Tues Feb. 10 [10 February 1914] We got off at 6.15 and rode over the
same pebbly sandhills as those over which we passed yesterday. At
8.5 I got a bearing onto a hill which I noted as Bhaibat al Baid but if that
name was correct I never saw it again. At 8.35 we saw Helwan al
Khunfa [Al Khanfah] and at 9.46 I got a series of bearings onto Helwan
[Halwan], Senam, Mshaid and Dhaiban (but I am not quite certain of
the correctness of the 2 last, they were so insignificant from this
distance) and to the right onto the Tu'us which are the SW end of the
Nefud [Nafud, An] and a day's dulul journey from Taimah [Tayma'].
Our road lay just to the left of them. At 10.55 the low rocky tells
Thlaithuwat lay to the left and I got a bearing onto what was perhaps
Mshaid. We then crossed a dry khabra, Umm al Tarfa. I took a
bearing onto the Thlaithuwat at 11.45 and again at 12.30 when I also
saw Helwan and Senam. We had been riding since the khabra over
pebbly ground, black pebbles, slowing rising and very flat. At 12.50 I
got the Thlaithuwat again and the Asafiyyeh ['Assafiyah, Al] a tell or
tells standing on the S. side of the Wadi Niyyal [Nayyal, Wadi].
Below them are more than 100 jelib but there is water in them only
when the Wadi sails. I got too Helwan, Senam and Dhaiban, this time
I think correct. We came into camp at 1.30 in the W. Niyyal, about 3
hours above the Asafiyyeh. It flows from the Ghamariyyeh to a khabra
called el 'Arus. Musuid showed me how the Shararat crouch in cracks
of the sandstone heaps when it rains and once he said, pointing to
one of them, we take shelter here from the sun in the gaith. The Faqir
have no enemies at this moment but the Hetaim but my Faqir, Hamid,
and also Zayyid, are in fear of the Shammar, because they knew of
'Audeh's coming raid and did not warn their friends the Shammar.
Musuid also is afraid. Dahir is of {the Sirhan} a branch of the Faqir.
Cold wind all day, but hot sun when we camped. Good 'aishb. There
has been great dispute over our road. 'Ali and Ghadi wanted to drink
at Asafiyyeh and go thence, a short day's journey to Shmukka which
is a themail in the Nefud. Thence to Haizan [Bir Hayzan] is the same
as from the khabra to Haizan. Whether through fear of the Shammar
(the Swaid were at Shmukka when 'Audeh raided them but have now
moved east) or because, as they say, the Tu'us are very large by that
route, the others elected to take the khabra road. I do not think there
can be much difference in time. The Amir is not at Hayyil [Hail] but N.
near Haiyaniyyeh [Hayyaniyah, Al]. I think this is unfortunate for me.
They say he has notified all men of my coming but whether to stop me
or to forward me I do not know. Neither do I know whether this report is
true. Sunset and moonrise almost together and moonset and dawn.