A Journey to Hail

Abstract

AT the end of October 19291 left Damascus with two camels and a Badawin -guide belonging to the Ruwalla tribe. My object was to obtain the per? mission of the King of Arabia, Ibn Sa'ud, to make a journey in the central and southern parts of his dominions. First of all I had to find the King. It was rumoured in Damascus that he was going to Hail, in order to conduct military operations against the rebel Faisal ad Dawish and his followers. I had deter? mined to journey to Hail, although the political situation was anything but encouraging, and to trust to fortune in the endeavour to proceed farther. It was after midnight when we started from the eastern outskirts of the cultivated area which surrounds Damascus. At dawn we reached an extinct volcano, known as Ad Dakwa. Smaller cones, and outcrops of volcanic rock, were visible to the south and east. Between them lay level stretches of sandy soil, some of which were as smooth, and almost as hard, as a cement floor. These were dry rainpools. My companion was anxious to cross this area without delay, for it is infested by Druz robbers from the Hauran. After marching for a day and a night we left the broken country behind and came into an open sandy plain, filled with gentle undulations. My companion observed the ground constantly, searching for tracks of the Ruwalla tribe, which had already migrated ahead of us. They were bound, as we were, for the Hamad, a limestone steppe some 200 miles wide, where they wander in the rainy season?November to February inclusive. In summer the Hamad is completely waterless, but when the rains fall large shallow pools form there in many places. After some weeks new grasses and herbs begin to spring up in the less stony parts. As we moved forward in the empty desert I occasionally saw a hare get up and flit away in the distance. Once we passed within 500 yards of a score of gaunt vultures which were bickering hoarsely over the carcase of a dead camel. Hardly any other sign of life was to be seen. On the afternoon of the second day, following tracks in the sand, we came up with a huge herd of camels which were being watered at the first of the rain? pools. The place was called Ahdilla. We now joined the Ruwalla, and thenceforth I lived in the tent of my guide, Sahan, and marched each day with his family, in the midst of his herd of camels. The migrating tribe was spread out over a front of more than 20 miles. Sometimes they were largely hidden from my view, but as we advanced the falling hillsides revealed one after another of the scattered herds, until a new rise in the ground hid them again. Rain had fallen in a number of places, and every second or third day we came to a pool. Some of these natural reservoirs were as much as 4 or 5 miles in length; others extended for no more than a score of paces. The general trend ofthe dry watercourses which intersected the steppe at intervals was towards the east, for the ground sloped gradually in the direction of the district of Al Widyan, and so to the valley of the Euphrates. A week after leaving Damascus we came to a place called 'Anqa, where artificial reservoirs had been dug at some time long past. The earth had been thrown up in mounds some 15 feet high, and one of these was crowned by