‘A Pilgrimage to Nejd, the cradle of the Arab race. A visit to the court of the Arab Emir, and "Our Persian Campaign."' [‎226] (257/326)

■ 226 Our Persian Campaign. [ch. vi.
.Three hours exactly it took to get down, and with
out accident. Another hour brousdit us to Zeytun,
a pretty village on the river Zorah, with palm
gardens and a good patch of cultivated land.
At the river we stopped, exhausted already by
the sun and overcome by the sight of the cool
running water. Here we lay frizzling till the
afternoon.
At four we crossed the river, as broad but a little
less deep than the Kurdistan (both have gravelly
bottoms), and resumed our march. A last cup of
the ice-cold water was indulged in, but it could not
slake my thirst, which nothing now can cure, though
as a rule we drink notliino- till the evening. Our
o o
march was a repetition of last night’s, a long stumble
half asleep along a break-neck road ending as before
in an “ impasse,” and the rest of the night spent on the
ground. We are plagued now, especially in these
night halts, where we cannot see to choose a bed,
with the horrible little spiked grass. Every bit of
clothing we have is full of these points. These and
the flies make it impossible to sleep by day, and we
are both very weary, Wilfrid almost a skeleton.
April 23.—At a quarter past three, we again
went on, by the light of a false dawn, the Scorpion,
still in front of us. We know exactly now the rising
of these stars in the south-eastern sky. The ascent
this time Was longer and more gradual, and the
descent shorter than the former one, but quite as
diflicult. This second ridge is considerably lower