. The heart of Arabia, a record of travel and exploration . by no spark of wit; his mannersat meals were revoltingly disgusting and, try as I might toavoid sitting near him, I always found him sitting at myside ; and every night, when I retired to my tent to reador wiite, he would intrude upon me and, drawing togetherthe outer flaps, would settle down to a secret smoke, hauntedever by the fear of discovery by his fellows, and breathingout the fumes from the depths of his lungs in ostentatiousenjoyment, accompanied by spitting ; at meals he wouldinsist on feeding me ; when I mounted my camel he
. The heart of Arabia, a record of travel and exploration . by no spark of wit; his mannersat meals were revoltingly disgusting and, try as I might toavoid sitting near him, I always found him sitting at myside ; and every night, when I retired to my tent to reador wiite, he would intrude upon me and, drawing togetherthe outer flaps, would settle down to a secret smoke, hauntedever by the fear of discovery by his fellows, and breathingout the fumes from the depths of his lungs in ostentatiousenjoyment, accompanied by spitting ; at meals he wouldinsist on feeding me ; when I mounted my camel he wouldinsist on assisting me ; in the one matter in which he mighthave helped me to advantage, namely in quieting the clamourof my companions for shorter and more restful marches, heinvariably threw in his voice with the majority ; wheneverI made a remark he would applaud ; when I extricatedmyself from his company and entered into conversationwith the others, he would join the party in a trice andmonopoUse the conversation. In all these trials of the past. o THE PILGRIM ROAD 167 fortnight I had schooled myself to silent endurance of hisall-pervading presence, because he was the Amir of theparty appointed by Ibn Saud to that charge ; even on thislast day of our march to Khurma I held my peace, thoughthe cup of anguish and irritation was nearly full. About 3 we sighted the little hamlet of Sulaimiyyanestling among its palms and tamarisks in the Wadi bed onour right, while the palms of Khurma itself showed updarkly ahead, with the ruined fort of Qunzan between thetwo on an eminence on the left bank of the channel ; thisQasr had in former times been held by the Bani Amir sectionof the Subai, long since driven out by the Bani Thaur andnow settled in Kharj, whither I afterwards came to theirnewly founded Ikhwan settlement of Dhabaa, and in EasternNajd. We now reached the broad channel of Wadi Subai,which we followed along its high right bank up-stream withthe Ithils and palms ma
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, bookpublisherlondo, bookyear1922
