FORGOTTEN RIVERS 149

The five wells of Tuwairifa lie in a sandy hollow with a
dune range some 40 or 50 feet high running along the north
side of the valley. Abandoned by the grazing Badawin
eight years ago when the drought began, they have been
choked with sand. The main well is, however, clearly trace-
able, while the others were not difficult to locate by exposed
portions of their raised lips and the usual litter of debris
cleared from the shafts—at the bottom of one of which, they
told me, lies the corpse of a man who was entombed years
ago by the collapse of the shaft while he was engaged in
clearing it out. The water is said to lie in a stratum of rock—
presumably sandstone—but the pits are sunk through a
considerable depth of alluvial soil which is liable to cave in,
as it had done on that occasion. Grinding stones, fragments
of marine shells obviously brought here by man, flint chips,
Darraj discs and an Arab horseshoe were among the trophies
collected from the rubbish heaps.

5Ali and Farraj had gone off wide of our route in the morn-
ing with my gun and a supply of ammunition in the hope of
finding something to shoot. I had told them not to spurn
any small birds they might come across, and they now came
in with a very satisfactory bag of four hares, two Bifasciated
Larks and two Wheatears.1 Before sunset 5Ali accompanied
me to the top of a dune overlooking the country all round.
He seemed to be anxious as they are apt to be when encamped
on a well, for a raiding party might well look in at so remote
a watering in the hope of finding it opened up. However my
glasses reassured him that we were alone and unwatched.
What a scene of emptiness ! I remarked. The wells dead
and all around us the country parched with drought—nothing
but low rolling sands ! But what a country it was in those
days ! he replied. Ten years ago, or it may be twelve, I saw
Oryx here—yes, plenty of them—in these sands. Ah ! that
is the very crown of sport, the shooting of the Oryx. And
you, your fortune is good for you will be the first stranger to
see the Oryx in his own country. Ay, if God wills we shall
certainly shoot them before long when we get down to better

1 For the identification of all my ornithological specimens I am indebted
to Mr. N. B. Kinnear of the British Museum. See Appendix.