168 THE EMPTY QUARTER

ing from 20 to 50 paces, were small patches of slag and
bedrock fragments to south-west and west, while at 190
paces to the north-west was a similar but larger patch. This
looked as if it might have emanated from a third crater (D
—see plan), which was, however—if it is there at all—com-
pletely obliterated by a sandridge some 20 feet high. A
fourth possible crater (C) appeared to underlie the hillock
from which I had first surveyed the scene. At any rate small
patches of slag fragments were to be seen protruding from
under its skirts at various places. And finally there was a
suggestion of yet another crater (E) similarly buried under
an extensive mound of sand.

Thus in a couple of hours I had gained a fairly complete
impression of all there was to see at Wabar, although I left
the actual mapping of the area to a later occasion. I had also
collected a fairly wide range of specimens of the slag and
other debris ranging from pieces the size of a man's head
to little bombs of fused stuff and the still smaller ' pearls.'
For the time being, therefore, I was free to go off on the
projected expedition to Ibrahima, in the course of which I
looked forward to touching and crossing Mr. Thomas' route
of the previous year.

At first we marched north-east—my companions being
Zayid, 'Ali, Salih and Ibn Musainid, with whom was the dog,
which, by reason of his intimacy with the affairs of the
kitchen, had long since adopted him as her guide, philosopher
and food-provider—along the indeterminate boundary separ-
ating the bare gently rolling downs of Tara'iz on the west
from the bare gently rolling downs of Sanam proper on the
east. After about half an hour's marching we passed by a
conspicuous conical sandhill known as Qauz al Ishara, which
is the Badawin's guide to Wabar—or Al Hadida as they call
it, for they do not, of course, use the ancient name in common
parlance. From this landmark onwards Sanam extended—a
dreary sand waste with scanty scattered shrubs. In nearly
three hours from the * ruins ' we came to Faraja, our course
bending round more to eastward as 'Ali found the necessary
clues to the direction of the watering in circumstances that
made it astonishing that anybody could find anything at all