[P.263] This Is A Famous Attacking-Point Of The Beni-Harb.

In former times both Jazzar Pasha, the celebrated "butcher" of Syria, and Abdullah Pasha of Damascus, were baffled at

The gorge of Jadaydah[FN#36]; and this year the commander of the Syrian caravan, afraid of risking an attack at a place so ill-omened, avoided it by marching upon Meccah via the Desert road of Nijd. At four A.M., having travelled about twenty-four miles due East, we encamped at Bir Abbas.

[FN#1] Alluding to the celebrated mountain, the "Hindu-kush," whence the Afghans sallied forth to lay waste India. [FN#2] Throughout this work I have estimated the pace of a Hijazi camel, laden and walking in caravan line, under ordinary circumstances, at two geographical miles an hour. A sandy plain or a rocky pass might make a difference of half a mile each way, but not more. [FN#3] See Chap. VIII., page 152, note 1, ante. [FN#4] The reader must be warned that these little villages in Arabia, as in Sind and Baluchistan, are continually changing their names, whilst the larger settlements always retain the same. The traveller, too, must beware of writing down the first answer he receives; in one of our maps a village on the Euphrates is gravely named "M'adri," ("Don't know"). [FN#5] Here called Samn, the Indian ghee. [FN#6] The "Kahk" in this country is a light and pleasant bread made of ground wheat, kneaded with milk, leavened with sour bean flour, and finally baked in an oven, not, as usual, in the East, upon an iron plate.

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