Thurs. March 4. [4 March 1909] Made a rough plan of Umm Rejeba in
paces: [plan]. There was a piercing cold wind but a bright sun. Salih
Onbashi, an old one eyed soldier, served as our escort, so that we
did not after all arrive at Der [Dayr az Zawr] unaccredited. We had a 6
hours' ride, quite dull, the road cutting across all the loops of the
Euphrates, so that I saw none of the places marked on the map - but I
did not want to much. About an hour outside Der there were rude
water wheels in the river irrigating small patches of corn now tall and
green. We camped near the unfinished bridge (it has been a-building
a year and they have only just begun to lay the piers in the river, and
are not now working apparently) in a sandy thorny, but peaceful
wilderness. Fattuh and I crossed over as soon as tents were pitched.
The apple trees and apricots in the gardens by the river are in full
bloom. Over the second branch of the river there is a bridge of a very
collapsable kind. Fattuh has some cousins here who keep a shop;
thither we repaired and sat in the shop drinking coffee and smoking
cigarettes while all the little boys in the town looked on. I sent a
telegram to Catoni, written in Arabic, to the post office and it was
returned twice saying they could not understand. Finally I took it
myself and the chief clerk, an oldish Turk in blue spectacles who must
have been there all the time, read it at once without any difficulty. Also
I visited the Kadi who is acting Mutesarrif, the latter being away - an
old Turk in a turban who was not much honoured by my visit.
However, he promised me all I wanted, Inshallah! While I was there
two disputants entered, a merchant and an Arab sheikh in a white shirt
and black abaya, his face almost black, his beard coal black. It was
a dispute concerning a debt - I back the merchant because he had
the great advantage of knowing Turkish, the Kadi not being strong in
Arabic. After a few moments angry debate they were both dismissed
till further enquiries had been made, the sheikh being recommended
by the Kadi to open his eye: [Arabic characters] Fattuh tells me that
the Xian community built a church here but the Moslems were
outraged at hearing the sound of bells and said this was a Moslem
town and no Xian bells shd be heard in it. Whereupon they pulled the
church down. Since when many of the Xians have left the town.