over 50% of their number in killed alone. 'Ali Dinar and a con- siderable following of horsemen fled from the field. The party was chased and bombed by airmen, but the Sultan made good his escape. He retired to the confines of French central Africa. In Oct. 1916 a column was sent against him; he again fled, was pursued and killed in action on Nov. 6.
The Siwa Defeat. In the oases west of the Nile (where Maj.- Gen. W. A. Watson had taken over the command) there was little change between April and Oct. 1916. The patrolling of the desert front, over 800 m. in length, was done by light motor- cars, the Imperial Camel Corps and aeroplanes. In October, the British, with slight opposition, reoccupied Dakhla oasis, where Sidi Ahmad had a farm and where he had been living for some months. From Dakhla a daring attempt was made by a party of British, in motor-cars, to reconnoitre Kufra, but it was found impossible to cross the belt of sand dunes west of the oasis.
Sidi Ahmad now retired by way of Farfara and Baharia oases to Siwa. As long as he remained there he was not utterly dis- credited in the eyes of the Egyptians. It was therefore decided to attack Siwa with a force sent in motor-cars from Matruh. The distance to be covered was 150 m., but the ground was for the most part hard. Leaving Matruh on Feb. i 1917, the armoured- car force, under Brig.-Gen. H. W. Hodgson, reached the escarp- ment, below which lies Siwa oasis, the next afternoon, and was in action the whole of Feb. 3. The Senussites were about 1,000 strong, including 800 riflemen, and had mountain and machine- guns. An attempt to rush the cars was frustrated, but the action appeared to be indecisive. However, at daybreak the next morn- ing the Senussites, having blown up their ammunition, retreated west. The head of their column was ambushed, but the main body got away. Sidi Ahmad, with Mohammed Salih (ex-com- mander of the Egyptian coastguard, who had deserted at the beginning of the campaign), had already fled to Jarabub (the oasis in which is the mosque-tomb of the founder of the Senus- site fraternity). Thither he was not pursued, and in the Kufra oases he had a practically inaccessible place of refuge.
Nevertheless, with the defeat of Siwa the danger to Egypt from the Senussi movement disappeared and though raids were made on the Darfur border they did not seriously affect the Su- dan. In Cyrenaica, too, the situation was altered. An Anglo- Italian agreement had been concluded in July 1916 for common action against the Senussi and it was in contemplation to trans- fer from the Egyptian to the Italian sphere Jarabub and that part of the Libyan Desert containing Kufra.
An Understanding with Italy. During 1917 and 1918 Turkish and German influence among the Senussites steadily declined while strong efforts were made by the Italians to come to an understanding with the sect. They secured the release of 700 Italian soldiers, prisoners of war. Sidi Mohammed el Idris, the former envoy to Egypt, and the eldest son of Senussi el Mahdi, had disapproved his cousin's action and had taken no part in the invasion of Egypt. He had an influential following and was desirous of peace with both Italy and Great Britain. After the fight at Siwa he entered into an agreement with both Powers. Sidi Ahmad himself was deeply committed to his Turkish and German counsellors. Many of these, including Nuri Bey, had left Cyrenaica. In the summer of 1918 the Idrisi party gained the mastery in the Senussite ranks. Sidi Ahmad's position was undermined and he found it convenient to quit Cyrenaica. In August of that year he was conveyed by a German submarine from Misurata to Polo, whence he went to Turkey, still claiming to be the head of the brotherhood. In 1919 he " girded the Sultan with the sword of 'Othman " but in 1920 had turned Nationalist and aided Mustafa Kemal.
The Senussi chiefs in Libya had chosen Sidi Mohammed el Idris as Grand Senussi, and the new head of the order in Jan. 1919 sent a mission to Rome, when Italian sovereignty was implicitly recognized. Neither Italy, France or Great Britain had challenged the right of the Senussi sheikh to exercise spirit- ual authority over the members of the brotherhood; Italy in 1917 had gone further and had acknowledged Sidi Mohammed's temporal authority in what may be called his hereditary dominions. By the accord of Regima concluded Nov. 1920 the 1917 agreement was Fatified and Sidi Mohammed, to whom the Italians gave the title of emir (prince), himself visited Rome to pay homage to the King of Italy. An indication of Sidi Moham- med's attitude was the permission he granted at this time to an English woman to visit Kufra, though in the guise of a Moslem. The lady in question, Mrs. Rosita Forbes, testified to the de- sire of the Senussi chiefs to resume trade with Egypt.
AUTHORITIES. See the despatches of Sir John Maxwell, Sir Archibald Murray and Sir Reginald Wingate (London Gazette sup- plements June 21, Sept. 25, Oct. 25 and Dec. I 1916 and May 27 1919); The Times History of the War, vol. ix., chap. cxlv. ; Lt.- Col. J. Tilho, "The Exploration of Tibeste ... in 1912-7," Geog. JnL. vol. Ivi. (1920); Capt. Gwatkin Williams, R.N., In the Hands of the Senussi (1916) ; Rosita Forbes, The Secret of the Sahara: Kufra (1921); W. T. Massey, The Desert Campaigns (1918). (F. R. C.)
SERBIA (see 24.686) had in 1910 an area of 48,303 sq. km., which after the Balkan wars was increased to 87,358 sq. kilometres. The pop., according to the census taken on Dec. 31
1910, was 2,91 1, 701, showing an increase of 417,931 over that of
1900. The country was divided into 18 districts, as follows,
(the pop. is shown in brackets): Belgrade 1 (155,815), Belgrade
City (89,876), Valjevo (157,648), Vranja (252,937), Kragujevac
(189,025), Krajina (112,142), Krusevac (167,371), Morava
(203,638), Nis (198,768), Pirot (112,314), Podrina (238,275),
Pozarevac (259,906), Rudnik (85,340), Smederevo (143,216),
Timok (149,538), Toplica (110,216), Uzice (146,763), Cacak
(138,911). Of this total pop. 2,528,819 lived in the country,
and only 382,882 in towns. Of these the most populous were
Belgrade (89,876), Ni (24,949), Kragujevac (18,452), Les-
kovac (14,236), Pozarevac (13,411), Sabac (12,100), Vranja
(11,439), Pirot (10,737). In iQo the density of population
was 51.6 per sq. kilometre.
The territory acquired by Serbia in the wars of 1912-3 con- tained (according to not very reliable statistics) a pop. of 1,481,614, divided among the following 12 districts: Pri- jepolje (49,315), RaSa (81,214), Zvefane (81,643), Kosovo (193,337), Prizren (124,101), Tetovo (146,803), Skoplje (Uskub, 157,078), Kumanovo (144,983), Bregalnisa (101,442), TikveS (84,657), Bitolj (Monastir, 252,646), Okhrida (84,395).
Thus Serbia on the eve of the World War had a pop. of roughly 4,500,000. The births, deaths, and marriages in Serbia amounted in 1911 and 1912 to 107,219 and 114,257, to 64,369 and 63,358, and to 30,420 and 13,289 respectively.
Agriculture. Serbia is a land of small holdings, the former Turkish proprietors having been expropriated in 1833 and 1880: in 1900, out of a total of 401,093 families, no less than 91-5% were owners of land. Of these only 86 persons owned over 100 hectares of land, and only three persons over 300, while there were 98,253 properties (33-4%) of under three hectares. There has been a very rapid development of cooperative societies since 1895 (900 in 1909, with 35,000 members; 1,200 in 1913, with 40,000 members).
Of a total area of 2,045,176 hectares there was in 1905 (a) culti- vated land 1,223,671 (arable land 1,027,815, gardens 25,815, vine- yards 33,101, orchards 136,939); (6) grazing land 418,391; (c) com- mons and uncultivated land 110,101. In 1908 the chief products of the harvest were (in tons) maize 533,691, cereals 457,734, hay and clover 226,858, straw 777,728, plums 530,061, potatoes 54,946. In 1905 (latest statistics available) the live stock was distributed as follows: horses 1/4,363, cattle 969,953, pigs 908,580, sheep 3,160,- 166, goats 510,063.
Forests. Over one-third of Serbia's total area (3,750,000 ac.) is forest land, all but 750,000 ac. of this belonging to the State or the various communes. The chief varieties of tree are beech (750,00030.), oak and conifers.
Mines. The mining industry of Serbia has a great future, but has hitherto been but little developed, owing to lack of capital and means of transport. Table I gives the export of ores (in metric tons) according to the last statistics available. That these are merely the first primitive beginnings is best shown by the fact that in the year
1 The phonetic spellings of the names of the districts and towns, following the system adopted by the Committee of the Royal Geographical Society, are: Belgrade, Valyevo, Vranya, Kraguyevats, Krajina, Krushevats, Morava, Nish, Pirot, Podrina, Pozharevats, Rudnik, Smederevo, Timok, Toplitsa, Uzhitse, Chachak, Leskovats, Shabats, Priyepolye, Rasha, Zvechane, Kosovo, Prizram, Tetovo, Skoplye, Kumanovo, Bregalnitsa, Tikvesh, Okhrida. The spellings given above follow the Croatian form or its equivalent.
