Monday Feb 13. [13 February 1911] Temp 5.30, 26?, Bar 27.10. Off at
6.10. Very cold. Sun rose gloriously at 6.43. Very small Wady Kuhla
wa Ada 8.15. It is called after 2 hills to the N. The fine snowy summits
of the Jebel el Wastani stood up over the J. esh Sharki [Sharqi, Jebel
esh (Anti-Lebanon)]. 9.10 W. Saba' Biyar [Sab 'Abar[?]]. There is
only one well in it now, an hour to the N. We turned a little to the S from
here. We crossed the road twice. It winds about to avoid the heights
and keep to the low ground in case of enemies. Lunch 10.15-10.30.
W. el Heil 11.21. The Hawa'i el Heil a little to the W with a small alama
over it. We did not go there but on to the Hawa'i Murra. There were a
few tents in the W. el Heil, Arabs of the Fawajrih [Arabic characters]
from near Homs [Hims]. They had drunk all the water in the Hawa'i on
the road and left nothing but trampled mud. So we had to search for
another which we finally found about a mile off, sending F. [Fattuh] on
the mare and some of the hajins to it. Very little and very muddy.
They tried to buy a girbeh full from some Arab women but they wd not
sell saying they had small children. All this took from 1-2.15. So we
rode on till 4.10 and camped at the end of the Ard el Murra near Arabs
of the Beni Khalid also from near Homs with sheep in a little hollow.
The Sheikh was anxious to stop: This room is zein" said he looking at
a little curve in the bank. Ali: "Fut, fut ya sheikh. The next room is
better, there are more trees." The Murra is divided from the shkhanir
by a watershed. They stayed awake half last night because my mare
pricked her ears and they thought it was robbers. They ran up the
banks and called out "Don't come near. We have soldiers and
consuls." This morning 'Ali was certain that he saw the traces of a
mare on the hard ground, the mare of the robber. (He also pointed
out his camel's footsteps of the last journey and the marks of a wolf
which was following the Arabs to steal their sheep). The sheikh: Ya
sitt, al faras Kaththabeh, one sees a stone and thinks it is a man. But
the hajin sees in the night; she is not a robber. One of the merchants
Nahi ed Din told me this tale: He was going from Kubeisa [Kubaysah]
to Nejd [Najd] to buy sheep. He stopped at the tents of Ibn Huddal
and one of the Arabs on a dulul went with him. They were 10
altogether with 5 hajinat. A week out from the tents they saw hoof
marks on the ground and feared a ghazu. So they rode half through
the night till they came to a well and rested. There was good grass,
they let the dululs loose and slept. When they woke the dululs were
all gone. They searched in vain, then took a litle food and water and
went on afoot. The second day they made some 'ajin and used up all
the water. They went on for 4 days living on dates and quenching
their thirst by sucking grass. Then they came to a deep well. They
threw a stone down and listened but cd hear no sound. They let down
a skin and the rope was too short. Nahi ed Din tore his cloak into
strips and was going to add all their agals when one of the party found
some stones near, lifted them up and discovered another well,
shallow. They were all on the point of death. After they had drunk and
eaten they went on a little and found fresh sheep droppings and then
tents. The Arabs took them in and sent them on. Meantime their
dululs had gone with the Amarat hajin back to Ibn Huddal's tents.
When they came in the Arabs said: Here are the dululs of the Shami
without rasam; he has been taken in a ghazu and killed." Finally in
Damascus [Dimashq (Esh Sham, Damas)] he met one of the Amarat
who greeted him in surprise and told him what had happened. He got
back the dululs. The sheep come out of Nejd in the Spring, eating
grass all the way. The grass grows thickest on the sandy parts but
withers first. 'Ali was once robbed, carrying the post, by a Ghazu of
Arabs he did not know coming from the Hauran "For the Anazeh and
all the tribes here I know." They took what tobacco he had and other
small objects. But they do not take the post bags nor yet the dulul. 4
of our camels ran away but came back - Ne shukkur Ibleah[?]! but the
riding camel of one of the Shwami ran too and had not returned.
(Hayy Allah! Ibn el Hallal: Hakk Allah)