Sun Jan. 25. [25 January 1914] Very clear frosty dawn. We have had
no dew since Kharaneh [Qasr el Kharana]. I climbed to the top of the
bank before my tent and watched the sinister silence of the sunrise.
We were off early. I walked for an hour with 'Ali down the W. Sahb -
camel prints everywhere. We stopped in a sandy hollow for the
others and we lighted a fire. The footsteps everywhere, coming and
going. Jedid said Ali. Then we dÈbouchÈd into the wide Ga'rah. The
fantastic broken hills stood round, the sun crept them and all was
silent and empty. Neither M. [Muhammad] nor Sayyah knew the way.
It was 7.50 when we left the W. Sahb. We rode straight on till 9, they
discussing[?] where was al Hausah where Umm al Rqubbeh [Khabrat
Umm ar Raqabah]. I threw in a casting vote for an ...... ...... for Hausah.
At 9 we turned to 94?. At 10.5 we saw smoke under a black tell with
riven rocks on its head like the ruins of a castle. The men discussed
whether the smoke meant Arabs or a ghazzu and favoured the idea of
a ghazzu - gomani or ashab ma nadri wallah. S said to me: What will
you do if they are foes? salute them? I. I have no foes. S. And I? I.
No, you are with us. The rafiq has no foes. S. Sadiqti wallah. Small
plants were growing on the plain and the camels eat. The silence
and emptiness and the smoke were extraordinarily menacing. At 11
we came to the khabra of Umm al Rqubbeh and found water. The
camels drank thirstily and the men filled all the skins. The water very
red from the red sand. Ali had gone on to look over a low rise at the
smoke. I saw him creeping up the slope; he climbed it and
disappeared. Sayyah and M. followed and I followed them. Over the
rise no tents, but the smoke under the tell. Then we saw sheep and
shepherds and knew that all was well. There was a reedy khabra
over the brow and we sat down in the hot sun and waited for the
shepherd. I lunched. He came, a very small black haired man, with
very clean cut features. A Howaiti. He told us there had been a row
between Hathmel and the Howaitat, the Sukhur had killed a man
[mare[?]] and Hathmel had moved E. 'Audi Abu Tayyi he also
reported to be E; Harb not far off in the hills. So we went off thither at
12.15, marching between broken hills. The low ground covered with
green plants and even some little flowers, white, purple and yellow.
The green looked startlingly brilliant. The hills are rusty red with a
dropping of coal black stones down their steep sides, the sand red
on the outskirts and yellow further in. We passed between 2 steep
pointed tells and M and Sayyah scouting round, learnt from a woman
that Harb had rahal to the hills of al Hausah; we found nothing but the
traces of his camels. There was nothing for the camels to eat but dry
ghada trees, but it was too far to go back to the herbage so we
camped. Two men, of the Howaitat came in to see us. Very keen
faced and restless eyed. They drank coffee with us and kept asking
what we carried. Ali Alieh al jemal[?] w'al selain[?]. They. Wa
thabah? I. Shu nashil be hal[?] barriyyeh? They had come from
Ma'an where they had been looking at the pasturage. The stout
nomad nature of the Howaitat says Doughty, and they have a great
reputation. Thijal! says Ali. 'Audi raided across to Shethathah
[Shithathah] and held up the Amarat. But he feared the soldiers and
came back without loot. No moon tonight, it is the first night of the
moon. But countless moths. The Sukhur think it 'aib to sell their
semneh - it is for the guest. A man who sells his semneh will find no
one to marry his daughter. The Sherarat wander about singly, a man
and his wife and children and his camel will cross the whole desert.
M. had an interview once with Lord C [Cromer]. He was going from
Egypt to Nejd [Najd] and he brought 9 rifles which had been stolen
from the soldiers. They were siezed and he was taken up and
brought before the Lord. He described him as having long
moustaches so that a man's heart trembled when he saw them. He
explained that he bought and sold camels and did not traffic in rifles.
Let the men who sold them to him be punished. So they were brought
and one said he was Namsawi and ma' salameh. And the other said
he was Fransawi and got off free. But the turjman told M. that the Lord
had seen he was a true man and he might go. The rifles however
were confiscated. Next time M. came from Damascus [Dimashq (Esh
Sham, Damas)] to Cairo he bought the Lord a present of almonds and
fastuq in sugar, shughl al-Sham.