their halters to graze along the path; and when gorged they are
too lazy to go beyond a saunter of two miles an hour. Yet they
can work well when pushed: the man Sa'lim came up with us on the
evening of the fourth day, after a forced march of thirty-two
hours.

We took the track which crosses the Bujat-Bada to the south-east.
For a short way it was vilely rat-eaten; presently it issued upon
good, hard, stony ground; and, after four miles, it entered the
Wady el-Marwat. This gorge, marked by the Jebel Wasil, a round
head to the north, is a commonplace affair of trap and white
clay; broad, rough, and unpicturesque. The sole shows many piles
of dry stone, ruins of "boxes," in which the travelling Arab
passes the night, whilst his camels are tethered outside. The
watercourse heads in a Khuraytah, the usual rock-ladder; we
reached it after eleven miles' riding. Naji, the sea-lawyer of
the party, assured us that we had not finished a third of the
way, when two-thirds would have been nearer the truth.

The Wady sides and head showed traces of hard work, especially
where three veins of snowy quartz had been deeply cut into. The
summit of the Col, some 2100 feet above sea-level, carried a fine
reef of "Maru," measuring eight feet at the widest, and trending
332 (mag.) Around it lay the usual barbarous ruins, mere
basements, surrounded by spalled stone: from this place I carried
off a portable Kufic inscription. The view down the regular and
tree-dotted slope of the Wady el-Marwat, as far as the flats of
Bada, was charming, an Argelez without its over-verdure.

From the Col two roads lead to our day's destination. The short