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

CH. XVII.] Longings for Home. 41
conspicuously under the hills in front of us.
They
are evidently of the same date as those at El Haddr,
and the modern town occupies the palace just
as it
no doubt would at El Haddr, if El Haddr should
be again inhabited. There are a few palm trees
and some gardens beyond it and, still further on to
the south, what seems to be a lake. But I leave
descriptions for to-morrow. It was quite late
before we arrived, and we have had great
difficulty
in persuading Mohammed to allow us to camp outside
the village, instead of enjoying the
hospitality
of his father's house. But, by promising an early
visit to-morrow, we have succeeded, I hope, in
assuaging his wrath. We saw a cuckoo to-day
sitting on the ground in the middle of the plain,
and several swallows have come almost into our
tent. Wilfrid, too, has heard a bird sing, he says,
and begins to talk of England in a w^ay I have not
heard him do all the winter. This makes us more
than ever anxious to get on with our mission, for as
such we now look upon it, to the Anazeh, and then
turn our steps homewards.