"الملف 73/7 II (D 22) وضع الكويت - سكة حديد بغداد، والمفاوضات الأنجلو تركية" [ظ‎‎١‎٤‎١] (٥٤٠/٢٨٨)

8
come and join me and halt a day. He did, and fortunately so ; we had rain most
of the day.
27th February. —Lyle went off towards Basra and I packed up shortly after
for Jahara. Camels marched well and we got over the Mutlaa pass all right
before dark, camping to the north of Jahara town.
28th Fehruary. —Made an early start for Kuwait going on ahead with the
Bedouin. Heard Bin Saud had arrived in Kuwait and in the distance saw
Shaikh Mubarak's army making for the rendezvous near Jahara.
Got into Kuwait early in the afternoon and went to see the Shaikh in the
evening where made the acquaintance of Abdul Aziz bin Saud, who expressed
considerable surprise at the length and distance of my tour, and still more that I
had enjoyed it.
K uwait; ^ W. H. I. SHAKESPEAR, Ca/teVz,
10th March igio, ) Political Agent ) Kuwait*
. No. C.-15, dated Kuwait, the 4th April 1910.
From— C aptain W. H. I. S hakespear, Political Agent,
To—The Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, Busbire.
In continuation of my letter No. 133, dated the 23rd March 1910, I have the
honour to forward herewith a tracing showing my recent tour to As-Safa, Hafar
and A1 Batin together with a note of the geographical information gained during
the tour.
2. The information may he of use to the Intelligence Branch at Army Head
quarters, and perhaps also the Survey Department.
Note on Captain Shakespear's tour via As-Safa, AUHafar^ Al-Batin and hack
to Kuwait.
The accompanying observations and bearings were recorded during the tour
with a trustworthy Prismatic Compass and read from it on a sieady tripod stand.
The information collected on the route is, I think, fairly accurate as it was
furnished by more than usually reliable Bedouins who knew the country well, and
I checked it as often as possible. The accompanying map was plotted after
return to headquarters, and may be inaccurate in the Longitude and Latitude
lines which I had to take to the best of my ability from other maps of different
scales.
The rate of marching on which I depended for my dead-reckoning, a most
important item in so featureless a country, was that given by my baggage-camels
checked by daily notes of their rate of travel. It will be well to explain here
that baggage-camels in Arabia march loose in a bunch and are not tethered
nose and tail. Consequently they make better progress than the Indian beast.
Their rate of travel is very steady and I have found in the course of two tours
that three miles an hour as an average is very farly accurate. Bad ground may
diminish this, and if the camels are in poor' condition they will not do so much,
especially if travelling in good succulent grazing country, for they graze on the
march. On the other hand if they are in good condition, their stomachs fall, or
the desert bare of grazing, they will often do considerably more, even up to
perhaps 3J miles an hour. Trying to keep a dead-reckoning by " thalul's "
(riding-camel's) pace when on the march I have found well-nigh impossible.
Mv camels marched a deal better during the latter half of the tour owing to
improvement in condition and being able to fill their bellies easily with a few
hours' grazing as a result of an excellent " rabia"; moreover their loads became
lighter daily.
3. It would have made my efforts at sketching this hitherto unsurveyed
country of more value if I could have had with me a measuring perambulator of
some type and a good pocket aneroid to show slight differences in heights. One