<h3><SPAN name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></SPAN>CHAPTER XI</h3>
<h4>THE WADI SER AND KABR SALEH</h4>
<p>On January 17 we started from Al Koton with only seven
of our camels and two of the sultan's packed with forage,
to be away several days. The sultan wished to lend his
horses, but my husband refused. However, he had to ride
one, a grey, for fear of giving offence, and this was given to
him as a present afterwards, and he rode it whenever the
rocks allowed till we reached the coast. We eventually
sent this horse, Zubda (butter), and my Basha back to their
respective donors, though they really expected us to take
them to Aden. We had two men of the Nahad tribe as
our <i>siyara</i>.</p>
<p>Our start took a very long time, for the sultan, attended
by many people, came a mile on foot. We travelled four
hours and a half, partly through land that would have been
cultivated had there been rain, and partly through salt
desert, till we turned north-west into the Wadi Ser, where
there is a sandy desert. From the entrance to Wadi Ser we
could see Shibahm in the distance, an unpromising looking
spot among sandhills. We were all able to find shelter at
Hanya under an enormous thorny <i>b'dom</i> tree covered with
fruit, and we felt like birds out of a cage, for we never could
walk out at Al Koton without a crowd, and the greasiness
and spiciness of the food was beginning to pall. We had
a delightful camp, but had to be very careful not to drop
things in the sand, as they so quickly disappeared. We<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_127" id="Page_127"></SPAN>[<SPAN href="./images/127.png">127</SPAN>]</span>
had a new man called Iselem, who was to take care of the
horses, pluck chickens, and help in pitching the camp. His
wonder at the unfolding and setting up of the beds, chairs,
&c., was great. There was also an old man called Haidar
Aboul. He and one of the soldiers could talk Hindustani,
so with Imam Sharif's help we were somewhat independent
of Saleh, though we had thought it necessary to bring him,
to keep him from working us harm.</p>
<p>We continued our way up the Wadi Ser for about five
hours and camped at Al Had in a field near a house, close
to some high banks which radiated intense heat, and suffered
the more that we had to wait a long time for the tea that
we always had with our luncheon, as our water had been
stolen in the night. We always tried to save some to carry
on and start with next day, fearing we might fare worse
in the next place we came to.</p>
<p>The well at this spot is the last water in this direction,
for we were reaching the confines of the great central desert.
Wadi Ser, being such a waste of sand, is very sparsely populated.
The Bedouin here, like the Turkomans, live in
scattered abodes, little groups of two or three houses dotted
about, and solitary homesteads. It belongs to the Kattiri
tribe, who are at war with the Yafei. They once owned
Sheher and Makalla and took Al Koton, but in a war in
1874 the Yafei were supported by the English; hence their
friendship for England. The animosity still continues and
there is little intercourse between Siwoun and Shibahm,
though only twelve miles apart. The Kattiri have more of
the Bedou about them and the Yafei have more of the Arab.
Our <i>siyar</i> was twenty-five dollars.</p>
<p>The people were preparing for rain, which may never
come; they had had none for two years, but if they get it
every three years they are satisfied, as they get a sufficient
crop. As it comes in torrents and with a rush, each field is<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_128" id="Page_128"></SPAN>[<SPAN href="./images/128.png">128</SPAN>]</span>
provided with a dyke and a dam, which they cut to let the
water off. This dyke is made by a big scraper, like a dustpan,
called <i>mis'hap</i>, harnessed by chains to a camel or
bullocks. The camel goes over the existing bank and when
the dustpan reaches the summit the men in attendance
upset the surface sand or soil, that has been scraped off, and
carry the scraper down. When this is done the field is
lightly ploughed; there is nothing more to do except to sit
and wait for rain. We saw signs of great floods in some
parts.</p>
<p>Whenever we found ruins still visible in or near the
Hadhramout we found them on elevated spots above the
sand level, from which we may argue that all centres of
civilisation in the middle of the valleys lie deeply buried in
sand, which has come down in devastating masses from the
highland and the central desert. The nature of the sand
in this district is twofold. Firstly we have the <i>loess</i>
or firm sand, which can be cultivated; and secondly the
disintegrated desert sand, which forms itself into heaps
and causes sandstorms when the wind is high.</p>
<p>The mountains diminish in height the farther north one
goes. The character of the valleys is pretty much the same
as that of those to the south of the main valley, only they
are narrower and much lower, and thus the deep indenture
of the valley system of the Hadhramout gradually fades
away into the vast expanse of the central desert.</p>
<p>The wazir had been given a bag of money to buy fowls
and lambs for us, but Saleh came and said, 'The wazir
wants some money for a lamb,' so it was sent and returned.
It had not been asked for and caused some offence, but that
odious little wretch only wished to make mischief.</p>
<p>The Bedouin are rather clever at impromptu verses, and
when we were in Wadi Ser they made night hideous by
dancing in our camp. The performers ranged themselves<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_129" id="Page_129"></SPAN>[<SPAN href="./images/129.png">129</SPAN>]</span>
in two rows, as in Sir Roger de Coverley; time is kept by a
drum and by perpetual hand-clapping and stamping of the
feet, whilst two men execute elaborate capers in the centre,
singing as they do so such words as these: 'The ship has
come from Europe with merchandise; they shot at the
minaret with a thousand cannon.' Bedouin women also take
part in these dances, and the Arabs think the dances very
impious; it was very weird by the light of the moon and
the camp-fire, but wearisome when we wanted to sleep,
particularly as they kept it up till after we were all astir in
the morning, yelling, bawling, singing, and screeching, Iselem
being the ringleader. The ground was shaken as if horses
were galloping about. A Bedou was playing a flute made
of two leg-bones of a crane bound together with iron.</p>
<p>At a distance of half an hour from our camp there is a
stone with an inscription. This was visited on the day of
our arrival, but we went again next day that I might photograph
it, very difficult in the position in which it is. It is a
great rough boulder about 10 feet high, that has slipped
down from the mountain, with large rough Sabæan letters just
punched on the surface, of no depth, but having a whitish
appearance. The letters run in every direction—sometimes
side by side, sometimes in columns.</p>
<p>The central and most important word which my husband
was able to make out, with the help of Professor Hommels'
admirable dictionary of hitherto ascertained Himyaritic
words, is <i>Masabam</i> or Caravan road. The stone seemed to
be a kind of sign-post; for as the old Bedou sheikh who
was with us said, there was in olden days, about 500 years
ago, a caravan road this way to Mecca, before the Bahr-Safi
made it impassable. The Bahr-Safi is a quicksand,
north of Shabwa, but none of those present had been there,
and they all laughed at Von Wrede's story of King Safi and
his army being engulfed in it.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_130" id="Page_130"></SPAN>[<SPAN href="./images/130.png">130</SPAN>]</span></p>
<p>The Bedou sheikh with his retinue came to see that we
took no treasure out of the stone. There are a good many
old stones built into the side of the stream-bed. Having
taken a copy and a photograph, which my husband sent
later to Dr. D. H. Müller, in Vienna, to decipher, we departed.
We were told that the Wadi Ser goes four hours from that
stone to the great desert.</p>
<p>We then turned back and followed our <i>kafila</i> to
Alagoum, at the junction of Wadi Ser and the Wadi Latat,
about two hours' journey. Alagoum is a large cluster of high
houses, surrounded by stables and houses excavated in the
sandhills, where the inhabitants and their cattle live in hot
weather. This is quite an idea suited to the Bedouin, who
live in caves, when they can find them. The Bedouin in
Southern Arabia never have tents.</p>
<p>We found that Saleh had joined the camel-men in resisting
our own people, who wanted to encamp under trees. They
had unloaded in the open and Saleh and Iselem had then
retired into the village till the tents were pitched, so, as
we were to remain in this place two days, we had them
moved. We had by this time some of the Kattiri tribe
with us as <i>siyara</i>.</p>
<p>At Al Garun the Wadi Ser is entered by a short collateral
valley called the Wadi Khonab, in which valley is the
tomb of the prophet Saleh, one of the principal sacred places
of the district. Kabr Saleh is equally venerated with the
Kabr Houd, also called the tomb of the prophet Eber (for,
from what we could gather from the statements of intelligent
natives, Eber and Houd are synonymous terms) which is
to be found in the Tamimi country further up the main
valley.</p>
<p>The prophet Houd was sent to reclaim the tribe of Ad.
The Mahra tribe are descended from a remnant of the
Addites, as also are the Hadhrami, according to the legends.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_131" id="Page_131"></SPAN>[<SPAN href="./images/131.png">131</SPAN>]</span>
Once a man named Kolabeh, when seeking for camels came
upon the beautiful garden of Irem-Dhatul-Imad, which is
supposed to have been in the desert near Aden; he found
and brought away a priceless jewel which came into
possession of the first Ommiad Caliph Nourrijaht. Those who
embraced Islamism on the preaching of the prophet Houd
were spared, but the rest either were suffocated by a stifling
wind or survived in the form of apes, whose descendants
still inhabit Jebel Shemshan at Aden.</p>
<p>A remnant are also said to have fled to the Kuria Muria
Islands.</p>
<p>We again met with considerable opposition from the
Bedouin and our escort when we proposed to visit the Kabr
Saleh next day. However, this was overcome by threats of
reporting the opposition to Sultan Salàh on our return to
Al Koton. So next morning we started. The sultan of
Shibahm's people were just as anxious to go as we were,
for they were delighted to get the chance of making this
pilgrimage to so holy a place, which being in an enemies'
country they could not have done but for our escort.</p>
<p>A short ride of two hours brought us nearly to the head of
the Wadi Khonab, and there, situated just under the cliff,
in an open wilderness, is the celebrated tomb. It consists
simply of a long uncovered pile of stones, somewhat
resembling a potato-pie, with a headstone at either end, and
a collection of fossils from the neighbouring mountains
arranged along the top. Hard by is a small house where
the pilgrims take their coffee, and the house of the Bedou
mollah, who looks after the tomb, is about a quarter of a mile
off. Beyond this there is no habitation in sight. A more
desolate spot could hardly be found. The tomb is from 30
to 40 feet in length, and one of the legends concerning it is
that it never is the same length, sometimes being a few feet
shorter, sometimes a few feet longer. The Bedouin have<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_132" id="Page_132"></SPAN>[<SPAN href="./images/132.png">132</SPAN>]</span>
endless legends concerning this prophet. He was a huge
giant, they said, the father of the prophet Houd, or Eber; he
created camels out of the rock, and hence is especially dear
to the wandering Bedou; and he still works miracles, for if
even unwittingly anyone removes a stone from this grave, it
exhibits symptoms of life, and gives the possessor much
discomfort until it is returned. Once a domed building was
erected over the tomb, but the prophet manifested his
dislike of being thus inclosed and it was removed.</p>
<p>Men are said to go blind if they steal anything connected
with the tomb; once a man took a cup from the coffee-house,
unaware of the danger he incurred, tied it to his girdle, and
carried it off. It stuck to him till he restored it. Another
man took a stone away and gave it to his children to play
with, but it hopped about till taken back again.</p>
<p>At the time of the <i>ziara</i> or pilgrimage which takes
place in November, crowds of Bedouin, we were told, come
from all the valleys and hills around to worship. All our
men treated the grave with the greatest respect, and said
their prayers around it barefoot.</p>
<p>I do not know what they would have done to Imam
Sharif if he had not comported himself as the others did,
so that wretched man had to walk barefoot all round on the
sharp stones, and thus we obtained the measurements. He
got dreadfully pricked by thorns and coveted the fossils very
much. The stones of which the tomb is composed are
about the size of cannon-balls, and look just as if newly put
together and quite weedless. People stroke the upright
stone at the head and then rub their hands on their breast
and kiss them, and do the same at the foot. The wazir
would have led us up close to it; but the Bedouin hated
our being there at all, and would by no means let us sleep
there, as we wished to do. We overheard our horrid little
Saleh Hassan telling the bystanders that we live on pork.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_133" id="Page_133"></SPAN>[<SPAN href="./images/133.png">133</SPAN>]</span></p>
<p>When we first got there, we were permitted to approach
within a few yards of the tomb, so that we saw it very
distinctly; but when, after eating our luncheon, and taking
a siesta under a tree, we again advanced to inspect it, the
Bedou mollah attacked us with fierce and opprobrious
language, and, fearing further to arouse the fanaticism of
these wild people, we speedily mounted our horses and rode
away.</p>
<p>We hoped to be able to visit Kabr Houd, the tomb of
Nebi Saleh's son, in the main valley, but, as it will appear,
we were to be disappointed. I am told, on reliable Arab
authority, that it is similar in every way to the Kabr Saleh—just
a long pile of stones, about 40 feet in length,
uncovered, and with its adjacent mosque. These two
primitive tombs of their legendary prophets, zealously
guarded and venerated by the Bedouin, are a peculiar and
interesting feature of the Hadhramout. It is a curious fact
that when one turns to the tenth chapter of Genesis (the
best record we have of the earliest populations of our globe)
we find the patriarchal names Salah, Eber, and Hazarmaveth
(which last, as I previously stated, corresponds to Hadhramout)
following one another in their order, though not in
immediate sequence. I am at a loss to account for these
names being still venerated by the Bedouin, unless one admits
a continuity of legendary history almost too wonderful to
contemplate, or else one must consider that they were heathen
sites of veneration, which have, under Moslem influence, been
endowed with orthodox names. Certain it is that these
tombs in the midst of the wilderness are peculiarly the
property of the Bedouin, and, though visited, and to a certain
extent venerated, by the Arabs, the latter do not attach so
much importance to them as they do to the tombs of their
own walis or saints, which are always covered tombs, near
or in the centre of the towns. Another curious point I may<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_134" id="Page_134"></SPAN>[<SPAN href="./images/134.png">134</SPAN>]</span>
mention in connection with these tombs is that the Arab
historian, Yaqut, in his 'Mu'gam,'<SPAN name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></SPAN><SPAN href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</SPAN> tells us of a god in the
Hadhramout, called Al Galsad, who was a gigantic man;
perhaps this god may have some connection with the giant
tombs of Saleh and Eber. Also Makrisi, who wrote in the tenth
century, <span class="smcap">a.d.</span>, speaks of a giant's grave he saw near Shabwa.</p>
<p>Near Al Agoum we saw a quantity of very ancient stone
monuments, situated on slightly elevated ground, above the
sand. At first we imagined them to be tombs, but on closer
inspection we discovered that the erections, which are large
unhewn ones of the cromlech type, are decorated inside with
geometric patterns somewhat similar to those we found in the
Mashonaland ruins, and therefore my husband was more
inclined to believe they were originally used for religious
purposes. There are traces of letters above the pattern.
The buildings are about 20 feet square and several are
surrounded by circular walls. They are apparently of extreme
antiquity, and doubtless far anterior in date to any other
Himyaritic remains that we saw in the Hadhramout.</p>
<p>The wazir joined us as usual on our return from Kabr
Saleh, as we sat outside our tent in the moonlight with Imam
Sharif and the Indian interpreters, and we had a pleasant
evening. We were perfectly charmed to see great preparations
for sleep going on among the Bedouin. We thought
they really must be tired after dancing the whole night and
walking the whole day. They were busy putting themselves
to bed in graves which they dug in the loose dust, not sand;
turbans, girdles, and so forth being turned into bedclothes.
Just as they were still Iselem began capering about and
they all got up shouting and screaming, but the wazir, seeing
my distress, with the greatest difficulty quieted them, as
he did when they broke out again at three o'clock in the
morning.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_135" id="Page_135"></SPAN>[<SPAN href="./images/135.png">135</SPAN>]</span></p>
<p>It took us six hours the following day to ride back to
Al Koton, where, not being expected, we could not get a
meal of even bread, honey, and dates for about an hour and a
half, and then had to wait till we were very sleepy indeed for
supper. We endured great hunger that day.</p>
<p>Salim-bin-Ali, the other wazir, had not come with us
because he was not well. The day of our reception, in
curvetting about, he fell from his horse and had suffered
various pains ever since.</p>
<p>The sultan had had another stone brought for us from
Al Gran; we did not care to take this away as it had very
little writing on it, only [Symbol: See page image] (<i>al amin</i>, to the protection).
It is circular, 1 foot 4½ inches in diameter, 2½
inches high, made of coarse marble. We saw a similar
circular stone at Raidoun.</p>
<p>The wildest reports were going about as to the water-stone
we already had. It was almost the cause of an insurrection
against the sultan of Shibahm. They said 'It
was very wrong to give that stone to a "gavir"'—as they call
us (for all the <i>k</i>'s are pronounced <i>g</i>)—'only think of our
carelessly letting him have it. The Englishman has taken
fifteen jewels of gold and gems out of it,' and named a high
value.</p>
<p>'You are sure of this?' said the sultan to the ringleader.</p>
<p>'Oh, yes! quite certain!' he said.</p>
<p>So the sultan led him to our room, where the stone was,
and said:</p>
<p>'Do you know the stone again? Look closely at it. Has
anything happened to it but a washing?'</p>
<p>The man looked extremely small. They said my
husband's only business was to extract gold from stones.
It is extraordinary how widespread this belief is. It is
firmly rooted in Greece. Many a statue and inscription has<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_136" id="Page_136"></SPAN>[<SPAN href="./images/136.png">136</SPAN>]</span>
been shivered to atoms because of it, and our interest in
inscriptions was constantly attributed to a wish to find out
treasure. We once saw two men in Asia Minor industriously
boring away into a column—to find gold they told us. They
already had made a hole about 8 inches deep and 4 or 5 inches
wide. They think that the ancients had a way of softening
marble with acid.</p>
<p>We had again at this time a great many patients; for, as
we really had effected some cures the first time we were at
Al Koton, our fame had spread. We always had Matthaios
and Imam Sharif to help us to elicit the symptoms, and also
to consult with as to the cures, because some remedies which
suit Europeans were by no means suited to the circumstances
of our patients. For instance, the worst coughs I ever heard
were very prevalent, but it would be useless to ask the sick to
take a hot footbath and stay in bed. The one blue garment,
which in different shapes was all the men and women wore,
was little protection from the chill of the evening. The
women's dresses were always hanging off their backs; and
the men, who had each two pieces of thick blue cotton
about 2 yards long by 1½ yard wide, with fringes half a
yard long, wore one as a permanent petticoat and the other
as a girdle by day and when cold as a shawl, often put on in
a very uncomfortable way—thrown on in front and left
hanging open behind—forming no protection to the back
of the lungs.</p>
<p>The poor little baby, aged fifteen months, of the Wazir
Salim-bin-Abdullah was brought shrieking in agony, gnawing
hard at its emaciated little arms, and all covered with
sores. Our hearts were wrung at this wretched sight and
we longed to help; we even thought of giving it part of a
drop of chlorodyne much diluted, but, fortunately for us,
dared not do so, for my husband said to them, 'I do not
think the child will live long.' It mercifully was released in<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_137" id="Page_137"></SPAN>[<SPAN href="./images/137.png">137</SPAN>]</span>
a few hours. Then an old man came who 'had a flame in
his inside.' My husband examined him and decided that he
had an abscess, and, to please him, gave him a dessertspoonful
of borax and honey, which he swept up with his finger, and I
suppose it did relieve him, for after some minutes he said:
'The fire is gone out.'</p>
<p>It grieved us sorely when poor souls came to us so hopefully
and so confident of help, with a withered arm or an
empty eye-socket. Some with less serious complaints than
these last we recommended to go to Aden hospital, a building
of which we never thought at that time we should be
inmates ourselves. We found the ladies, to whom a plentiful
supply of violent pills had been administered, were better, but
the sultan, who had an attack of indigestion, had to be taken
in hand at once by us doctors. His wife required a tonic, so
we got out some citrate of iron and quinine, a bright, shiny,
greenish-yellow, flaky thing, which Imam Sharif assured
us would be more beneficial and better liked if shown and
admired as gold; so after some conversation about pious
frauds, I packed the medicine up neatly and wrote in ornamental
letters 'Golden Health Giver,' and this name being
explained and translated gave great satisfaction. We were
glad to be able to give the kind sultan a new bottle of quinine—more
acceptable than gold.</p>
<p>While we were away Mahmoud had found two little
hedgehogs. One was dead and stuffed; the other we kept
alive for some time and it always liked to creep into my
clothes and go to sleep—I suppose because I never teased
it. In the little book of directions for zoological collectors
we saw, that 'little is known of the reproduction of lizards,
so special attention is to be paid,' &c. Mahmoud had
brought me two little fragile eggs to keep, about half an inch
long, and I had put them in a match-box with tow and
packed them in my trunk, and on my return to Al Koton I<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_138" id="Page_138"></SPAN>[<SPAN href="./images/138.png">138</SPAN>]</span>
found two little lizards about 1¼ inch long, one alive and
the other dead. Both had to be pickled, as we did not
understand how to bring so small a lizard up by hand.
They proved to be new to science, as was also a large lizard
we had found near Haura, whose peculiarity is that he has no
holes along his legs to breathe by, like other lizards. His
name is <i>Aporosceles Bentii</i>. The first lizard's egg I had I
was determined should not slip through my fingers; but
alack! and well-a-day! my fingers slipped through it.</p>
<p>In the meantime we were terrible bones of contention,
and had the Wadi Hadhramout all by the ears. We were
very anxious indeed as to whether we could proceed any farther
or should have to go back, and whether we could do either
safely. We wanted to go right along the Wadi Hadhramout
and to see Bir Borhut or Barahout, a <i>solfatare</i> as far as we
could make out, but Masoudi in the tenth century speaks of
it as the greatest volcano in the world, and says that it casts
up immense masses of fire and that its thundering noise can
be heard miles away. On the heights near is much brimstone,
which the Bedouin find useful for gunpowder. They
consider this place is the mouth of hell and that the souls
of Kafirs go there. In Iceland there is similar accommodation
for those souls. Von Wrede thinks it was the Fons Stygis
of Ptolemy, but M. de Goeje thinks that Ptolemy alluded to
some place farther west and south of Mareb. Certainly the
position given by Ptolemy does not coincide with that of
Bir Borhut.</p>
<p>From 'Arabian Society in the Middle Ages,' by S. Lane-Poole,
I take the following notices of this place:—</p>
<p>El Kaswini says of Bir Borhut: 'It is a well near
Hadhramout and the Prophet (God bless and save him) said
"In it are the souls of infidels and hypocrites." It is an
Addite well in a dry desert and a gloomy valley, and it is
related of Ali (may God be well pleased with him) that he<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_139" id="Page_139"></SPAN>[<SPAN href="./images/139.png">139</SPAN>]</span>
said, "The most hateful of districts to God (whose name be
exalted) is the valley of Barahout, in which is a well whose
waters are black and fœtid, where the souls of infidels make
their abode."'</p>
<p>El Asmaï has narrated of a man of Hadhramout that he
said: 'We find near Barahout an extremely disgusting and
fœtid smell, and then news is brought to us of the death of
a great man of the chiefs of the infidels.'</p>
<p>Ajaïb el Makhloukàt also relates that a man who passed
a night in the valley of Barahout said: 'I heard all night
(exclamatives) of "O Roumèh! O Roumèh!" and I mentioned
this to a learned man and he told me that it was the
name of the angel commissioned to keep guard over the
souls of the infidels.'</p>
<p>Bir Borhut is not far from Kabr Houd, which is said by
some to be even longer and wider than Kabr Saleh. The
route lies through the territory of the Kattiri, and the Yafei
are quite ignorant of it; it would be quite unsafe for them to
go to the sea along the valley, and they always use the road
over the tableland. The Kattiri tyrannise over the sultan of
Siwoun and are enemies to the sultan of Shibahm; beyond
them are the Minhali, who are also enemies; then the Amri
and the Tamimi, who are friendly, and then come the Mahri.
The sultan told us that not even he could prevent us going
along the <i>kafila</i> path, but we should not be admitted into
any villages and should probably be denied water. One
source of enmity between the Kattiri and the Yafei is, I
believe, a debt which the Kattiri owe and will not pay.
The sultan of Siwoun borrowed three lacs of rupees from
the grandfather of the present sultan of Makalla; he would
not repay them, so after much squabbling the case was
referred to the English at Aden, who, after duly considering
the papers, gave Makalla and Sheher (bombarding them first)
to the Yafei.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_140" id="Page_140"></SPAN>[<SPAN href="./images/140.png">140</SPAN>]</span></p>
<p>In answer to the seven letters there was nothing from
the sultan of Siwoun, and the sultan of Terim sent a verbal
answer—'Do as you please,' taking no responsibility—to
which Sultan Salàh replied, 'I have sent you a letter, send
me a letter.' The sheikh of the Kattiri tribe came to Al
Koton and said he would take us, but on January 23 we
heard that the sultan of Siwoun had made a proclamation
in the mosque there, forbidding the people to admit the
unbelievers to the town. Though we could easily go by the
<i>kafila</i> road, leaving the town of Siwoun two miles on one
side, the sultan deemed it wiser for us not to attempt it, as
brawls might arise, the two tribes being at war; so we then
decided to mount on to the akaba, pass the inhospitable
Siwoun and Terim, and reach the friendly Tamimi tribe.
The Kattiri <i>kabila</i>, or tribe, really came to Siwoun to be
ready for us, but the seyyids had collected a large sum of
money and bribed the sultan to send them away.</p>
<p>We were hoping to get off to Shibahm, but as the sultan
was neither well nor in a very good humour, we had to
resign ourselves to settling down in Al Koton in all patience.
He said he must accompany us, as he could not depend on
his wazirs for they were too stupid.</p>
<p>My husband and I were always occupied. He used to
sketch in water-colours, and I had plenty of work developing
photographs in a delightful little dark room, where I lived
and enjoyed as many skins of water as I could use, till I had
to stop and pack my celluloid negatives like artificial flowers,
for they curled up and the films contracted and split, from
the alkaline water. I had to put glycerine on them when I
reached Aden. Our botanist nearly died of dulness and impatience;
Mahmoud was quite contented to sit quite still,
and I do not think the Indian servants minded much. Poor
Imam Sharif used to gaze up at half a dozen stars from a
yard, but he dared not venture on the roof to see more.<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_141" id="Page_141"></SPAN>[<SPAN href="./images/141.png">141</SPAN>]</span></p>
<p>We took a stroll with the sultan one day, no crowd being
allowed, and remarked how many things were grown for
spices, those spices which were becoming rather wearisome
to us. There was <i>zamouta</i>, an umbelliferous plant, the seed
of which is used in coffee, and <i>habat-assoba</i> for putting in
bread; coriander, chili, fennel, and <i>helf</i>, a plant very like tall
cress, which is used in cookery and also raw, and which we
liked as a salad; also <i>attar</i>, a purple creeping bean, very
pretty and good to eat. There was also another low-growing
bean, <i>brinjol</i> (egg plant), cucumber, water-melon,
henna, and indigo. The sultan has besides a private
inclosure where he has some lime-trees, not our kind of
lime-tree of course, but the one which bears fruit; and I
must not forget cotton, from which the place originally took
its name, as it is abundant in a wild state.</p>
<p>At last another polite letter came from the Kattiri, and
a letter from the sultan of Terim. 'I have both your letters
<i>and you can do as you like</i>, my answer is the same.' This
did away with all hope of progress in that direction.</p>
<p>Our spirits, however, were much cheered by hearing that
the sultan had received a letter from a seyyid at Meshed
(probably the nice one who had been in India and had
leprosy in his legs), telling him how very badly the sultan
of Hagarein had behaved about us. As this was spontaneous,
we hoped that the negotiation our sultan was going
to undertake about our making excavations at Meshed,
Raidoun, or Kubar al Moluk (for some part of the ruins is
called Tombs of the Kings), would turn out successfully.
The sultan of Hagarein was summoned to Al Koton, but
we were away before he came. I believe in the end he was
turned out of his place, former misdeeds counting against
him.</p>
<div class="footnotes">
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></SPAN> II., 100.</p>
</div>
</div>
<hr />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_142" id="Page_142"></SPAN>[<SPAN href="./images/142.png">142</SPAN>]</span></p>
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