Page:The Northern Ḥeǧâz (1926).djvu/144

 should be transported by railway. But the war between the Ḥwêṭât and Beni ʻAṭijje on one side, and the Beni Ṣaḫr and Šarârât on the other, had prevented me from traveling to the east of the railway. Consequently, I had proceeded westward to al-ʻAḳaba, and had already been on the road for eighteen days. The uninvited guests had partly helped us to diminish our supplies so that not even the additional flour which we purchased was adequate, and there was no other food to be had. In addition to that, I needed photographic plates and gifts for the head chief of the Ḥwêṭât at-Tihama and his relations; our camels were tired and hungry, and we learnt from ʻAfnân that in the whole territory of his tribe there was absolutely no pasturage; in fact, his father had sent his horses to Egypt and had entrusted his camels to the protection of Chief Abu Šâma, who was encamped to the west of al-Ḥeǧr. It was therefore necessary for us to proceed to Tebûk to obtain the necessary supplies there and to give the camels a rest and good pasturage. I proposed that after a stay of about ten days at Tebûk we should return to the coast territory of the Ḥwêṭât at-Tihama, through which I intended to travel as far as al-Weǧh, where I could visit my old acquaintance Slîmân eben Refâde, the head chief of the Beli tribe. From al-Weǧh we were to go to al-Ḥeǧr, to which place our supplies were likewise to be transported.

When ʻAfnân heard that I intended to return to his territory, he promised that he would give me a guide who would conduct us as far as Tebûk and from Tebûk to Ẓbe’. When I asked him where I should find this guide, he answered that he was now sojourning in the oasis of Šarma and that he would send for him. I suggested that we should immediately set out for the oasis of Šarma, as our camels had no pasturage at al-Ḫrajbe. But neither ʻAfnân nor the commander, who meanwhile had joined us, wanted to let me leave al-Ḫrajbe at once, and it required a long time to obtain their consent. ʻAfnân declared that he would come with me and asked me to have the water bags filled. At al-Ḫrajbe there is plenty of water, for wherever a hole about four meters deep is dug water is found, but it is quite salt. For that reason drinking-water is brought from the oasis of ʻAjnûna. We filled one skin with salt water, while the officer had the other one filled for us with good water from ʻAjnûna, and when we left al-Ḫrajbe at 2.30 he accompanied us some distance.