A PREHISTORIC RUIN 311 



the crest of which was marked by a number of tiindubai, 

 near which was a quantity of haib, the favourite and 

 best food of a camel. This bush is a grey-green in 

 colour. There were also many patches of dried grass 

 (in one place it was quite green). I feel sure that the 

 numerous tracks we saw had been made by game. 



When we went on we had to cross a level pebbly 

 plain, and made for two mountains due east, which 

 formed a giant gateway. Here we crossed the tracks 

 of the Bedaiat. They do not favour the recognised 

 roads when raiding. 



The gateway resolved itself into a large table-topped 

 mountain with another, more irregular in shape, beside 

 it. These, like all hills of importance in these parts, 

 were in a depression, the steep sides of which were 

 about 150 feet deep or more. 



From here on for miles we crossed one depression 

 after another with sides from 50 to 200 feet deep and 

 about two miles across. They seemed a vast natural 

 system of reservoirs where irrigation may yet find its 

 way. 



About seventy miles from Legia we passed a pre- 

 historic ruin. They are very rare. There is one south 

 of Legia with the cantle of the doorway still perfect. 

 The one I saw was an ellipse of upright stones 7 

 by 5 yards. I did not grub in the sand that filled 

 it, as I remembered how faint are the traces left by 

 primitive people, and how incalculable the damage 

 wrought by amateurs. 



The nightmare country was now behind us. Here 

 and there we passed large squares of huge granite (?) 



