FORGOTTEN RIYERS 141

the tale of our discoveries the city which legend has re-
presented as the supreme achievement of the ancient Ara-
bians. And it is perhaps only surprising that, while a
comparatively recent date must provisionally be assumed
for the inception of Arabian desiccation, no trace of Palaeo-
lithic or even Mesolithic culture has been found among the
flints collected during our expedition. It may be presumed,
therefore, that the relics of such earlier cultures (which must
surely have developed under conditions so favourable) may
yet be found, if ever the spade is used to reveal the contents
of the lower levels of the alluvium, on whose surface we
made our discovery of shells and flints.

'Ali had left us to our shell-collecting and gone on with the
baggage. A hare had, however, led him astray and he now
met us, as we passed out of the gravel into the rolling sands of
'Arq Numaila, with the results of his collecting—the hare,
a Palestine Short-toed Lark1 and a whole family of ravens.
Of the last he had shot the father, wounded the mother and
secured her alive, and annexed the family of three exceedingly
hideous, blind, naked, wide-mouthed babies. We did what
we could to keep the living alive, but they died in our despite
at intervals during the next few days. For the youngsters
Zaid, the cook, made me a pickle of salt and water in which
I consigned them in my ignorance to a hermetically-sealed
tobacco tin. Some days later I took it into my head to see
how they were progressing, but no sooner had I eased the lid
than the whole caboodle exploded in my face with a report
like a pistol shot and a stench than which I can imagine
nothing more noisome. I fled precipitately from the mess,
abandoning the trophies to the desert sand and the tender
mercies of a pair of their relatives that sat by awaiting our
departure before prospecting our leavings.

We marched on over the Numaila sands, interrupted at
intervals by patches of gravel, in some of which we found
shells and flints while others produced nothing. Thanks to a
late start, a long delay at the shell-deposit and the nearness of
the Numaila well, we camped by what had once been a
watering at 2 p.m. after a total march of only 10 miles. And

1 See Appendix.