he could understand nothing and offering to accompany me himself. This man was able to indicate accurately both the directions and the names of the various localities.
Having ascertained our geographical latitude, we started off on the march again at 7.55 P. M. Mḥammad and Ismaʻîn urged this move, declaring that the Ḥwêṭât who were encamped near al-Ḳarana were notorious robbers and that they might easily steal our things in the night. When I objected that we had one of their kinsmen with us as our companion (ḫâwi) in order to protect us against his tribesmen, Mḥammad replied that in recent years the Ḥwêṭât had ceased to acknowledge the rights of the ḫâwi and that they would rob their own fathers.
The night was so dark that nothing could be seen at a distance of two meters, and the region was covered with coarse stones, so that we could not move forward. Therefore we halted at 8.18 not far from the spring Bîr Ḥadab, from which the road leads westward to the region of Ḥesma through Šrejf abu Ṛalâjîn over the pass of the same name.
BÎR ḤADAB TO THE RUINS OF ḤAMMAD
On Thursday, June 2, 1910, we started off at 4.49 A. M. (temperature: 22° C). On our right lay the two wells of Atûd, each about fifteen meters deep; on the north we perceived the extensive ruins of Daʻûḳ and to the east of them, in the valley of ʻAḳejḳa, the springs of al-Maʻêḳel, near which ʻAḳejḳa is joined by the šeʻîb proceeding from the springs of al-Mǧawǧa and al-ʻArejža. At five o’clock, at a point not far from Bijâr al-Maṣri, we entered the broad valley of ʻAḳejḳa, which contains numerous shallow springs with good, fresh water. At 5.20 we branched off to the west, near the springs of ʻAḳejḳa, in order to obtain a better view by mounting the ridge of aš-Šera’. Both the valley of ʻAḳejḳa and the ridge itself have been converted into fields of wheat and barley. The wheat was only just in flower but was plentiful and well developed. At 5.40 we had on our right hand the entrance to the šeʻîb of al-Fwêri, in which an abundant spring gushes out near the ruins of the same name. From 5.47 to 7.05 we remained among the ruins of al-Ǧdejjed (temperature: 24.2° C), for it is possible to obtain from that point a view not only of the Ḥesma territory but also of the north-
