Moreover, All The Party,
Except Omar Effendi, In Token Of Poverty, Were Dressed In The Coarsest
And Dirtiest Of Clothes,-The General Suit Consisting Of A Shirt Torn In
Divers Places And A Bit Of Rag Wrapped Round The Head.
They carried
short chibuks without mouth-pieces, and tobacco-pouches of greasy
leather.
Though the country hereabouts is perfectly safe, all had their
arms in readiness, and the unusual silence that succeeded to the
singing, even Sa'ad the Demon held his tongue,-was sufficient to show
how much they feared for their property. After a slow march of two
hours facing the moon, we turned somewhat towards the North-East, and
began to pass over undulating ground, in which a steady rise was
perceptible. We arrived at the halting-place at three in the morning,
after a short march of about eight hours, during which we could not
have passed over more than sixteen miles.[FN#2] The camels were
nakh'd[FN#3]; the boxes were taken off and piled together as a
precaution against invisible robbers; my little tent, the only one in
the party, was pitched; we then spread our rugs upon the ground and lay
down to sleep.
We arose at about 9 A.M. (July 19), and after congratulating one
another upon being once more in the "dear Desert," we proceeded in
exhilarated mood to light the fire for pipes and breakfast. The meal-a
biscuit, a little rice, and a cup of milkless tea-was soon dispatched,
after which I proceeded to inspect our position.
[p.245]About a mile to the westward lay the little village
Al-Musahhal,[FN#4] a group of miserable mud hovels. On the south was a
strip of bright blue sea, and all around, an iron plain producing
naught but stones and grasshoppers, and bounded northward by a grisly
wall of blackish rock. Here and there a shrub fit only for fuel, or a
tuft of coarse grass, crisp with heat, met the eye. All was
sun-parched; the furious heat from above was drying up the sap and
juice of the land, as the simmering and quivering atmosphere showed;
moreover the heavy dews of these regions, forming in large drops upon
the plants and stones, concentrate the morning rays upon them like a
system of burning-glasses. After making these few observations I
followed the example of my companions, and returned to sleep.
At two P.M. we were roused to a dinner as simple as the breakfast had
been. Boiled rice with an abundance of the clarified butter[FN#5] in
which Easterns delight, some fragments of Kahk[FN#6] or soft biscuit,
and stale bread[FN#7] and a handful of stoned and pressed date-paste,
called 'Ajwah, formed the menu. Our potations began before dinner with
a vile-tasted but wholesome drink called Akit,[FN#8]
[p.246] dried sour milk dissolved in water; at the meal we drank the
leather-flavoured element, and ended with a large cupful of scalding
tea.
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