Page:The Northern Ḥeǧâz (1926).djvu/203

 unable, however, to remain there. From the well a Ḥwêṭi came to us and rebuked us for damaging property not our own. When I asked him to stay with us he said that he was about to leave immediately with his camels, because the district round the Ṛwâfa was infected with smallpox. Near the hill of Abu Ḳrûn, he said, there was a deserted tent with two men who had been taken ill with smallpox; his own health and that of his children was much more valuable to him than the wages which I offered him. My native companions were also afraid of infection and urged me to finish the work as quickly as possible and to leave Ṛwâfa. Moreover, they supposed that the chief Daʻsân might have returned and that he would take measures against us. The gendarme Ḫalîl then reminded me that the mudîr and Sâlem, the representative of chief Ḥarb, would certainly incite the ʻAṭâwne against us. There was nothing left for me but to get away from Ṛwâfa.

We wanted to proceed due southeast across the eastern flank of the Tmarr mountain range, but the Ḥwêṭi warned us against this region, which, he said, was infected with smallpox. He also informed me that the journey was extremely