SOUTHERN JAFURA 83

vegetation, is known as Al Qasam, that is to say' the division'
between Jafura proper and its westward continuation, of
similar though barer character, called Al Haml. In a sense
therefore Jafura ends here at the channel of Surr al Ma'id
though southward of our line of march it crosses the depres-
sion and appears to nin on to the edge of the Jaub.

Beyond Al Qasam, nearly 10 miles wide but much inter-
rupted towards its further fringe by extensive gravel patches,
we emerged into the gravel plain of Hidbat al Budu'. Our
course lay south-west between the southward-trending line
of Jafura to our left and the westerly horn of it (Al Haml) on
our right. The divergence of these two lines of sand made
for the progressive broadening of the plain, over which we
marched in grim desperation in the hope either of reaching the
great basin of Jabrin before sunset or of finding in the gentle
undulations of the plain itself a line of herbage which would
make it possible to camp for the night. Both objectives
eluded us and it was nearly 5 p.m. when we decided to re-
linquish the effort and to camp in a shallow drainage-line
where there was dead vegetation to serve as fuel but no
fodder for the camels. A violent altercation, in which I took
no part, ensued among my companions as to whether we
should stop or go on to the bitter end. And it was perhaps as
well that the Ayes, thinking chiefly of coffee, had it, for we
still had very far to go next day and the quality of the desert
certainly did not improve.

We had done some 25 miles with practically no break, and
the latter part of the march had been made rather dis-
agreeable by a moderate but persistent wind in our faces.
Apart from a few lizards found in the gravel my collecting
had not prospered and we had seen no hares or other game all
day. I had, however, noticed a solitary locust in the Jafura
sands and we were to encounter another on the gravel plain
next day, while a few brilliantly-coloured scarab beetles had
rewarded my exertions at our last camp in Wadi Sahba.
What a lifeless, desolate waste it was—and this vast plain
was as bad as any part of it, extending some 10 miles across
from sand to sand. The Hasa-Jabrin road was said to lie
about a day's journey to our westward at this stage, while