Page:The Northern Ḥeǧâz (1926).djvu/206

 watering a large flock of black goats. One of the women was the sister of the chief Ḥarb eben ʻAṭijje, to whose kindred the camp situated to the north of the šeʻîb belonged. Ḫalîl and Sbejḥ asked her to send us a guide from her camp, who could overtake us either at the crossing of ad-Dwejmež or the next morning by the water of al-Ḳena’. We could not enter her camp because it was pitched in an almost inaccessible rocky ravine. The woman inquired about her brother and his camp and promised that she would fulfil our wish. At 3.16 we left the šeʻîb of Lebîd to the east of the pool Ṛadîr Abejṯer, crossed an elevation from which there was a wide view westward, and at 3.42 descended again into the šeʻîb of ar-Retâme, where we remained by some blossoming ṭalḥ trees from 3.55 to 6.20. The camels did not find much pasture, for there was no vegetation in the šeʻîb except the ṭalḥ trees and a few yellowish rimṯ bushes. The river bed was gray, the rocky walls white below, black above, and overhead hovered an ash-colored veil of air which blazed with the glowing heat. I trembled with ague, Rifʻat complained that he had a severe headache, Tûmân’s eyes were inflamed, red and swollen, the guide Sbejḥ asked for his wages and announced that he would leave us immediately; two of the camels had their backs lacerated and bleeding; all were tired and hungry, and we had to press on.

Following a path about thirty centimeters broad which wound among the sharp lava stones, we reached a narrow, rocky defile, from which there seemed to be no way out. We could not go back, nor was it possible to branch off to one side; we had to move forward, for Sbejḥ declared that his defile led to the crossing of ad-Dwejmež. I led the way forward with my camel. In places we laid lava stones one upon another in order to form steps upon which our camels could mount. After an hour’s wearisome march we reached the summit. It proved to be an endless plain covered with black lava, from which projected only slightly to the left the elevation of al-Ḥarḳa and to the right the elevation of Dbejjeb. We again found the small path about thirty centimeters wide, trodden by the camels among the sharp lava stones. From this path it was impossible to move aside either to the right or to the left. At 7.35 P. M. we found a bare surface measuring about fifteen meters in diameter, from which the lava had been removed, and here we encamped at a height of 1451 meters (temperature: 28° C). Not knowing whether the