76 THE EMPTY QUARTER

trouble my companions—it was extraordinary how they
hankered fretfully for their wretched tots of the feeble liquor
and degenerated progressively as the warming sun played on
their nerves distraught—while two of them suffered an
additional penance not less acute. Farraj, as I have already
mentioned, was a devotee of tobacco ; and the newcomer,
Salih, was in like case. If you could tell me a cure for that, he
sighed when we were talking of 'Ali's gumboils and the rival
merits of iodine and urine, I would thank you from the bottom
of my heart. The only possible remedy was imposed on them
in due course when their slender supply of tobacco came to
an end. But meanwhile none yearned for sunset more
earnestly than those two and their breaking of the "fast was
an impressive rite. There was but a single pipe of common
clay for them to^ share, turn and turn about; but their
ingenuity was equal to the occasion and an empty cartridge-
case, pierced through the cap, served as a substitute bowl,
the smoker inhaling the smoke through the tiny orifice held
between his lips. In the morning, an hour or so before the
dawn prayer, we would be roused from sleep for supper, after
which my companions proceeded to imbibe as much coffee as
possible in the time remaining to them while I retired to my
tent and, with a pot of tea by my side, wrote up my journal
or packed the insects and other specimens demanding my
attention. The call to prayer was the signal for beginning the
fast and, after our devotions, my companions composed
themselves to slumber again, while I continued my inter-
rupted labours until they were again checked at, or soon after,
sunrise by preparations for the day's march. I seldom
seemed to get more than four or five hours of sleep during
these days of fasting as I was generally busy with my notes
and other things till midnight, but short hours of slumber
involved no hardship under the healthy conditions of our
out-of-door existence in a climate which was as nearly per-
fect as possible. I was gloriously conscious of physical well-
being and spiritual contentment as I marched through the
desert and thought fondly of the greatest of deserts beyond it,
the promised land into which I should so soon be entering,
Next morning (January 15th) a brilliant sky greeted me as