THE QARA MOUNTAINS

buckler (of the circular kind found amongst Hamitic
tribes) and also and chiefly an aget - a heavy straight stick
of mitain^ wood, pointed at both ends and thrown with
great skill. This is the regular weapon of the mountains.
The well-to-do, chiefly those of the Qara, will carry a
rifle, in which case he will not carry the double-bladed
sword, but a single-bladed one, and instead of the aget^ an
ordinary stick.

'And whence came these Shahara?' I asked.

'They are the people who killed the Prophet Salih's
camel, and are suffering to-day for their wickedness, for
they are no longer tribesmen, that is, men of honour,' was
the answer.

'And had Salih bin Hut a camel ?' I queried, simulating
ignorance of their story.

My informant, pitying my ignorance in his branch of
learning, continued. 'Not heard of Salih's camel, the most
famous was she of all God's creatures ever!' His stick
traced the sun's course in heaven as he went on. 'She
journeyed from east to west, and from west to east, and she
yielded to all peoples honey, milk and wine. That was in
the time of Talmud and Ad, but an ignorant man of the
Shahara killed the camel and God sent on the Shahara a
pestilence of ants, which crawled up their legs and over
their bodies and devoured them, so that few have survived
to this day!'

The next time I heard this story, an old man told it to
me, embellished with a sequel. 'Tempted by a woman this
same wicked Shahari pursued the dead camel's calf, hoping
to slay that too. But God set a cave in th? way, and Nabi

1 This wood is exceedingly heavy, and sinks in water* It grows only in
the mountains of Dhufar.

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