264 We Arc in a Miserable Plight [ l &97 



donkey track speedily disappeared or was lost, nor could we ever again 

 find it. We were left now to our sole wits and the mercy of God, for 

 the wind was blowing hard from the north-east and was drifting the 

 sand hopelessly. Suliman, now in command, recommended descending 

 towards some hills to the north-west, and this brought us to a new 

 formation of limestone ground, arranged in flat masses with sharp 

 edges, the most abominable imaginable interspersed with sand. Across 

 this we floundered with our camels for several hours, when Suliman, 

 having climbed to the top of a low tell, announced that he had seen a 

 valley with palms, and it was resolved, much against old Osman's wish, 

 that we should cross the whole valley on the chance of striking a track 

 near the hills. The trend of the valley was westwards, and if it was 

 the beginning of the Siwah valley, Suliman argued, it must have a 

 road passing up it. So Suliman and I went scouting with the tall but- 

 tresses of a crag to west-north-west for our object. Now we have al- 

 most reached these, but have found no sign of road or life — only a 

 poor wagtail lost in the strong wind. We have camped for the night, 

 feeling ourselves to be out of all reckoning (for this according to the 

 map should have been the Siwah valley, yet it is absolutely without trace 

 of human passage, old or new). We are camped in a hollow near two 

 seyyal trees, ill screened from the wind, and in very miserable plight. 



" 26th Feb. — I spent a restless, uncomfortable night, disturbed at 

 finding that of our five water skins three were already empty, and re- 

 proaching myself with having let the men pass Araj without replenish- 

 ing. I felt myself responsible, too, from having taken the direction of 

 our route out of Osman's hands. Old Beseys and the rest, except my 

 own Bedouins, were clearly of opinion that I was wrong. The wind, 

 too, raged furiously, and kept me waking, and in the darkness I im- 

 agined all kinds of disaster, more especially when I found the stars 

 overhead obscured with drifting sand. I said prayers to all my saints 

 and repented of my sins, and so I think did all the party. Once in the 

 night the sky cleared and I got a sight of the Pole Star and made a 

 line on the ground with my camel stick as a guide in the morning, for 

 my pocket compass is out of order and cannot be relied on. There were 

 even moments when I thought gloomily of ordering a retreat to Araj. 



' In the morning, however, more courageous counsels prevailed, and 

 we took our due course west towards the kJiusm (the headland) deter- 

 mined to go straight forward and solve the question of this being the 

 Siwah valley or no. Nor were we long in suspense. We had hardly 

 gone a mile when, riding in front, I came upon a little single path lead- 

 ing to some seyyal trees which had been pollarded by Bedouins, a sign 

 of human neighbourhood, and presently, to my delight, to the old cara- 

 van road, reappearing plain and unmistakable. It relieved us from all 

 anxiety, and following it we found ourselves by mid-day at the first 



