26 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [en. xvn, 



and found there rock pigeons and partridges, show- 

 ing that there must be water close at hand. Wilfrid 

 shot three partridges, and in climbing to the edge 

 ■of the ravine cauoht sio;ht of the guard-house of 

 Bir, lying in the Wady about a mile ahead of us. 

 We would willingly have avoided the place, for 

 Mohammed informed us it was occupied, and we 

 have now a perfect horror of soldiers and the police ; 

 but it was absolutely necessary we should fill our 

 waterskins, and the only well for many miles was 

 there. We are rather afraid still of the Pasha's 

 suddenly sending after us or coming himself, like 

 Pharaoh, who repented that he had let the children 

 of Israel go, and would have liked to hide our en- 

 campment, but this necessity of water compelled us, 

 and luckily, as it turned out, for we have obtained 

 a,uthentic news. 



The well of Bir (as you say the "harbour of 

 Oporto") is an important feature in this part of the 

 world, for it is the only watering-place between 

 Deyr and Soklme, and it has been occu^^ied for 

 some years as a strategical point by the govern- 

 ment. There is a square guard-house on the usual 

 Euphrates model, and we found it occupied by a 

 sergeant and three men. The building was in 

 rather a dilapidated state, as Jedaan burnt all that 

 could be burnt in it last winter on his way from 

 the Bishari hills, which, by the way, we saw pretty 

 plainly this morning. The well is a very ancient 

 one, cased with solid stone and about sixty feet 



