Ap. 20. [20 April 1914] It rained in torrents last night - winter rain, not
spring rain. The men hastily trenched my tent and the swelled
canvass [sic] held good and let nothing through. Today the
thermometer has fallen 20 degrees - a blessed change - and I am
much better in consequence. A sharp disillusion awaited us today.
When we came down to Muhaiwir [Muhaywir] the clear pool, which I
had thought to be a spring, was dry. It was only a water hole. There
was water close by, in the Hauran bed [Hawran, Wadi] - but such
water! fouled by camels. We dug holes in the sandy bank higher up
and got water in them, but not much better - all the bank near the pool
had been fouled. We filled a skin or two and I have enough of Wizeh
water to carry me on, for drinking purposes for a couple of days. It's
fortunate to have the feminine fault of drinking little - at least when one
is in the Syrian desert. The world was full of camels, the great herds
of the 'Anazeh. After we had crossed the Hauran valley and were out
again on the huge levels, they drifted across our path in thousands,
grazing. It was like some immense slow river, hours wide. I love to
see them. From time to time the herdsmen walked or rode by us for
half an hour, and heard our news. 'Asaf was careful to tell all and
sundry that I was from Hayil [Hail], which excited much admiration,
wallah! He is a cheerful bird; he chatters incessantly, or sings. One of
our half hour companions commented on the smallness of my
caravan. "It is enough" said I. "But I would wish better for you" he
insisted. So hear I am in the real desert again, with the real desert
people, the Bedu, who never touch settled life. But is is the first time
that I have been alone with them, with no one to be voice and tongue
for me. Fattuh, for all his eager devotion, is as much a stranger as I
am, and I have to be voice and tongue for myself. I like it; it amuses
me to run my own show. And so far all has gone well. 'Asaf, I need
not say, has already identified himself heartily with our fortunes. I am
half pledged to take him to England and find him a shepherd's job
there - I the interpreter till he learns English! In the afternoon the
Hamad abruptly ended, and we dropped down a few feet into the
Ga'rah jof. (You know what a jof is, don't you? low ground.) On the
edge of it we camped after a day's march that was a little shorter than
usual, the camels being hungry and rather tired. We have another
guest tonight, a man of Ibn Hadhdhal's and going to him, to Fahd Beg.
We may see him in the Ga'rah, but I don't hanker after him now that I
have got my rafiq. Shaikhs always mean delay and he is such a big
man that I fear I should have to camp with him. All these 'Anazeh
herds mean that we are quite safe for the present, with Anazeh tents
on every side.