Page:The Northern Ḥeǧâz (1926).djvu/167



At 8.20 we left an-Naʻemi (temperature: 30.1° C) and proceeded in a southerly direction on a path which led through a deep gap to the uplands. We had not been able to find this path, because hitherto no flock had been watered at an-Naʻemi. The sand of the river bed had been worn perfectly smooth by the last trickling water, and the entrance to thepath leading from the river bed to the gap was hidden by a high boulder. Between the boulder and the rocky wall beside it there remained a space only about one and five-tenths meters broad, which a short distance farther on was shut off by another boulder on the left, so that from the river bed it seemed as if there were no outlet to the winding path. Entering the upland, we found ourselves in the extensive hollow of Baṭḥ as-Sikâra, running from north to south. On the west this hollow is shut in by the al-Ṛurûr mountain range; on the north by a spur of the same range known as Ḫašm Nḳejb and by the rocks of al-Ḳwâra, al-Minḫ, and Abu Ḫašaba; and on the south by the granite rocks of Abu Ḳṣejme and al-Mḥawwar. Our new guides would not answer a single question. Toward ten o’clock we perceived to the east the first cones, pyramids, knolls, horns, and other shapes, which are so characteristic of the upland of Ḥesma. The šeʻîb broadened out, the separate elevations became flatter, the vegetation more abundant. The various hollows were thickly overgrown with ratam among which tents appeared at intervals. It was not an enclosed camp; instead, the tents were scattered over an area of several square kilometers.

At 10.40 A. M. we halted in front of the chief’s tent (temperature: 34.2°C). Upheld by a single middle pole, it was shabby and full of holes. An old man came out, greeted us, and assigned a place to us between three ratam bushes. There we deposited our baggage. The camels immediately began to graze near by. After a while we were greeted by a youth of about twenty, who welcomed us on behalf of his father, the chief, who was absent on a raid. The youth brought a tent cloth, the old man a few poles and ropes, and with the help of my native companions they set up a temporary tent above our baggage. At my request Šerîf boiled some coffee and served it to all who were present. The youth went off with his cousin to the spring of Ḏjejb, where his