Monday March 15. [15 March 1909] Very hot and burning E wind all
day. I went off at 6.30 with my soldier Abd ur Rahman - the first young
soldier I have ever had, he has only been in the service 2 years - up
the hill and saw the site of a big town. There were 4 columns, only
only [sic] standing very much weathered. On one of those lying down
was an Arabic inscrip. too much defaced to read - I cd only make out
with certainty [Arabic characters] in the first line. There had been 4
lines of writing divided by a straight line. The characters were not
very old but quite clear when they were not worn. This must have
been the site of Haditha [Hadithah, Al]. The baggage got off at 7.15
and we with them. Bought 2 large fish on the way. Rode till 8.45 along
the river through corn lands belonging to Haditha. Then crossed the
Wady Hajlan where there is a brackish spring. Just opposite in the
Euphrates are the remains of a karijeh[?] with the ruins of a castle -
island and castle nearly all carried off by the water. It is called Abu
Said. Below it the palm covered island of Berwan. At 9.5 we crossed
a small valley called W. Fadiyyeh - no water. Here we left the
baggage to go the straight way and rode across the desert nearer the
river. At 10.15 we crossed the W. Zaghdaw[?] which the carriage road
also crosses. At 10.45 we came down to the river opposite Alus. K.
calls it Al Uzz but this is clearly a mistake; the modern name is the
same as the old Arab name see L'Estrange. The island is covered
with palms and inhabited. There is corn on the mainland lower down.
The ruins of a castle opposite the lower end of the island in the
Shamiyyeh [Shamiyah] - not very old round towers at the angles. At
11.25 we crossed Wady Abu' L Hassan and rode along the river
through corn till 11.45 when we sat down by a Sabiyyeh and lunched
till 12.5. A couple of miles below Alus - or perhaps 3 - is an island
called Khzaneh with a fort on it. The soldiers count it 6 hours from
Haditha to Jibbe and 11/4 from Jibbe to El Baghdadi [Khan al
Baghdadi]. We rode from Alus to Jibbe in 2 hours 10 min. over the
desert. At 1.35 we crossed the W Hauran [Hawran, Wadi]. There was
no water when we crossed but there are said to be plenty of springs
higher up. At 2.15 we came down to Jibbe and stayed till 2.30. The
village is on an island. There is a minaret which is said to be old. As
far as I cd see through my glasses it has an inscrip. round the top and
a brick cornice. It is however of stones set in a sort of mud mortar and
plastered over like all the buildings here. Below the island in the
Jezireh [Jazirah, Al] there is a large fort tolerably well preserved. We
then rode along the river through corn. On the other side are two large
farms and palm gardens. At 3.35 we got to El Baghdadi - the caravan
was in 10 min. earlier having done the 9 hours stage in 8 hrs 10 min.
There is nothing here but some corn and a khan built by the Baghdad
Co (which has since failed) 4 months ago; Before that, said Fattuh, we
used to sleep in the open desert and there was no one but us and the
jackals. Fahd Beg ibn Haddal has a corn garden here. He also has
an estate near Kerbela [Karbala]. His brother Tallal was killed
recently by an angry fellah. Here we found a soldier who told us there
was nothing at Kbesa [Kubaysah] but palms and no water but kebrit
water. Also there is no one to guide us there so we determine to go
on to Hit [(Is)] which is far the wisest course. The temp. an hour after
sunset was 82? and the night grows no cooler. But the heat is not
oppressive.