Al-Ward-the Vale of Flowers.
He indulges in sweet recollections of Indian lakes beautiful with the
Lotus, and Persian plains upon which Narcissus is the meanest of
grasses. He sees a plain like swish-work, where knobs of granite act
daisies; and where, at every fifty yards, some hapless bud or blossom
is dying of inanition among the stones.
The sun scorched our feet as we planted the tent, and, after drinking
our breakfast, we passed the usual day of perspiration and
semi-lethargy. In discomfort man naturally
[p.252] hails a change, even though it be one from bad to worse. When
our enemy began slanting towards the West, we felt ready enough to
proceed on our journey. The camels were laden shortly after 3 P.M.,
July 20th, and we started, with water jars in our hands, through a
storm of Samun.
We travelled five hours in a North-Easterly course up a diagonal
valley,[FN#18] through a country fantastic in its desolation-a mass of
huge hills, barren plains, and desert vales. Even the sturdy Acacias
here failed, and in some places the camel grass could not find earth
enough for its root. The road wound among mountains, rocks and hills of
granite, and over broken ground, flanked by huge blocks and boulders
piled up as if man's art had aided Nature to disfigure herself. Vast
clefts seamed like scars the hideous face of earth; here they widened
into dark caves, there they were choked with glistening drift sand. Not
a bird or a beast was to be seen or heard; their presence would have
argued the vicinity of water; and, though my companions opined that
Badawin were lurking among the rocks, I decided that these Badawin were
the creatures of their fears. Above, a sky like polished blue steel,
with a tremendous blaze of yellow light, glared upon us without the
thinnest veil of mist cloud. Below, the brass-coloured circle scorched
the face and dazzled the eyes, mocking them the while with offers of
water that was but air. The distant prospect was more attractive than
the near view, because it borrowed a bright azure tinge from the
intervening atmosphere; but the jagged peaks and the perpendicular
streaks of shadow down the flanks of the mountainous background
[p.253] showed that yet in store for us was no change for the better.
Between 10 and 11 P.M., we reached human habitations-a phenomenon
unseen since we left Al-Musahhal-in the shape of a long straggling
village. It is called Al-Hamra, from the redness of the sands near
which it is built, or Al-Wasitah, the "half-way," because it is the
middle station between Yambu' and Al-Madinah. It is therefore
considerably out of place in Burckhardt's map; and those who copy from
him make it much nearer the sea-port than it really is. We wandered
nearly an hour in search of an encamping station, for the surly
villagers ordered us off every flatter bit of ground, without, however,
deigning to show us where our jaded beasts might rest. At last, after
long wrangling, we found the usual spot; the camels were unloaded, the
boxes and baggage were disposed in a circle for greater security
against the petty pilferers in which this part of the road abounds, and
my companions spread their rugs so as to sleep upon their valuables. I
was invited to follow the general example; but I absolutely declined
the vicinity of so many steaming and snoring fellow-travellers. Some
wonder was excited by the Afghan Haji's obstinacy and recklessness; but
resistance to these people is sometimes bien place, and a man from
Kabul is allowed to say and to do strange things. In answer to their
warnings of nightly peril, I placed a drawn sword by my side[FN#19] and
a cocked pistol under my pillow, the saddle-bag: a carpet spread upon
the cool loose sand formed by no means an uncomfortable couch, and upon
it I enjoyed a sound sleep till day-break.
Rising at dawn (July 21), I proceeded to visit the village. It is built
upon a narrow shelf at the top of a precipitous hill to the North, and
on the South runs a sandy
[p.254] Fiumara about half a mile broad. On all sides are rocks and
mountains rough and stony; so you find yourself in another of those
punch-bowls which the Arabs seem to consider choice sites for
settlements.[FN#20] The Fiumara, hereabouts very winding, threads the
high grounds all the way down from the plateau of Al-Madinah: during
the rainy season it becomes a raging torrent, carrying westwards to the
Red Sea the drainage of a hundred hills. Water of good quality is
readily found in it by digging a few feet below the surface at the
angles where the stream forms the deepest hollows, and in some places
the stony sides give out bubbling springs.[FN#21]
Al-Hamra itself is a collection of stunted houses or rather hovels,
made of unbaked brick and mud, roofed over with palm leaves, and
pierced with air-holes, which occasionally boast a bit of plank for a
shutter. It appears thickly populated in the parts where the walls are
standing, but, like all settlements in the Holy Land, Al-Hijaz,[FN#23]
it abounds in ruins. It is well supplied with provisions, which are
here cheaper than at Al-Madinah,-a circumstance that induced Sa'ad the
Demon to overload his hapless camel with a sack of wheat. In the
village are a few shops where grain, huge plantains, ready-made bread,
rice,
[p.255] clarified butter, and other edibles are to be purchased. Palm
orchards of considerable extent supply it with dates.
