Friday March 12. [12 March 1909] I went with the Natur of the corn to
see his remains of buildings and found in effect that the Euphrates
was washing out from the river bank quantities of pottery, a lot of it
black glazed inside, and stones and bones. We saw among the
pottery, the pointed end of an oval jar and a green glazed bottom of a
basin. Outside the corn the ground is strewn with pottery and stones.
Off at 6.40 and over the stony hills. We hadn't gone 1/2 an hour
before 'Affan met 3 friends and said he wd like to return with them as
there was now no danger. So we paid him off and he went. As
'Abdullah and I and Murawwah rode together we talked of the new
rule and of Xian soldiers entering the army. 'Abdullah said with some
amusement that he heard that Jews were to be enlisted too. But he
didn't see any objection. I said to Murawwah did he think the Arabs
wd like to be enlisted. Never said he. 'Abdullah laughed and said
yavash yavash the Arabs wd be brought in and the desert reduced to
order - no more thieves allowed there. Murawwah was roused at this
and said the Arabs were not thieves. Thieves were mithl el klab and
how shd you compare Arabs to them. They wd not submit to
interference from the govt: El Arab fi ilham amarah. So this ragged
son of the desert, bare foot on his lean mare, with a rusty sword by his
side and a cotton cloak over his head, waved his tamarisk stick in the
air and proclaimed the liberties of the desert - the only form of liberty
he understands. Presently we met on old man mounted on a tiny
donkey the property of a tall thin man called Suleiman a Rawayi
whom Fattuh knew. So we all went on together. At 9.15 we came
down to the river; then over another bluff and at 10.15 down again to El
Natariyyeh where there is a Na'oura and corn. Here we met 1/2 a
dozen angry Rawayiin, landowners and proprietors of this corn,
carrying rifles. They had been out hunting Arabs of the Dlaim who
had come down and eaten their corn. They had asked the
Kaimmakam for soldiers and he had none to send, so they rode out
themselves, pursued the Arabs 6 hours into the desert, but they got
off. We watered our horses and rode on over the rocky hills.
Presently Jusef came hurrying after us and said our donkey had been
left behind and Fattuh and Ali had gone back for it. As soon as we
saw them coming we rode on and were presently joined by one of the
landowners who cursed all Arabs and wished that God might deprive
them of bread semeneh and corn. He wished to hold Murawwah
hostage but M. was not alarmed since he was with me. Without me he
wd not have dared to enter Ranea[?] since there were several claims
against him. Fattuh came up and explained that he had found our
donkey among the donkeys but some Arabs had taken from his back
Selim's abaya and one of the horsecloths, whereupon F. had carried
off a small donkey as hostage. Beyond El Natariyyeh are two corn
patches with Nawair - that which we passed at 11 is called El Uriyyeh.
Beyond it is El Hadratiyyeh marked in Kiepert. At 12.30 we were
opposite the island of El Karabileh, palms, fruit trees and houses.
Here I lunched til 1.5 and Fattuh sent back Murawwah to look for our
stolen goods. At 1.20 we passed the small island of Kyairah and a
few minutes later were riding through the gardens of Rawa [Rawah] -
palms, fruit trees in full bloom, all along the edge of the river. While we
were waiting for the ferry boat I climbed the hill with most of the
population to see a new and already half ruined and deserted
barracks. The view superb; Rawa on one side and 'Ana ['Anah] all
along the river bank with 2 islands in front of it on the other. The river
bends round Rawa so that it is almost an island. When we got over to
the other side we saw and heard Tom howling in the hills. So F. and I
went back and captured him, but he ran away in terror as soon as we
entered 'Ana and Murawwah says swam back to Rawa. Finally we
reached our camping ground by the river just below the Khan at 4.40.
A most charming site with an island, green and covered with palms in
front of us. 'Ana is 3 hours' long and one street wide. It has a very
Babylonish look with its palms and its mudbuilt street filled with the
sound of Nawair and the river washing its feet. We have passed an
invisible frontier - it lay just above 'Ajmiyyeh where we saw the first
palm and the first stretch of Nawair. Murawwah got in about 7 with our
stolen goods and the owner of the donkey we raided.