Sat 11. [11 February 1905] Again too stormy to go, not so bad as
Thursday but it rained pretty heavily most of the day. Sat in my tent
and learnt Arabic all morning. Namrud lunched with me and
afterwards came Gablan and one of the Sakhur and drank coffee.
Gablan and the Sherarat appear to be all quietly lodging with
Namrud. Went out to see the weighing out of the corn which was
brought out in buckets from a deep well and then sifted from the
tibn[?]. They did this work very badly and very slowly constantly
remixing the corn and the tibn. One of the Sherarat with with [sic]
sticking out teeth was a sheikh name of Hammad. At 4 went into the
servants' tent for tea. Came Namrud and told us blood curdling tales
till 7 when he dined with me. When the Arabs want to make peace
after a blood feud the combatants come together in the offended
man's tent. He draws his sword, turns to the S and draws a circle on
the floor of the tent crying out to God. Then he takes a bit of the cloth
of the tent and puts it in the circle and marks the circle 7 times with his
sword. The offender jumps into the circle and one of the offended's
family cries out "I take his murder upon me." [Written at the top of
second page of entry:] Namrud's chief difficulties are with the Govt.
who commandeer the camels of the cultivators.