AMONG THE SENUSSI.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17844, 27 July 1921, Page 8

AMONG THE SENUSSI.

WHITE WOMAN'S DARING. A JOURNEY TO KUFRA. FIRST EUROPEAN THERE, [niorf oun own correspondent.] LONDON. June 2. Probably not sfneo Sir Richard Burton, the great traveller, made his famous journey to Mecca, has there been so notable an achievement as that of Mrs. Rosita Forbes, who has just returned from explorations made into the heart of the Libyan Desert and into the sanctuary of tho Senussi. Mrs. Eorbes, who is writing a book of her experiences, is not a woman of ripe experience and uncertain age. She is flight and graceful, of vivacious manner; she dresses with taste, and she is only 27 years old. After hearing her lectures and seeing her remarkable lantern pictures, one is inclined to wonder why women so bravo, enterprising, and gifted should be debarred from entering tho Diplomatic Service. As tho guest, at a luncheon, of the Overseas Club, Mrs. Forbes dwelt largely and succinctly on the lighter side of her journeyings. Undoubtedly her sens«. of humour must be described as having been a vital part of her equipment, for without it she could fccarcclv have gone th:rough the discomforts, perils, and privations of the trip. It was becauso she was an Arabic scholar that she was able to get from a desert sheik a Moslem pass with a statement that she was travelling for tho good of Islam. Thereafter she posed as Sitt Khad.in, a traveller from a harem, and she explained her grey eyes by saying that her mother was a Circassian. ' "I travelled in a many-coloured costume," she said, "with the wide sash-band round the hips, in which were a kodak, revolvers, and comforts, and, I am afraid, a lot of womeu's articles as well." Her Ksryptian guide was Ahmed Mohammed Boy Hassanein, who has since been elected a member of the Royal Geographical Society. There were at the start 18 camels and a retinue of 17. Dealing with her journey across the desert to Kufra, Mrs, Forbes said she was usually asked two questions—"Did yon havo a hot bath every day?" and "Was there not much sand there?" (Laughter.) As to the first question, she did not have a hot bath from the moment she started on November 1 until she got back toward the end of February, and for 17 days they had not sufficient water overt to wash their fingers. First European at Kufra. To tho inquiry why did she go? Mrs. Forbes said ;sho went to find out where tho Senussi fitted into the jigsaw puzsle of Islam. _ The Senussi were not a tribe, but a religious sect which at one time had great power throughout North Africa. They came into conflict with tho French in Nigeria, they stopped tho progress of Italian colonisation in Tripoli, and during the European war they bade fair to wrest at least some part of Egyptian territory from Britain. She went to Senuusi capital of Kufra, which had never before been visited by a European. It wa3 England's habit to treat the littlo problems of the African races a|S having no relatiou to world-wide affairs. But a little study would show how easily tho road to India might be blocked. It is her view that when some measure of self-government is given to Egypt, Great Britain will have to cope with the peaceful permeation of Egypt by Italy. In order to keep an open gate to India she urged that it behoved us to keep on good terms with the power ful Senussi, who are in touch with British influence in Egypt and the Sudan. Into Palestine, the other gatepost on tho road to India, there wajs last year, she said, an immigration of 30,000 Jews, most of whom came from Silesia, Poland, and Russia, and of whom she thought that probably 29,999 were Bolshovik in sympathy, if not in action. Next door to Palestine there was French Syria, and further east, Mesopotamia. It would tako a very few brickis to make the wall complete that would block Britain's road to India. Disguised as Bedouin Chiefs. One night they had to flee from a vil-' lage disguised as Bedouin chiefs, as s sj)y warned them that thcro was a plot to murder the party. Mrs. Forbes 'had dislocated 'her foot, and her Egyptian companion was suffering from rheumatism, and they had to hobble some distance to their camels, which were hidden in tombs. Unfortunately, they had only four days' food with them, and as their servants.had taken none, they wero reduced to a diet of locusts. Food had to be carried, too, for the camels, and this was principally date fodder. On another occasion they had to do a seven days' journey across a stretch of c waterless desert. On tho sixth day out tho guido lost his head, and on the seventh day, after crossing the spot where an was chartered on the map, they f01k,.) themselves still in tho desert, with w te pints of water, no fuel, and a distinct!* nitinous retinue, but the main argument was whether the black slaves should shoot the guide at once or beat him first. A Guide's Philosophy. The journey back to Cairo included a 12 days' waterless interlude. It had to be noted that in the desert a route was not a road; it was merely a direction. At the end of one very trying day v watcr was discovered three feet down, and to get at it they had to dig with their hands. When reached the water was quite brackish. The rule of the guide was this: "I have the North Pole star over my eyebrow and the South Pole star at the back of ray head. I walk till I am tired. Then I turn toward Mecca and walk till I am tireder, and we may arrive. If not, wo shall go to hell." A troublesome featuro of the journey was the laziness of the servants, who would not take the trouble to hobble the camels at night, with the result that nearly every night they stampeded. At length, to the Arabs' eternal "It is the will of Allah," she one day replied, "In the Koran it says, ''First tie your camels' knees and then put your trust in Allah,' " and from that she gained a great reputation as a religious woman. Another apparently favourite saying of the Arabs was: " 'West you go to hell; East you may possibly hit something if only it is a dead camel. So we went East." One day Hassanein Bey remarked that he was Iceeping one bullet to shoot the first person he. met in Cairo who should say, "What fun you must have had!" But that came from so many people at the same time that one bullet was not enough. Concluding. Mrs. Forbes said she was frequently asked what was ihe most wonderful thing in the journey to Kufra, and she said: "Apart from my interest in tho politics and commerce of that country, and that there is going to be rebirth of the Arab nation, which 10 years from now will be our most valuable allies or bitter opponents, according to our policy, the best moment of my journey was when I sat by a British camp fire with, a strange, rather shy, young suhaltern. sent out with a party to meet us, cooking sausages against all Moslem habits, and smoking cigarettes, contrary to all Senussi law.'' They were rescued by the search party after staggering with parched lips and eyes dimmed with hunger and fatigu* across the burning desert.