MAQAINAMA	123
for the next comer. A hostile raiding party might leave such
wells open to spite the home tribe or even fill it in with sand ;
and even the owners (Hamad ibn Nautan of the Miqlin sub-
section of Al Jabir) might do the same to deny its water to
an enemy. Otherwise the desert rule requires the cover to be
replaced in the common weal.
To avoid all possibility of drawing from stagnant surface
water I delayed taking my specimen until the morning of our
departure. The well had been tapped continuously for our
needs, including bathing though I had not indulged myself
with a bath. The bucket was lowered, filled and raised to the
surface. The water came up quite tepid though unfortu-
nately I did not take its temperature, and I filled a bottle as it
were from the fountain-head. I sealed the cork carefully with
wax, labelled it and brought away what seemed to me as pure
a specimen as possible of the excellent sweet water of Ma-
qainama.
It was duly analysed in the Research Laboratory of the
Anglo-Persian Oil Company, Limited, at Sunbury ; and the
official report on it was as follows :
' Sample labelled Maqainama.
This sample is highly polluted with sewage.
Hydrogen sulphide, 9 parts in 100,000
Free and saline ammonia, 14 parts in 100,000.
Albuminoid ammonia, 5 parts in 100,000.
Total solids (dried at 100° C.), 26 parts in 100,000.
Total inorganic solids (dried at red heat), 10 parts in
100,000.
Wanklyn condemns a drinking water containing more than
0-0082 parts in 100,000 of albuminoid ammonia.'
On this interesting report my friend Dr. G. M. Lees com-
mented : * The presence of albuminoid ammonia and free and
saline ammonia shows dilution with camels' urine without
any doubt. Are you sure that it was a clean sample from the
well and not via a drinking trough or any intermediate
stage between well and bottle ?' I have already explained
the elaborate precautions I took to get a genuine specimen of
the water which is considered so excellent. It is astonishing
to know that the albuminoid ammonia content of Maqainama