"The landscape smiles
Calm in the sun, and silent are the hills
And valleys, and the blue serene of air."

This notable feature is a Haddudah ("frontier divider"), which in
ancient days separated the 'Ukbiyyah ("Ukbah-land") to the north
from the Balawi'yyah ("Baliyy-land") south. The latter still
claim it as their northern limit; but the intrusive Egypto-Arabs
have pushed their way far beyond this bourne. Its present Huwayti
owners, the Sulaymiyyin, the Sulaymat, the Jerafin, and other
tribes, are a less turbulent race than the northerns because they
are safe from the bandit Ma'azah: they are more easily managed,
and they do not meet a fair offer with the eternal Yaftah
'Allah--"Allah opens."[EN#3]

The head of the Damah, a great bay in the Hisma-wall to the east,
is now in sight of us; and we shall pass its mouth, which
debouches into the sea below Ziba. This tract is equally abundant
in herds (camels), flocks, and vegetation: in places a thin
forest gathers, and the tree-clumps now form a feature in the
scenery. The sole, a broad expanse of loose red arenaceous
matter, the washings of the plateau, is fearfully burrowed and
honeycombed; it is also subject, like its sister the Sadr, to the
frequent assault of "devils," or sand-pillars. That it is
plentifully supplied with water, we learn from the presence of
birds. The cries of the caravane, the "knock-kneed" plover of
Egypt, yellow-beaked and black-eyed, resounded in the more barren
belts. A lovely little sun-bird (Nectarinia oseo?), which the
Frenchmen of course called colibri, with ravishing reflections of