Wed. Feb. 11. [11 February 1914] We got off at 6, but it was cloudy and we did not have the full glory of the moon. We climbed up the opposite bank of the wadi and rode from 6.20 till near 10 over a jellad (they call it in 'Iraq haswah) a pebbly floor, hard and entirely without herbage. Till about 10 our bearing was still east of the Tu'us or close onto the Tu'us, then we turned more W over rolling sand hills, rather pebbly and near 11.30 reached the wide khabra of Fasfas, a hard pebbly bottom with water pools under low sandhills. We stopped at a good pool at 11.30, watered our camels and filled our waterskins in half an hour. A most desolate place but I rejoiced to see the water for if it had been exhausted we should have had to have gone on SW to Beid, all too near Taimah [Tayma'] and waste of time. Zayyid was most anxious to camp 3/4 of an hour from the water where there were trees, but I insisted on going on. We were abreast of the first sand hills of the Nefud [Nafud, An] at 1.30, the big Ta's onto which I had taken bearings being just to the left. Immediately we found abundance of herbage, 'adil an upright plant with slender branches already green, the dry subat grass, this is the Faqir name, M. al M. calls it kharshaf, shkhi a big thistle just greening, and a low growing plant called hammat also just greening. Also ghada trees and a green tree called alandal which camels do not eat. Irta just greening in long slender green threads 'alga found only in Nefud. We came into camp at 2.45, a good day. Hamid says the Faqir guard the Hajj line from Dar al Hamra to Medain [Mada'in Salih] and receive a yearly surra of money clothes and zohab and a ma'ash when the Hajj passes. They used to carry down to the Hajj bundles of subat grass which Abd al Rahman wd buy for the Hajj camels. Now this trade is over since the Hajj passes in the train pt[?]! We are camped in deep pale yellow sand. The Nefud is delightful. Guarding the line are Sukhur, Howaitat, B. Atiyyeh, Faqir, 'Aida, Billi and Jeheyna, Harb. The Faqir, B. Atiyyeh, W. Sulaiman and all the Annezeh all spring from 'Annaz ibn Wail. The other old tribes they know are the Temun and the Qahtan. The 3 rafaqa showed me their rifles which are all marked with the crown and V.R. I said if I were a great shaikh I wd forbid the entrance of all firearms into Arabia. Zayyad declared it wd be much better wallah, they wd return to the lance and the stone if only none had rifles. They have now no good mares left. Only Ibn Rashid and ibn Sha'lan have cannon - madafi'. There is one cannon at Jof [Jawf, Al (Al Jauf)], a good one. All my rafiqs pray, but they do not take off the abbaya to do so.