WADY EL AHSA.
400
tremely difficult to resist their eternal supplications and compliments
without yielding at last. With regard to my behaviour towards
the Bedouins, I always endeavoured, by every possible means, to
be upon good terms with my companions, whoever they were, an d
Iseldom failed in my endeavours. I found, by experience, that
putting on a grave face, and talking wisely among them was little
calculated to further the traveller’s views. On the contrary, I aspired ¬
to the title of a merry fellow; I joked with them whenever
I could, and found that by a little attention to their ways of
thinking and reasoning, they are easily put into good humour.
This kind of behaviour, however, is to be observed only in places
where one makes a stay of several days, or towards fellow travellers -
: in passing rapidly through Arab encampments, it is better
for thetraveller not to be too talkative in the tents where he
alights, but to put on a stern countenance.
We left Khanzyre late in the evening, that we might enjoy the
coolness of the night air. We ascended for a short time, and then
began to descend into the valley called Wady el Ahsa. It had
now become dark, and this was, without exception, the most dangerous ¬
route I ever travelled in my life. The descent is steep, and
there is no regular road over the smooth rocks, where the foot
slips at every step. We had missed our way, and were obliged to
alight from our horses, after many of us had suffered severe falls.
Our Sheikh was the only horseman who would not alight from his
mare, whose step, he declared, was as secure as his own. After a
march of two hours and a half, we halted upon a narrow plain, on
the declivity of the Wady, called El Derredje (), where we
lighted a fire, and remained till day-break.
August 7th.—In three quarters of an hour from Derredje, we
reached the bottom of the valley. The Wady el Ahsa (),
which takes its rise near the castle El Ahsa, or El Hassa, on the
