THE ESTUARIES OF JIBAN 67

entirely concealed by the overlying sand. Yes, he continued,
there it is, sure enough, but buried and the second well should
be yonder beyond that rock. And there in fact we found the
miserable hole in the sand with water in it at a depth of only
five feet. It's briny, said 'Ali, like the sea. Men cannot
drink of it, but the camels endure it. A string of camels of
the Badawin was at that moment slowly passing along the
sky-line of the ridge at the head of the valley a mile away. It
was a Murra party proceeding to new pastures, almost our
last contact with humanity.

From the wells we turned south-west again to cross the
valley and, as we climbed up the further ridge, we enjoyed a
splendid view of the snowy SabTcha at the end of the estuary.
It is even like that, said Salih, to the end of Sabkha Matti and
that is three days' journey from end to end on the road to our
country. In it is neither bush for fuel nor even stones for the
necessary cleansing. These we must carry with us when we
travel that way and, if you err from the track, there are bogs
that may swallow up camel and rider and leave no trace of
them, even as happened to one called Matti who disappeared
in that tract. We caU it, therefore, by his name. Near it
also are ruins of the ancients in the district of Majann, which
some day I will show you, if God wills.

A great shelving beach of pebbles sloped upwards before us
from the crest of the ridge to a vast gravel plateau of the
desert similar to that which lies between the Mashura dunes
and the northern Jiban. In all that monotonous waste,
known vaguely as Hidbat al Hafair, two low ridges stood out
in contrast with the surrounding flatness, while to our left
appeared some slight indication of a cM-edge encircling the
invisible depression of Khaur al 'Abd.1 Rare bushes of
MarJch and a few tufts of Shinan emphasised the appalling
nakedness of an ill-favoured landscape. We marched on
doggedly until 4 p.m., when we pitched camp for the night in
a poor belt of Shinan bushes, where the gravel plain was
lightly strewn with sand. Our camels were turned out to
graze and a pair of ravens circled about them, perching now
and then on their backs in search of ticks. I tried to stalk

1 There is a well of briny water in the depression.