Sat Feb 14. [14 February 1914] Off at 5.50, before sunrise. Very
wonderful to see the light come over the Nefud [Nafud, An] touching
the top of the tu'us about Zabran and creeping down their flanks, the
nazi, into the shadowed ga'r. We passed to the east of the Zabran
group. I climbed up the south eastern ta's, with great labour, and took
these bearings: Bird 208, Haizan [Bir Hayzan] 197, Helwan [Halwan]
188-200, Labueh, two points (I took the centre) 175, Dalma 173-4,
Haza'il 162-5. These make a practically continuous ring of high
ground on the edge of the Nefud; beyond them is jallad. Then 'Irnan
126-140 and Misma [Misma, Jibal] far away 90. The chief Ta's,
Fabran lay to the W of where I stood. Back to Subi' was 348. We
came into camp at 9.10 about 1/2 a mile or less from Zabran to which
the bearing was 306, while back to my Ta's it was 180. I went on with
the camels to Haizan which we reached at 10.25. The well lies in a
very deep cup - the Bar fell 2 points from the lip to the floor. There is
only one well now in use, Haizan; our well rope was 48 paces long. A
little to the S. is another well, Haizal which is masdudeh, maiteh. In the
days of M. ibn al Rashid the Ruwalla took possession of these wells
and barred the way to the Shammar. M. ibn R. drove them out and
blocked one well, Haizah, the least good one. It has not been used
since. Both wells are lined with roughly squared stones and the lower
part cut out of the solid rock. The bottom of the cup was jellad, parly
white encrusted. We took 2 sticks with us and an iron wheel and
made a rude pulley. The Arabs were using a similar arrangement
with a wooden wheel. They were Awaji; we had seen their camp from
the Ta's. There was some objection at first to my photographing but
the Shammar with me encouraged me to go on. Not far from the wells
is an Awaji burying place with a central tomb, with no wasm on it
however. It is the tomb of the father of their chief shaikh, Mish'an. He
was killed in a ghazzu. I rode back with Ghadi and his brother. We
had a partial washing day. The temp was 68? and a wind but the sand
is not dusty and fine and does not blow. There is a leafless green
shrub round here called Girdi - reed like green branches without
leaves. The camels love it. We are now at the frontiers of the
'Anazeh and the Shammar. From Gulban, before us, onwards all is
Shammar. The 'Anazeh fendehs who drink at Haizan are all friends of
the Shammar. The Awaji have no foes but the Hetaim (?) with whom
they quarrelled 3 years ago over a question of pasturage. They had
a big fight and lost 40 men (all the 'Anazeh united) while the Htaim lost
30. The chief {wintering} summering water of the Awaji is Baida
Nethel. One of the men at the well asked if I was Nasraniyyeh. I said I
was Ingliziyyeh. The shaikh camped here is Sulaiman ibn Khalaf, he
is cousin to the big shaikh Mesh'an. He has sent a boy to know if we
want anything. As we rode back Ghadi praised to me Ibn Rashid - he
was a better surak than the Hwaital. They wd now stay with their own
people, with Ibn Rashid. They knew of 'Audeh's raid but cd not warn
the Shammar. Yet they praised Audeh - he was melih[?]. The brother
Mejned had been in the Victoria[?] Hospital at Damas. [Dimashq
(Damascus, Esh Sham, Damas)] and spoke well of the Lakun. When
we saw the tents this morning, 'Awwad was all impatience to go and
get 'ullum. We sat at night drawing wasms in the sand.