Page:The Northern Ḥeǧâz (1926).djvu/208

 watering some long-haired sheep, and five men were attending to about twenty camels. As the sister of Ḥarb had not sent us a guide, I should have liked to have hired a guide from among the men present, but they all excused themselves, saying that their camp was a long way to the northeast and that they were on the point of moving northwards for fear of the smallpox, which had broken out in the upper part of the šeʻîb of al-Ḳena’. They told us that we should find an Arab camp by the fountain of al-Ḥadara, situated to the south of al-Ḳena’ in the šeʻîb of the same name. I asked Sbejḥ to accompany us that far and not to leave us until we had another guide.

At 8.25 we left the spring and proceeded in a north-easterly direction. On our left we observed a herd of camels going down to drink. It was curious to watch how these animals found their way downwards over the steep rocky wall. About half-way down the slope projected a narrow, horizontal rib, in front of which the camels came to a standstill; the leading animal groped about in front of this rib, crawled over it cautiously, but returned and waited until all the rest of the beasts had climbed down; only then did it follow.

At 8.40 we branched off eastward by the šeʻîb of al-Hulful, crossed the broad šeʻîb of Dellem, which is connected with the shorter ravines of Dejjer and al-Baḫît. At 9.10 we rode through the ravine of Ammu Rẓej, which merges with aṯ-Ṯwejmer; at 9.50 we left al-Ḳena’, turning almost due north, and after crossing the low ridge of Ṭrejf al-Bûm we made our way into the šeʻîb of Ammu Nṣejb, where we remained from 10.20 to 12.10 P. M. (temperature: 36° C). The camels grazed on fresh šaʻrân and rimṯ. The sun was scorching, the rocks and sand so hot that it was painful to touch them with the bare hand or foot. The camels, having drunk their fill at al-Ḳena’, were craving for pasture, but there was none in the šeʻîb of Ammu Nṣejb. I climbed up the slope and in a rather small hollow discovered a fairly extensive space with a growth of fresh šaʻrân, but our camels were so tired that they could not get up the steep declivity. After several vain attempts one camel after the other knelt down in order at least to rest, if it could not satisfy its hunger. Nevertheless, we had to urge the tired and hungry animals to a further march.