Page:The Northern Ḥeǧâz (1926).djvu/28

 cially if they are passing over a plain where they need not avoid stones. At 9.52 we arrived at the šeʻîb of aš-Šîdijje, in the hollow of which we encamped, now being north of the railway station of Bîr aš-Šîdijje (or Bîr aš-Šedijje).

On Friday, May 27, 1910, after a peaceful night, we set out at 4.15 A.M. in a southeasterly direction through a region covered with coarse sand of a dark-gray, almost black, color and cut by numerous twisting šeʻibân, broad but shallow. These watercourses are the only places in which annuals and perennials can thrive. But the valleys are not entirely covered with plants, and it is only in their lower portions that one can observe clumps of various kinds of vegetation. Here and there bushes and low ṭalḥ trees project above the brushwood.

At 5.30 A.M. we crossed the šeʻîb of al-Makmi and immediately afterwards ʻAšûš abu Ṛadîr. To the east we spied a rider on a camel. Scarcely had the negro Sâlem caught sight of him when he called to one of the Bedouins who were accompanying us. Whereupon they threw aside their outer garments, loaded their rifles, and started off in pursuit of the unknown rider. Seeking cover among the high slopes, they endeavoured to cut him off. The rider, observing us, came to a momentary standstill, but immediately afterwards disappeared not far from a high pile of stones .heaped upon the hill above, which indicated the position of the well of al-Marmak. After a short interval we again caught sight of the man fleeing from Sâlem and his companion. When they caught up with him Sâlem flung him from his camel and rode up to us with the captured animal. It was 6.08 A. M. when he returned. After a while the plundered rider came running up to us and asked for his camel. He was a Šarâri, or member of the tribe of Šarârât, which occupies the inhospitable territory north of the oasis of Tejma. As the Šarârât cannot obtain enough sustenance in their own territory, they associate with the tribes of the Ḥwêṭât, Beni Ṣaḫr, and especially with the Rwala, to whom they pay tribute. No one holds them in great esteem, and the Bedouins number them among the dishonorable Arab tribes. Sâlem, being the negro of a chief, only laughed at the Šarâri and refused to return his camel to him. When I urged Sâlem not to torment the poor fellow any more, he declared that he would restore the camel to its owner but not until he reached the chief’s