They were seated upon
coarse wooden saddles, without cushions or stirrups, a fine
saddle-cloth alone denoting a
[p.142] chief. The women emulated the men; they either guided their own
dromedaries, or, sitting in pillion, they clung to their husbands;
veils they disdained, and their countenances certainly belonged not to
a “soft sex.” These Wahhabis were by no means pleasant companions. Most of
them were followed by spare dromedaries, either unladen or carrying
water-skins, fodder, fuel, and other necessaries for the march. The
beasts delighted in dashing furiously through our file, which being
lashed together, head and tail, was thrown each time into the greatest
confusion. And whenever we were observed smoking, we were cursed aloud
for Infidels and Idolaters.
Looking back at Al-Zaribah, soon after our departure, I saw a heavy
nimbus settle upon the hill-tops, a sheet of rain being stretched
between it and the plain. The low grumbling of thunder sounded joyfully
in our ears. We hoped for a shower, but were disappointed by a
dust-storm, which ended with a few heavy drops. There arose a report
that the Badawin had attacked a party of Meccans with stones, and the
news caused men to look exceeding grave.
At five P.M. we entered the wide bed of the Fiumara, down which we were
to travel all night. Here the country falls rapidly towards the sea, as
the increasing heat of the air, the direction of the watercourses, and
signs of violence in the torrent-bed show. The Fiumara varies in
breadth from a hundred and fifty feet to three-quarters of a mile; its
course, I was told, is towards the South-West, and it enters the sea
near Jeddah. The channel is a coarse sand, with here and there masses
of sheet rock and patches of thin vegetation.
At about half-past five P.M. we entered a suspicious-looking place. On
the right was a stony buttress, along whose base the stream, when there
is one, swings; and to this depression was our road limited by the
rocks and thorn trees which filled the other half of the channel.
[p.143] The left side was a precipice, grim and barren, but not so
abrupt as its brother. Opposite us the way seemed barred by piles of
hills, crest rising above crest into the far blue distance. Day still
smiled upon the upper peaks, but the lower slopes and the Fiumara bed
were already curtained with grey sombre shade.
A damp seemed to fall upon our spirits as we approached this Valley
Perilous. I remarked that the voices of the women and children sank
into silence, and the loud Labbayk of the pilgrims were gradually
stilled. Whilst still speculating upon the cause of this phenomenon, it
became apparent. A small curl of the smoke, like a lady’s ringlet, on the
summit of the right-hand precipice, caught my eye; and simultaneous
with the echoing crack of the matchlock, a high-trotting dromedary in
front of me rolled over upon the sands,—a bullet had split its
heart,—throwing the rider a goodly somersault of five or six yards.
