File 756/1917 Pt 2-3 ‘ARAB BULLETIN Nos 66-114’ [‎94v] (197/834)

4(5 —
fort (two miles west of Hofuf) we removed the last traces of our
European identity and early on the following morning begun
our march to the Wahhabi capital.
Our caravan now consisted entirely of camels, though two
small donkeys attached themselves to our party and braved the
hardships of the road to the end. The personnel of the caravan
comprised our three selves, a few cavaliers provided as escort by
Abdullah Jiluwi, Sheikh Dhib and his son, of the Beni Hajar, on
their way to receive their tribal allowances from Ibn Saud, and
elements of the Dawasir, Murra and Qahtan tribes and a self-
invited semi-lunatic Patlian journeying to Mecca—a merry party
as it proved, though our own lack of experience of Arab travel
made it a little difficult at first to appreciate the aversion of our
companions to sustained exertion and long marches. They in
their turn were doubtless equally incapable of appreciating our
reasons for travelling only by day, as night marching is obviously
the most comfortable and expeditious way of travelling over the
eastern desert.
Be that as it may, we had taken all precautions to provide
ourselves with an ample supply of water and, though the
thriftlessness of our Bedouin friends reduced them to serious
straits before we reached Abu Jifan, we ourselves experienced
no shortage of water except for washing purposes.
It took us five and a half days to cover the 130 miles of
desolate desert between Hofuf and the wells of Abu Jifan, our
course lying W.S.W. over the most utterly barren, grey, rock
steppe it has ever been my lot to traverse. The afternoon of
the first day brought us to Ghar el-Shuyukh, a large ledge of
rock overhanging a bare depression in the steppe ; the next day
took us over similar country broken only by the broad sandy
depression of the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Faruq, at the further edge of which our
eyes were refreshed by the sight of three small acacias in the
little ravine of Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Shajara. The steppe leading up to the
Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Faruq is called Nala and that beyond it Rubaida, a section
of which, in which we camped for the night, being distinguished
from its monotonous surroundings by the name of Shaba.
Rubaida and^ Shaba are in reality indistinguishable from the
Summan which we crossed on the third day into a depression
called Raudhat el-Baidha. Thence traversing the bare steppe
land of Malsuniya and the stone-strewn plain of Salabikh and a
depression of similar character called Sasra, we entered the
Dahana at midday on the fourth day.
The Dahana at this point has none of the characteristics
reported of it further north and is a very typical bit of ordinary
Nafudh, the sand ridges being of modest dimensions and much
bioken up in their scheme of arrangement. The goino’ was sandy
throughout, but quite good until near the further end where it
became alittle heavy. From the Rijm el-Shuwair cairn, which marks
the eastern entrance to the Dahana, to the Marbakh tract, where
it ends, the distance, covered was just over twenty miles. Rough