'Southern Nejd: Journey to Kharj, Aflaj, Sulaiyyil, and Wadi Dawasir in 1918.' [‎37r] (78/100)

5
in this direction I was unable to discover but it appears to be
somewhere not far south of the latitude of Haddar, from which
southward of course the slope is toward Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Dawasir.
The Juwaifa gorge constitutes a defensive position of great
natural strength and would be totally impracticable for wheeled
traffic of any sort. It is reputed to have been the scene of a
sanguinary defeat of the Turks (Egyptians) by the Badawin of
the Tuwaiq at some period of the Turkish (Egyptian) occupation
of Nejd after its capture by Ibrahim Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. .
Another three and a half miles in the same general direction
brought us to Khashm Ashaira, the final headland of the Dhaman
ridge, over which just short of the headland we reached a narrow
pass formed by a slight depression of the ridge. From here
some 3,500 feet above sea-level (the summit of the headland
must be some 200 or 300 feet higher) we took a final glimpse of
the plains and hills of Nejd before descending into the Shaib
Ashaira, a pleasing pastoral valley about a quarter of a mile
broad between cliffs varying from fifty to 100 feet in height
running due east or very slightly south of east across the whole
breadth of the plateau and emerging into the plain in the neigh
bourhood of Umm Shinadhir and Wusaila where it passes under
the names of Ghail or Umm al Jurf.
At a distance of five miles down the valley we passed the
remains of an old settlement called Jidawiya—abandoned corn
fields and ruined wells and qasrs —among whose debris were
pitched some fifteen black tents of Qahtan shepherds. Our
passage seemed to arouse a certain amount of interest among
the occupants of the tents and before I realized what was happen
ing an altercation had begun between some of them and two of
our party. " You and your master (Ibn Saud) are infidels,"
said they, " God's curse upon the lot of you." This was too
much for a burly slave from the Sudan who with more pluck
than good sense set his dhalul to a trot in the direction of the
offenders, dismounted rifle in hand and was soon being rolled
in the dust by half a dozen stout shepherds. I thought we
really were in for trouble this time as our party loaded up and
flocked to the rescue. However, there was nothing to do but
to sit down and await events. Angry exchanges of abuse
mingled with the cries of women as friend and foe stood in
inextricable confusion round the miscreants and their victim,
and when both sides had exhausted their vocabularies they