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

76 Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [en. xix.
see more, it was too far a\yay.
They came down at
last with melancholy faces, put on for the occasion,
for they had good news to tell. They had gone to
all three peaks in succession, and from the top of the
last, the furthest south, they had made out tents,
many miles away, indeed, yet certainly tents
and certainly the Anazeh, for the black S2:)0ts seen
covered an immense space from east to west, the
nearest lying due south of us. So, in spite of the
heat, which w^as very great, and of the blank look of
the land we were entering, we went on in high spirits.
In a couple of hours we came upon camels
grazing, and learned from the men ^^dth them that
they were the property of the Mehed, Jedaan's own
tribe, and that we should soon come to their tents.
We were the first people from the outside world, I
suppose, that they had seen this spring, yet they expressed
no curiosity or interest in our proceedings,
and seemed to take our arrival as the most ordinary
thing in the world. Of interference with us or our
affairs there was no sign, and when we asked the
way to Jedaan's tent they answered as simply and
as civilly as any labourers would in England in
pointing out the road to the Squire's house. We
passed thus through immense herds of camels for
another hour, and then came upon tents ; and so went
on and on, till, at the extreme end of the camp, we
found the Sheykh's tent, set in the middle of a patch
of purple stock, with several mares and colts grazing
round it. The first person who came out to meet