Page:The Northern Ḥeǧâz (1926).djvu/224

 of the surrounding neighborhood (temperature: 34° C). At 9.50, at the place where the šeʻibân of al-Mṛallân and al-Ṛoṣon approach the šeʻîb of an-Nežîb, we entered a low-lying country through which the šeʻîb of al-Farrâʻa makes its way.

The united šeʻibân of al-Farrâʻa and an-Nežîb, as has already been stated, form Wâdi al-Ǧizel. The bed of the latter is in places as much as one kilometer broad, covered with coarse gravel, but nevertheless showing vegetation. At 11.30 we crossed the šeʻîb of Ṛubaṯa, which comes from the east, and at 12.05 had on our right the šeʻîb of Ẓrejs, which forms a fairly broad plain covered with sand drifts.

In the plain of Ẓrejs we saw the first shepherd of the Beli tribe. He rode up to us at a gallop on his camel and brandished his rifle. Our guide rode off towards him, not wanting him to meet us, for the guide was afraid that if the shepherd discovered we were foreigners he might incite his friends to rob and even kill us. We were in the territory of the Beli and we had no Belâwi as a guide and protector. The clans of al-Mwâhîb, as-Sḥama’, and al-Frêʻât, encamping in the valley of al-Ǧizel and the volcanic regions of ar-Rḥa’ and al-ʻAwêreẓ, are notorious for their rapacity and treachery. Our guide told us that they respect neither the right of hospitality nor the right of refuge but are continually waging war among themselves and obey nobody, not even the head chief Slîmân eben Refâde, who dwells at al-Weǧh. Our plan was to endeavor unobserved to reach the tent of some family or other and, entering the tent, to win over the owner as a guide to the nearest camp. Our guide, an ʻAṭîwi, thought that we should not succeed in doing so and that we should only be attacked by the Beli; but trusting in Allâh we wished at least to make the attempt.

Having learnt from the guide that the Beli were encamped due south, we branched off southward at 12.10 P. M. from the valley of al-Ǧizel by the šeʻîb of al-Mlêḥa. We proceeded through a gray, parched plain covered in places with fine, black lava gravel. At 1.05 we caught the first sight of the extinct volcano al-ʻEnâz, far away on the eastern horizon. Soon afterwards, at the šeʻîb of al-Ǧiden, we found the fresh tracks of camels coming from the southeast. Following them we I went up the slope of Mount as-Saʻad, rode through a narrow defile, and at a distance of scarcely fifty meters in front of us perceived about twenty small tents. Before the surprised