Page:The Northern Ḥeǧâz (1926).djvu/114

 guide returned with the animals, but without his own camel. His excuse was that his father had driven it away; but the real reason was that he did not wish to risk his camel’s being stolen. I asked him to draw for me in the sand a plan of the whole shore of al-Ḥmejẓa as far as ʻAjnûna, with the various šeʻibân and the mountains from which they run. From his statements and his plan I myself drew a sketch map. Twice I rubbed out his drawing and asked him to sketch the šeʻibân again on each occasion from a different side—and I thus found that he never contradicted himself. His statements as to direction and distance were accurate. He measured distance either in terms of camel rides or of marches on foot.

At 8.50 we proceeded farther southward. At 9.20 we reached the elevation of Ḳrejdât al-Arnab, and we remained beneath a high granite peak until 12.30. Originally we had intended to eat, but we had five hungry ʻImrân with us, and our stock of supplies was already running short. Consequently Mḥammad urged me to complete our cartographical observations rapidly and then continue our journey. Only the heaviest baggage was unloaded from the camels, the lighter articles being left on them. Accompanied by the new guide, Tûmân and I climbed to the top of the peak, from which we intended to sketch the surrounding district. At first we went up a slope of crumbling stone which shifted with every footstep. We then clambered from boulder to boulder until we reached a projection which we took to be the actual summit, but we soon discovered that the latter was situated farther on towards the west. It consisted of vertical ribs between which we cautiously climbed upwards. The upper ends of these ribs rose up like a wooden fence and were so smooth that we had to crawl among them at full length. The summit was formed by a single boulder three meters long and two meters broad at the top. As I am subject to dizziness, I could not look downward into the precipitous chasm, more than one hundred and fifty meters deep. Having completed our work, we went down again, the descent proving even more difficult and dangerous than the ascent. Before we were safely down blood was drawn from our hands and feet. The camels were already loaded, so that we could continue our journey immediately. Our uninvited guests had waited a long time for our return, but not knowing where