of Government. ʻAwde, afraid that he would be imprisoned, refused to go. One gendarme fired at him but missed his aim; whereupon both servants of the law were killed. Since then ʻAwde has avoided Maʻân.
DEPARTURE FROM MAʻAN
On Thursday, May 26, 1910, at 3.45 P. M., we left the station of Maʻân, traveling in a southeasterly direction. We were accompanied by the negroes Mḥammad and Sâlem, whom ʻAwde abu Tâjeh had sent to us with six camels, and by the gendarme Ismaʻîn. ʻAwde was encamped to the southeast of Maʻân, on a plain which extends between the lowland of al-Ǧafar and the southeastern spur of aš-Šera’. We did not proceed to him by a direct route but by a detour along the foot of aš-Šera’, in order more easily to avoid the hostile bands patrolling the depression of al-Ǧafar. As the journey to ʻAwde’s camp was very dangerous, we were joined by fifteen settlers from Maʻân and several Bedouins with camels, each animal carrying two men.
Leaving the station on our right, we soon reached the well ʻAjn al-Kalbe on the left slope of the broad šeʻîb of the same name, which extends in an east-northeasterly direction from Maʻân. The šeʻîb of al-Kalbe joins on the east with the šeʻibân of al-Ḫaṭâba, ar-Ratami, Ab-al-Ǧerḏâm, and ar-Rwejǧîde, all of which converge on the lowland of al-Ǧafar.
On the right slope of al-Ḫaṭâba we saw about forty horsemen, chiefs of the clans of the Ḥwêṭât returning from Maʻân, where they had gone to claim payment of the money which the Government owed them for the protection of pilgrims. Until the railway was constructed from Damascus to al-Medîna, the tribes encamped along the Pilgrim Route used to protect the pilgrims, and for this service the Government paid them fees on a fixed scale, known as maʻâše. After the railway was built the Government wished to abolish this payment, but the tribes protested against the proposal and threatened to destroy the bridges and remove the rails. The more judicious chiefs pacified their companions and suggested that they should negotiate with the Government, and it was for this purpose that about forty of the Ḥwêṭât chiefs had proceeded to Maʻân to discuss matters with the ḳâjmaḳâm. Being afraid that they might be attacked and slaughtered by Turkish
