Topography. The Kufra group comprises five chief oases, of which the most important, if not the largest, is Taiserbo, in the north-west. ”

“ There is only one known route through this dreadful wilderness—one running north and south to the oases of Kufra, which lie in its centre. The dunes in the Libyan desert, so far as is known, run N.N.W. and S.S.E. In the Eastern Erg the dunes also lie in long lines in a N.N.W. and S.S.E. direction, presenting a gradual slope to windward and an abrupt descent to leeward. There they are generally about 60 or 70 ft. high, but in other parts of the Sahara they are said to attain a height of upwards of 300 ft. ”

“ Till comparatively recent times all were pagans, whence the term Kufra (Kufara) , "Land of the Unbeliever," applied by the Arabs to the southern oases of Tripolitana. But for two or three centuries they have been zealous Mohammedans, and some have even lately been brought within the influence of the political Senusiya sect (see TRIPOLI, below) . They are a frugal race, living mostly on goat s milk, dates, berries, durrha, and the fruit of the dum-palm ; nevertheless they are of robust constitution and remarkably agile. ”

“ Near the margin of all the lakes and saline marshes wells may be sunk which yield fresh water, and the soil is everywhere clothed with an arborescent and grassy vegetation at least sufficient to afford pasturage for the camels. Flora and Faixa. Although distinguished from most other groups of oases in the desert by the wealth of their vegetation, those of Kufra present but a limited number of forms- A single species, such as the alfa, the tamarisk, acacia, or talka, covers extensive tracts, stretching for many square miles beyond the horizon. ”

“ Not a single well affords refreshment to caravans in this frightful solitude, and the inhabitants of Eufra take care that none arc sunk. They are anxious to keep aloof from the rest of the world, for they are a " feeble folk," probably less than a thousand souls altogether, and they would have long ago lost their independence had the Turkish troops been able easily to reach the depression. But although wrongly marked on many maps as included in the government of Tripolitana, the Kufra oases have none the less been conquere ”

“ Ksur Mountains, 210
Ktawa, 400
Kufra Oasis, 28
Kuka, 427
Kuku, 255
Kullu, 250
Kulugli, 54, 136
Kumein (Bu) , 117
Kurba, 165
Kur-es-Sef, 154
Kuriatein Islands, 122
Kurshin, 165
Kussi, Mount, 424
Kwinin, 307 ”

“ Everybody has heard of it, and nobody knows it.'
'I wish you would tell me what you have heard.'
'Well, the natives are queer up thereaways. There's some kind of a holy place which every Kaffir from Algoa Bay to the Zambesi and away beyond knows about. When I've been hunting in the bush-veld I've often met strings of Kaffirs from hundreds of miles distant, and they've all been going or coming from Blaauwildebeestefontein. It's like Mecca to the Mohammedans, a place they go to on pilgrimage. I've heard of an old man up there who is believed to be two hundred years old. ”

“ The prize domains of Kûfa—conquered, that is to say, by the armies of Khâlid and of Sád—were much more extensive than those of Bussorah. Shortly after it was founded, the inhabitants of Bussorah sent a deputation to urge that its endowments should be increased, and its income made more adequate to their responsibilities. ‘Kûfa,’ said Ahraf, the spokesman from Bussorah, ‘is a well-watered garden which yieldeth in season its harvest of dates, while ours is a brackish land. ”

“ Well, a week ago, Kurchuk came out with this decree closing our temple at Zurb and ordering his subjects to perform worship and make money offerings to Muz-Azin. The Zurb temple isn't a mask for a mine: Zurb's too far south for the uranium deposits. It's just a center for propaganda and that sort of thing. But they have a House of Yat-Zar, and a conveyer, and most of the upper-priests are paratimers. Well, our man there, Tammand Drav, alias Khoram, defied the king's order, so Kurchuk sent a company of Chuldun archers to close the temple and arrest the priests. ”

“ It is by these means that the Kaffirs have been enabled for years to collect it, and it is still to be feared that there are many men among the “pale faces,” wicked enough to traffic, not only in the articles named above, but in arms and ammunition. Magazines have long been stored with the latter; and as the traveller passes through a village of Kaffir huts, he little imagines that two or three of these rude edifices, standing side by side, were unceasingly and jealously watched by as many idle-looking savages, whose listless air well conceals the importance of their real occupation. ”

“ The Kurram Valley.—The Kurram Valley, which is drained by the Kurram river and its affluents, lies to the south of the lofty Safed Koh range, and reaches from Thal in Kohát to the Peiwar Kotal on the borders of Afghán Khost. It has an area of nearly 1300 square miles and in 1911 the population was estimated at 60,941 souls. Though under British administration, it does not form a part of any British district. The people are Patháns of various clans, the predominant element being the Turís, who are Shias by religion and probably of Turkish origin. ”

“ Twenty more men had been sent from Kufara to reinforce the Mawhubs at their ezba, in the north-west corner of Dakhla, which I should have to pass in order to enter the oasis on my way to Egypt; while the inhabitants of Farafra—the only other oasis I could fall back upon with my small caravan—were members of the order almost to a man, and were on the look out for me if I returned that way. ”

“ It is noted in the Mysore Census Report, 1901, that the Kurubas have not taken kindly to education, and are by nature so simple that Kuruba has, in some places, become a byword for a simpleton. The Kurubas are also known as Hālu Mata, or milk caste, as they believe that they were created out of milk by Rēvana Siddēswara. In Hindustani they are called Dhangars, or rich people. Some, in spite of their poor dress and appearance, are well-to-do. ”

“ The village of Kurrum consisted of a single fort and a large collection of mat huts, all grouped together, situated close to the shore. The maritime plain consisted of sandy-brown soil, very uninteresting, with scarcely any vegetation growing on it, and was here only about half a mile broad. The hills in the background were very insignificant, not half so high as any I had seen, and were dull and brown, like those one sees when travelling down the Red Sea. The people say that in their recesses and ravines acacias and other gum-trees grow as they do elsewhere. ”

“ Kurho was aware of the new weapon; it made his own people uneasy and restless; such a thing at loose in the valley could only spell threat to all peoples! But, if it was to be, then what the tribe of Gor-wah devised Kurho's tribe would also devise. They would devise more and better!
Otah listened, growled in anger. "Kurho says this? Kurho, who has boasted that he will take the whole valley?" Then he paused and considered sensibly. "Mai-ak, take answer. You will say that we go in peace. Say that never do we intend to cross the river. ”

“ And Kuoril came and lightened the weight of the camel’s load, and he said unto that man, “O my son, why didst thou load him with a weight heavier than he could carry? Wouldst not thou be sorry if one laid a heavy load upon thee, and a labor which thou couldst not perform?” And then when they came into their abode he asked him about his sorrow so that he might tell him and reveal to him the place of the treasure; and having made him to swear that he would not repeat his words to anyone else, he said unto him, “There is at the east end of the church a little box, and therein is the treasure.” ”

“ The valley is narrow, and there is little room for cultivation. The trees are few and stunted, and the general appearance of the country is of low hills and broken nullahs, where the usual ‘palosa,’ bera, seneta and mazarai form a thin scrub jungle. Upper Kurram, on the other hand, is wider, and the mountains containing it are more imposing. There is a good deal of cultivation; the villages are larger and far more prosperous looking, and are built chiefly of mud. The more important ones have from eight to ten fortified towers, and are besides protected by high loop-holed walls. ”

“ KUFA, a Moslem city, situated on the shore of the Hindieh canal, about 4 m. E. by N. of Nejef (32° 4′ N., 44° 20′ E.) , was founded by the Arabs after the battle of Kadesiya in A.D. 638 as one of the two capitals of the new territory of Irak, the whole country being divided into the sawads, or districts, of Basra and Kufa. The caliph ‛Ali made it his residence and the capital of his caliphate. After the removal of the capital to Bagdad, in the middle of the following century, Kufa lost its importance and began to fall into decay. ”

“ It is easy to see how this belief in the magical powers of the Kurumbas may have arisen, or, more probably, how its existence may have been maintained. The slopes of the hills on which the Kurumbas live are extremely malarious, and it must often have happened that a visit to a Kurumba village was followed by an attack of fever of a severe kind. We probably have here a good example of a vicious circle. Whenever two tribes of different degrees of culture live near one another, the members of the lower usually acquire the reputation of being sorcerers. ”

“ Pollution is observed for ten days, and, on the eleventh day, sheep and fowls are killed, and a grand feast is given to the Kurumbas of the village. Before the feast commences, a leaf containing food is placed in a corner of the house, and worshipped. This is removed on the next morning,and placed over the roof, to be eaten by crows. If the deceased be a male, the glass bangles worn by his wife on her right arm are broken on the same day."
The patron saint of the Kurubas is Bīrappa or Bīradēvaru, and they will not ride on horses or ponies,as these are the vehicles of the god. ”

“ My Nāyakas do not recognise this temple, but have their place of worship in the heart of the jungle, where they make their puja (worship) under the direction of their own priest. The Nāyakas will not attend the funeral of a Kurumba; nor will they invite Kurumbas to the funeral of one of their own tribe. There is a marked variation in their modes of life. The Kurumba of this part lives in comparatively open country, in the belt of deciduous forest lying between the ghats proper and the foot of the Nīlgiri plateau. ”

“ Population.—The total Kūrd population probably exceeds two and a half millions, namely, Turkish Kūrds 1,650,000, Persian 800,000, Russian 50,000, but there are no trustworthy statistics. The great mass of the population has its home in Kūrdistān. But Kūrds are scattered irregularly over the country from the river Sakarīa on the west to Lake Urmia on the east, and from Kars on the north to Jebel Sinjar on the south. There is also an isolated settlement in Khorasan. The tribes, ashiret, into which the Kūrds are divided, resemble in some respects the Highland clans of Scotland. ”

“ You are a Kafr yourself. I worship God as you do, and Jesus Christ, whom Mahomet calls Rouch Ullah, the Spirit of God. Kafrs worship stones and trees, are ill-bred, and rude in manners, such as you are. Sir, said I to the Aga, I demand of you if the grand signior, whose firman you have in your hand, when writing of me, calls me Kafr? Does Ali Bey, and the Porte of Janizaries, use such opprobrious expressions? ”