i88i] A JOURNEY IN THE HEjAZ 537 



Shereef s men. I did not see any tokens of their unruli- 

 ness in the village, but I believe I was not known to be 

 a Christian. At supper, several poor folk gathered round 

 our door and shared our meal, especially a privileged 

 deaf and dumb man, who talked very cleverly by signs 

 which his neighbours understood. He was saving up 

 money in order to marry. Deaf and dumb men are 

 often met with both in Arabia and Egypt, and I have 

 observed that they are always treated with great kindness. 

 We were joined at supper by a boy from Scinde, whose 

 mother is a small trader in the village. Many Scindians 

 come to the Hejaz as pedlars, chiefly in iron goods. The 

 father having died, his child was taken under the protec 

 tion of the Hodheil, becoming, as the expression is, their 

 Dakheel. Every man in the village is bound to resent 

 injury done to the boy as if he were his father. Indeed, 

 the little fellow seemed to have been spoiled, for he was 

 very pert and garrulous. He had quite forgotten his 

 mother tongue. The evening salutation in this village 

 was Allah yebayyitkum May God give you your night- 

 quarters. 



January 31. Starting an hour before sunrise, we 

 rode up the Wady for more than five hours and then 

 emerged on the open upland plain of the Beheita. From 

 Zeima upwards the whole country had been scourged 

 with severe drought. The flocks which pasture in the 

 hills were perishing with hunger, and beside Zeima, and 

 on the road inland, lay many carcasses of sheep which had 

 dropped while they were being driven down the country 

 in search of herbage. We passed several objects to which 

 legends are attached first, a great stone by the roadside, 

 which is said to have been lifted by a girl, a story which 

 educed the information that the trial of strength by 

 lifting stones which Jerome describes as practised in 

 Palestine is still known among the Arabs. Then on the 

 mountain top to our right a natural obelisk was pointed 

 out as a girl who had been turned into rock for casting a 



