'Southern Arabia, by Theodore Bent, F.R.G.S., F.S.A., Author of 'The Ruined Cities of Mashonaland' 'The Sacred City of the Ethiopians' 'The Cyclades, Or Life Among the Insular Greeks' etc. and Mrs Theodore Bent' [‎85] (126/552)

OUR DEPARTURE INTO THE INTERIOR 85
and there, where warm volcanic streams rise out of the
ground, the wilderness is converted into a luxuriant garden,
in which palms, tobacco, and other green things grow.
One of the scrub trees which clothe the wilderness is
called by the Arabs rack, and is used by them for cleaning
their teeth. It amused us to chew this as we went along :
it is slightly bitter, but cleans the teeth most effectually.
There is also a poisonous sort of cucumber, called by the
Arabs madakdah. They clean out the inside and fill the
skin with water, which they drink as a medicine. At Sibeh,
which we reached after a very hot ride of twelve or thirteen
miles, we found water with scores of camels lying round it,
for there were two or three other kafilas, or caravans, beside
our own. It was dreadfully cold that night, and we could
not get at our bag of blankets.
Next we entered the narrow, tortuous valley of Howeri,
which ascends towards the highland, in which the midday heat
was intense; and at our evening halts we suffered not a little
from camel-ticks, which abound in the sand, until we learnt
to avoid old camping-grounds and not to pitch our tents in
the immediate vicinity of the wells.
We encamped in a narrow, stony river-bed, between
walls of rock, near a little village called Tahiya. There is
a good deal of cultivation about. The closeness of the
situation made the smell of the dried fish we carried for
the camels almost unbearable.
These sacks are stretched open in the evening and
put in the middle of a circle of camels, their masters often
joining in the feast. One of the men was attacked by fever,
so he was given quinine, and his friends were told to put
him to bed and cover him well. When we went to visit
him later we found him quite contented in one of these
fish sacks, his head in one corner and his legs all doubled
up and packed in ; only a bare brown back was exposed, so