Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates Vol 2 - The Search For Mecca

CHAPTER XX.
" Alarums, excursions, then a retreat." Shakespeabe.
Ferlian ibn Hedeb—The Gomussa and their mares—Mohammed
Duki—A lawsuit in the desert—A tribe of Gazelle hunters
Beteyen's mare—The Sebaa are attacked by the Rodla—
panic and a retreat—Our new brother, Meshur ibn Mershid
Scarcity of water—We leave the Anazeh camp and make a
forced march to Bir Sukr.
Sunday, Apiil 7.—The name of the pool by
which we are encamped, or
rather of the pools, for
there is a succession of them, is Khabra el Mashkiik.
It lies within sight of the
perhaps due south of it,
Tell el Ghorab, ten mi]e&
and about sixty south-east
of Tudmur. It covers some few acres, but is very
shallow, being dependent for its existence as a pool
solely on the winter rains. According to all accounts,
however, there is a series of them running
east and west, and forming a convenient line of
encampments in the direction of Damascus. It
will be along these that we hope to go on now to
the Eoala, who are not more than a hundred
miles away, if report speaks true. They tell us
we shall find encampments of the Sleb on our
road, and learn from them exactly where the Roala
are.