76 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [en. xix. 



see more, it was too far a\yay. They came down at 

 last with melancholy faces, put on for the occasion, 

 for they had good news to tell. They had gone to 

 all three peaks in succession, and from the top of the 

 last, the furthest south, they had made out tents, 

 many miles away, indeed, yet certainly tents 

 and certainly the Anazeh, for the black S2:)0ts seen 

 covered an immense space from east to west, the 

 nearest lying due south of us. So, in spite of the 

 heat, which w^as very great, and of the blank look of 

 the land we were entering, we went on in high spirits. 

 In a couple of hours we came upon camels 

 grazing, and learned from the men ^^dth them that 

 they were the property of the Mehed, Jedaan's own 

 tribe, and that we should soon come to their tents. 

 We were the first people from the outside world, I 

 suppose, that they had seen this spring, yet they ex- 

 pressed no curiosity or interest in our proceedings, 

 and seemed to take our arrival as the most ordinary 

 thing in the world. Of interference with us or our 

 affairs there was no sign, and when we asked the 

 way to Jedaan's tent they answered as simply and 

 as civilly as any labourers would in England in 

 pointing out the road to the Squire's house. We 

 passed thus through immense herds of camels for 

 another hour, and then came upon tents ; and so went 

 on and on, till, at the extreme end of the camp, we 

 found the Sheykh's tent, set in the middle of a patch 

 of purple stock, with several mares and colts grazing 

 round it. The first person who came out to meet 



