Page:The Northern Ḥeǧâz (1926).djvu/121

 ing the decorated camels carrying gifts from Egypt to Mecca and the splendid palanquins of the Egyptian ladies and gentlemen, and keeping no watch on the higher rocks to the east. But it was precisely in these rocks that the ʻImrân were concealed with the Beni ʻAṭijje. Creeping down softly toward the soldiers, they flung themselves upon them with a great shout. Some they killed, others escaped. The Bedouins set light to fuses and fired at the pilgrims who were crowded together in the narrow valley beneath the spur, where they were completely unable to defend themselves. The victims were thoroughly plundered by the Bedouins. Slîmân said that his father carried off two camels, upon which he loaded various garments, carpets, and food, and that in addition he made off with a small bag containing forty-eight gold coins.

At 1.50 P. M. we saw on our right the small šeʻîb of Eḳdâd, which comes from Ṭrejf al-Bawwâl, and to the southeast we could see the flat elevations of aẓ-Ẓerw and al-Ṛarâḳ, composed of red and white strata. At 2.22 we had the small šeʻîb of Amwas on our left hand, and on our right the short šeʻîb of al-Krejbât.

Slîmân recited a poem which he had composed in my honor, but Mḥammad and Ismaʻîn would not let him finish it, declaring that they had composed a better poem; whereupon they also said a few verses. But Slîmân disposed of them, saying that their verses were not original, being a mere repetition of his idea.

Toward three o’clock there was a change in the appearance of the country. The serried granite mountains disappeared, and on both sides and ahead of us we saw limestone hills and uplands, covered at the foot with a moderately deep layer of sand. The slopes of these hills and uplands were more gradual than those of the hills through which we had come, and the šeʻibân were shallower and broader but with no vegetation. At three o’clock we could see to the south through a notch of no great depth the high, red ridge of an-Nmejr and above it higher brown mountains with the white strata of al-Muʻaffara. The valley of al-Abjaẓ gradually grows broader, and the channel on the western side runs along a high, yellow escarpment known as Ṣafra’-l-Bedʻ. This escarpment