cut to the right was reported stony: as most of our mules were
casting their irons and falling lame, I avoided it by the advice
of Furayj, thereby giving huge offence to old 'Afnan. We followed
the long slope trending to the Wady el-Kurr, which drains the
notable block of that name. Seeing the Wakil, and the others in
front, cutting over the root to prevent rounding a prodigiously
long tongue-tip, I was on the qui vive for the normal dodge; and
presently the mulatto Abdullah screamed out that the Nakb must be
avoided, as it was all rock. We persisted and found the path
almost as smooth as a main road. The object was to halt for the
night at a neighbouring water-hole in the rocks; and, when their
trick failed, the Baliyy with a naive infantine candour, talked
and laughed over their failure, sans vergogne and within earshot.

Despite the many Zawabahs ("dust-devils"), this was one of our
finest travelling days. After the usual ante-meridian halt, we
pushed on down the valley, meeting only a few donkey-drivers. At
2.15 p.m. (seven hours = twenty miles and a half), we reached the
beautiful 'Ayn el-Kurr, some ten direct miles east of the Wady
Rabigh; and the caravan was only one hour behind us. This Wady is
a great and important affluent of the Wady el-Miyah already
mentioned. The reach where we camped runs from north to south;
and the "gate" of porphyritic trap, red, green, yellow, and white
with clay, almost envelops the quartz-streaked granite. The walls
are high enough to give shade between eight a.m. and 2.15 p.m.;
and the level sole of the cleanest sand is dotted, near the right
side, with holes and pools of the sweetest water. Here "green
grow the rushes," especially the big-headed Kasba (Arundo donax);
the yellow-tipped Namas or flags (Scirpus holoschanus) form a
dense thicket; the 'Ushr, with its cork-like bark which makes the