Sun. Feb. 1. [1 February 1914] A man went after the dulul in the night
and returned at sunset having brought her 3 hours on the way but no
further. We spent some time conversing {an Agaili} a Shammari from
Nejd [Najd] who promised to come with us, but after extracting a real
from me next day as we were departing, appeared no more. His
name is Hussain, from the Sinjari. I sat with Muham's harim late in the
afternoon. They were sewing his white cotton robes. His sister, a
very pretty graceful creature, unmarried, Hamdeh. There are 4 other
sisters, married. I talked to one of the wives. She has had one child
which died. The baqr calf came in and sucked our fingers - it was
hungry. Muham. hung round, played with it and eat dates from Jof
[Jawf, Al (Al Jauf)] with us. Excellent dates. The women do not ride
the dulul on a shedad. They put libads on the hidaj and curl on top.
They wd not sit with the men as I did - nishtahi. But Hamdeh showed
no shyness with Sa'id and Fattuh. I did not see Hileh again. 'Ali the
Agaili is continually nagging at Mustafa. He declared he wd leave us
(Mustafa had complained to Muham.) and I seized on the occasion
and dismissed him - a bad fellow. I wanted to send Sayyif back, but
he cried and said he had been in the house of the Jawaberi since he
was a child and did not know his way among these people and I have
kept him on. Our rafiq is Musuid[?] a Sherari. He has hired a camel
for 10 mej. I went at dusk to Muham., handed him the 10 mej. He
called 10 men to witness that he had them "Al jalisur, minkum
'ashara? Audeh wa Awwad wa Hajjaj etc" and then said that they
were to testify that if Musuid returned without a letter bearing the seal
of M. and of me, he was to hand over 20 reals. We have given[?] by
Jof, M. fearing that as Nawwaf is not there, the 'abd might retain us till
he had sent word. Moreover we have Ruwalla camels bought from
the Miri with the Wasm upon them. So now we turn SE as originally
intended. Musuid swears we shall put 'Audeh's ghazzu to the left and
the others to the right. Muham. says that the Howaiti dira used to be
as safe as possible. You cd put a bag of gold on your head and walk
through it in peace. But last autumn a caravan of merchants from
Ghazzeh with a Howaiti rafiq was attacked by a Howaiti, cousin to the
rafiq, who killed his cousin and the merchants and took the booty.
This has ruined the dira since there is blood between the men of the
tribe. Sa'id says that 'Audeh is mild and kind in his own tent, speaks
to everyone, is just to everyone, but madly furious when angered.
Last year a Sherari killed a Sherari who was with M.'s people. M.
caught the man, cut off his hands and feet and left him in the desert to
die, which he did. He has brought back immense numbers of camels
from his raids. He puts his wasm on them and confides them to
different people that if a ghazzu comes they may not all be found
round his tents. When he sells he confides the money to merchants at
Ma'an or Kerak [Karak]. Yesterday when I was away the herdsmen
on the hills quarrelled and one stood on the top of the ridge and
waved his kerchief on his asa'i. In a moment all the outlying tents had
driven in their camels and were running, men and women into the
centre near M's tent. The great oath is al hayyat al 'ud wa rab al
ma'bud wa khatim Sulaiman ibn Daud. Hayyat ul Sabah. Hamdeh
came to my tent and smoked a cigarette. Sa'id came and told her
that M. had come and wd see her smoking. I. Is it mamun'[?]? She.
No but we have little tutun - the tutun is for the guests.