Alois Musil

“ We were anxious to get away from the oasis into the open desert, but our camels had not arrived. As we were at luncheon, however, we heard the growling noise of someone forcing the camels to kneel down. The sweetest music could not have been so gratifying to our ears. We immediately brought out our baggage and prepared for the journey to the camp of Chief ʻAwde abu Tâjeh of the tribe of Ḥwêṭât. ”

“ The summits of some of these rocks are invisible and inaccessible. As the poet an-Nâbiṛa had already stated, Ḥesma’ is perpetually swathed in clouds of dust. Only those who have seen it can really form an idea of what it is like, for in the whole world there is no other region which resembles it. Among the mountains of Ḥesma’ should be mentioned the huge and lofty Mount Iram, on which, according to the surmise of the nomads, grapevines and pine trees grow. According to the tradition of Abu Hurejra, the Prophet designated with the word as-Sunbuk that part of Ḥesma’ belonging to the Ǧuḏâm. ”

“ Farther to the south there extended olive-colored cones, horns, and ridges, with pink slopes, which seemed to throb in the burning and almost visible rays of the noonday sun. All the sides facing the northwest were covered with yellowish sand, while the eastern and northeastern sides had a dark brown gloss, and on some of them blood-red stripes could be distinguished. At two o’clock Mḥammad pointed out to me, far in the south, the sharp, jagged peaks of al-ʻÂǧât and, to the northwest of them, two cones and seven dome-shaped groups which formed Šeʻaṯa. ”

“ Finding it impossible to see where we were going, we covered our faces and did not attempt to guide the camels. Every ten minutes or so the wind would subside and the sand would sink down for two or three minutes, but even in these moments of peace it was impossible to see as far as four hundred meters. The grains of sand penetrated through our clothes and into our mouths, eyes, noses, ears, and skin, and caused us a curious nervous pain. After 3.30 the rocky gap grew wider and the onslaught of the sand became all the stronger. ”

“ All the rest of the inhabitants of Tebûk were asleep. We made our way towards the southwest, because Sâlem and Daʻsân had recommended to me the road leading around the gardens of ar-Râjes to the šeʻîb of al-Ḳena’ as the best, and Sbejḥ had sent a message by one of the guards, whom he knew at Tebûk, that we should spend the night either at ar-Râjes or at Ǧerṯûma. I had expected for a certainty that both the mudîr and Sâlem would send gendarmes after us to hinder our journey, so we had to outwit them. ”

“ He was a Šarâri, or member of the tribe of Šarârât, which occupies the inhospitable territory north of the oasis of Tejma. As the Šarârât cannot obtain enough sustenance in their own territory, they associate with the tribes of the Ḥwêṭât, Beni Ṣaḫr, and especially with the Rwala, to whom they pay tribute. No one holds them in great esteem, and the Bedouins number them among the dishonorable Arab tribes. Sâlem, being the negro of a chief, only laughed at the Šarâri and refused to return his camel to him. ”

“ The camels were as eager as their riders to escape from this closed furnace and needed no urging to hasten westward. At eight o’clock we had the rocks of Maksar al-Ǧerra on our left; four minutes later the šeʻîb of Umm Ḥamâṭa was on our right, and at 8.10 we were thrusting our way among countless granite boulders that had been wrenched from the wall of ar-Reṣafa which enclosed the wâdi on our right. At 8.44 we came upon the dam of al-Mesadd, which once ran across the full breadth of the wâdi from southwest to northeast, transforming it into a large rain pool. ”

“ In the environs of the oasis of al-Bedʻ I locate the settlements of the tribe of Madian. According to the Bible the Madianites belonged to the descendants of Abraham by Keturah. Reference to these descendants is also made in the Assyrian records, but there are not enough particulars given in these records to enable us precisely to fix the limits of the area they occupied in the south and east. The Assyrian and Biblical records place their camps and settlements to the south and southwest of Maʻôn (Maʻân) as well as to the east and southeast of the Gulf of al-ʻAḳaba. ”

“ As the Ḥwêṭât were waging war both with the Beni Ṣaḫr and with the Šarârât and Šammar, who were encamped northeast, east, and southeast of Maʻân, it was clear that I should not be able to use Chief ʻAwde’s camp as a starting point from which to explore the territory of aṣ-Ṣawwân, which extends between al-Ǧafar and the depression of Sirḥân. As our only guide would in that case have belonged to the Ḥwêṭât, we should have fallen a prey to one of the enemy marauding parties; in which case we might have lost not only all our equipment but our lives as well. ”

“ The clans of al-Mwâhîb, as-Sḥama’, and al-Frêʻât, encamping in the valley of al-Ǧizel and the volcanic regions of ar-Rḥa’ and al-ʻAwêreẓ, are notorious for their rapacity and treachery. Our guide told us that they respect neither the right of hospitality nor the right of refuge but are continually waging war among themselves and obey nobody, not even the head chief Slîmân eben Refâde, who dwells at al-Weǧh. Our plan was to endeavor unobserved to reach the tent of some family or other and, entering the tent, to win over the owner as a guide to the nearest camp. ”

“ Fearing that some of our camels might be driven away from us, we divided ourselves into two groups, one of which mounted guard over the camels and the other over the baggage. I did not wish to start off until I had found a reliable guide. We were anxious to proceed through the rocky territory of the Ḳabâla clan to the ruins of al-Ḥomejma, and we needed a Saʻîdi not only to show us the road and tell us the names of the various places but also to protect us from his fellow-tribesmen and from the rapacious ʻAlâwîn, to whom al-Ḥomejma belongs. ”

“ At eight o’clock we reached a region where the table-lands merge into an elevation cut by broad valleys and numerous narrow, deep, transverse gullies. Only the lower valleys might be transformed into fertile fields; but on the slopes of the gullies there is an abundance of grass and bushes, which affords copious pasture. There is a fair amount of water, as nearly every šeʻîb contains a spring; so the whole region might be tilled and colonized. Before us rose the mighty dome-shaped peak of al-Batra, projecting somewhat to the east from the ridge of aš-Šera’ itself. ”

“ Othman Pasha set up a stronghold and a reservoir there, but, as there is no spring, water is often conveyed thither under military escort. In the neighborhood there are numerous caves. The hills are black as if covered with coal. At a distance of three hours’ journey before the station of al-Uḫajḍer is reached from the north there is a defile through which only two camels can proceed side by side. The soldiers surround this defile and guard it, and the Pasha, the leader of the pilgrims, sits under a sunshade and watches the pilgrims pass by. ”

“ How beautiful is mere illusion, how prosaic is reality!
At 5.02 we rode through the broad šeʻîb of al-Mrâḥ, in which the luxuriant, dark green ʻasla grows.
To the east of this valley rise the plateaus of aṣ-Ṣeʻede and Radma, and above these plateaus project the isolated black cones and ridges of the granite mountains which form the above-mentioned chain on the watershed between the Red Sea and the lowland near the Ḥeǧâz railway. Naming them from the northwest, these mountains are al-Ḫejmri, al-ʻEnejme, Dafdaf, Ṣafwân, ar-Râwa, as-Sîḳ, aš-Šâṭi, and Ḳîr. ”

“ The oasis of ʻAjnûna is famed for its good, fresh water, which once flowed through a walled aqueduct, now ruined in places, to the coast settlement of al-Ḫrajbe. We recognized this place from a number of palm trees standing on the shore itself. Behind the palms several stone huts have been built, but as they are of the same gray color as the shore they are indistinguishable from it. At ten o’clock we entered Wâdi ʻAjnûna, two kilometers broad, which might easily be transformed into one great palm garden. ”

“ When the Viceroy of Egypt, the Ḫedîwi, made a pilgrimage to Mecca this year, we supposed that he would become our master. But we were mistaken. If we belonged to the Egyptians or the English, all the settlements on our coast would flourish. Our oases would be capable of feeding thousands of people. Thou visitedst al-Bedʻ, Mûsa; thou sawest al-ʻEfâl and thou wilt see Šarma, so thou wilt believe it when I tell thee that at al-Bedʻ and al-ʻEfâl and in the šeʻibân situated to the east thousands and thousands could find nourishment. ”

“ In the encampment Sbejḥ had found a man hailing from the Beli tribe, who was willing to act as our guide. Having arrived at an agreement with him, I asked him to bring up his camel and to proceed with us at once. He promised to do so but asked us to wait for him a short while, as his camel was in the pasture. In the meantime Daʻsân’s uncle came up to us and invited me to remain in the camp as his guest. I thanked him for his invitation but regretted that I could not accept it, because our camels were thirsty and we were anxious to water them at the well of ar-Rawjân. ”

“ No Arabs remained between the oasis of Tejma, Medâjen Ṣâleḥ, and al-Muʻaẓẓam. The Weld ʻAli marched northwards, pressing on against their enemies the Beni ʻAṭijje, who fled before them to Mount aš-Šera’ or to the volcanic territory al-Ḥarra or the uplands of Ḥesma. The father of our guide had gone on a marauding expedition against al-Âjde, a clan of the Weld ʻAli, who were said to have encamped near the central part of the al-Aḫẓar valley. In the neighborhood of Tebûk there were no Arabs, we were told, because bands of marauders were continually passing that way and disturbing the flocks. ”

“ In the courtyard there is a well about four meters deep, with good water. From the stronghold a short road of no great width runs nearly due east between huts built of sun-dried brick and broken stone. Of these there are fewer than forty. By the northeastern extremity of the village, near a small mosque built by Italian masons, there is a well about six meters deep. Still farther to the northeast there are wells here and there, which become deeper and deeper the farther one goes; the well by the railway station, from which water is obtained for the engines, is twenty-four meters deep. ”

“ If any great tribe today flees from the government and the army of a civilized state, it proceeds rapidly along the most convenient and most direct transport route, if only to escape as soon as possible from the territory and jurisdiction of the military power. Such also was the case in the fifteenth century before Christ, when the Israelites migrated from Egypt. The peninsula of Sinai at that time contained Egyptian garrisons. ”

“ Along the shore rises a mountain with a rocky ridge which projects to a dizzy height and from which mighty boulders have been torn away. At the foot of the mountain are sharp rocks close together in the sea, and behind them yawn caves eaten away by the waves. ”

“ The attackers had come from the northwest, some on camels, the majority on foot. Among them and behind them came women and boys, armed with cudgels; all were shouting and cursing. Our guide Ḥammâd, recognizing the assailants as his fellow tribesmen, shouted to them that he, their chief, was guiding and protecting us, and, when they paid no heed to his words, he pulled his splendid mantle from his shoulders and, waving it in the air in his right hand, went leaping down towards them, jumping from boulder to boulder. ”

“ As the negro Mḥammad was not well acquainted with this region, I wanted one of these Ḥwêṭât to act as our guide, and Ismaʻîn brought me a man about forty years of age who declared that he knew all the hills, springs, and ruins from there to Wâdi Mûsa. Wishing to make sure of his knowledge, I asked him to point out on the ground the directions north and south and to indicate the position of the šeʻîb of aẓ-Ẓerîb, through which the rain water flows from al-Ḳarana to the norheast. The poor fellow could not distinguish north from south ”

“ The Ḥwêṭât, he declared, had no head chief, so that any chief who was in charge of more than ten tents acted in complete independence, declared war, and concluded peace with whom he liked, regardless of the other clans and families. This independence was supported by the Turkish Government in the case of all the tribes encamped along the railway between Damascus and the Ḥeǧâz, as the authorities considered that it was easier to subjugate scattered tribes and mutually warring clans, than if they were subordinated to a single head chief. ”

“ The men asked our guide when his father would set out for the al-Kerak territory to fetch grain. It seems that in July every clan of the Beni ʻAṭijje sends some men with a flock of camels to the regions of aṭ-Ṭafîle, al-Kerak, or Mâdaba, east of the Dead Sea, in order to sell the camels there and with the proceeds to purchase grain and particularly barley. Such an expedition for grain is known by the Beni ʻAṭijje as ḫaṭar. The guide complained of the Government for levying tolls on every load of grain. ”

“ If we admit the palm oasis is ten days’ march from the shore in the vicinity of the islet of Iotabe, to which Procopius has just referred, and that he means riders on camels, then ten days’ journey in a northeasterly direction at the rate of fifty kilometers a day will bring us to the great palm oasis of Dûmat al-Ǧandal (al-Ǧowf) , which from Iotabe is reached by a road actually through territory devoid of people or water. The palm oasis of Dajdân, or the modern al-ʻEla’, is situated about 360 kilometers to the east of Iotabe ”

“ We turned back northward through the defile of ʻElw al-Jitâma, as I wanted to journey through Wâdi al-Jitm to the settlement of al-ʻAḳaba. Before us, to the northwest, rose the dark mountains of Sarbûṭ al-Amṛar with their vertical ribs, on which stand steep-walled, red, natural strongholds. The vertical ribs are of granite and the strongholds of limestone and sandstone. ”