28 Bedouin Tribes of the Enphrates. [en. xvn. 



donkey are feeding. Ferlian is sitting on a point of 

 rock above, calling every now and then to the 

 camels ^' Ha-6 ! lia-6 ! lia-6!" whereat they stop 

 and turn their heads round to listen. Hanna has 

 got the three partridges in a pot, and is very merry, 

 while Ghanim has brought up his rebdh and is 

 tuning it for one of his chants. There are a pair of 

 kestrels wheeling about, and I think they have a 

 nest somewhere close by. The evening i& calm, and 

 we are all in good spirits again. 



March 26. — Alas ! alas ! I suppose I must have 

 forgotten to say " inshallah " when I wrote my 

 journal last night, for dinner was hardly over and 

 the mares tied up and our beds laid, when a sound 

 of shoutino; in the direction of Bir announced that 

 some people were coming our way. For a moment 

 we deluded ourselves with the vain hope that it 

 might be robbers, or merely some of the Abu Kamis 

 going home, but our hearts misgave us already 

 that something worse had happened. In a few 

 minutes, four zaptiehs apj^eared at the door of the 

 servants' tent, piled their arms in front of the fire, 

 and sat down. Neither Wilfrid nor I had the heart 

 to inquire Avhat the meaning of this was, but Mo- 

 hammed shortly afterwards came to our tent with 

 the message, which we guessed before it was out of 

 his lips. The Pasha had sent an express, with 

 orders that we were to proceed no further, but to 

 wait for the caravan, which would arrive to-morrow, 

 and then we should receive further instructions. 



