breaks and crumbles so that nothing remains of the broad road but a narrow footpath, which in places is scarcely forty centimeters wide. During storms at sea, when the waves reach the footpath, the connection with the south is cut off.
Keṯîb al-Mbassi is often beset with robbers, who lie in wait for the rich trade caravans;
Fig. 33—Our guide Farrâǧ. but these hostile bands have suffered more than one defeat there. In the spring of 1907 the Ḥwêṭât at-Tihama—who owe allegiance to the head chief Abu Ṭḳêḳa—made a raid against the ʻImrân who were encamping by the šeʻîb of al-Ktejf. The latter, being forewarned of the approaching danger, carried a great number of stones to the edge of the slope Keṯîb al-Mbassi and hid behind them. When the last man of the enemy passed along the footpath about five hundred meters long advancing from the south to its northern extremity, the ʻImrân began to roll large and small stones down on both ends of the path, in this way killing six of the enemy and compelling all the rest—over two hundred in all—to beg for mercy. At the southern end of this footpath is the spring of Ḥḳejl, near which there are four groups of palm trees.
At 6.12 we reached the outlying palm trees of the small oasis of Ḥaḳl. These trees form a narrow strip extending southward along the shore. Among and behind them rise numerous springs, the water of which, however, is either salt or brackish and causes violent fever. Hence the saying: “Ḥaḳl is the ruin of reason, ḥaḳl salab min al-ʻaḳl.” Only to the south of the šeʻîb of al-Mabrak is there a spring with good fresh water. Near it are several huts built of palm leaves and therefore called ʻešše (nest, bower). To the north of
