Page:The Northern Ḥeǧâz (1926).djvu/52

 foot of the slope, the rain water well Mšâš Ǧebûʻ, by which ʻAwde abu Tâjeh encamped in December, 1909, on his march to Ṭubejž al-ʻAfar. From this camp he undertook a campaign against the Sirḥân clan, whose flocks were then grazing on the southern foot of the Ḥawrân, north of Ḳuṣejr ʻAmra. Passing through the šeʻîb of Ḥedreǧ, the Ḥwêṭât were observed by the Beni Ṣaḫr, who immediately pursued them on horses and camels and overtook them in five hours. A fight took place, in which the Beni Ṣaḫr succumbed to the superior power of the Ḥwêṭât. Between twenty and twenty-five of the combatants fell, among them Hâjel eben Fâjez, my good friend and brother, who in the years 1898, 1900, and 1901 accompanied me to the castle of ʻAmra. A treacherous bullet ended the life of this undaunted warrior, whose body was covered with scars of both rifle and sword wounds. Of his brothers, who were friends of mine, Barǧas, Ǧerûḥ, and Mḥammad perished in the fight; the only one to die a natural death being Ṭalâl, who died in October, 1909, at Damascus, where he was negotiating with the Governor. In the above-mentioned fight north of al-Ḥedreǧ, the Ḥwêṭât captured seven mares, whose riders were thrust from the saddle (ḳalâjeʻ), and also sixty good riding camels.

At 4.05 we perceived on our right hand some small thickets of ṭalḥ trees growing in the gullies which join with the šeʻîb of Ammu Mîl. At 4.19 we halted by one of these thickets (temperature: 31.5° C). The trees, which attained a diameter of eight-tenths of a meter, were luxuriantly green and dotted with hard circular buds. Their long thorns covered all the surrounding ground, and we had to gather them up, as otherwise they would have penetrated our skin bags. Our camels found abundant pasturage in the vicinity and we prepared the evening meal. As the smoke from our fire could have been seen from afar, we decided not to spend the night in the same place; so at 7.02 we proceeded farther to the west and at 8.30 encamped in one of the gullies of the šeʻîb of al-Ḳrên.

On Tuesday, May 31, 1909, at 5.05 A. M. (temperature: 10.5° C) we entered the region of al-Kḏûr. This consists of undulating plains furrowed to the north by broad, deep chan-