[p.111]of loose stones. Some of them are arched and have narrow canals
to conduct the water into them from the higher grounds. S.E. of Dhami
half an hour is Deir Dhami [Arabic], another ruined place, smaller than
the former, and situated in a most dreary part of the Ledja, near which
we found, after a good deal of search, an encampment of Arabs Medledj,
where we passed the night.
November 30th.--These Arabs being of a doubtful character, and rendered
independent by the very difficult access of their rocky abode, we did
not think it prudent to tell them that I had come to look at their
country; they were told, therefore, that I was a manufacturer of
gunpowder, in search of saltpetre, for at Dhami, and in most of the
ruined villages in the Ledja, the earth which is dug up in the court-
yards of the houses, as well as in the immediate vicinity of them,
contains saltpetre, or as it is called in Arabic, Melh Baroud, i.e.
gunpowder salt.
The Ledja, which is from two to three days journey in length, by one in
breadth, is inhabited by several tribes of Arabs; viz. Selman [Arabic],
Medledj [Arabic], Szolout [Arabic], Dhouhere [Arabic], and Siale
[Arabic]; of these the Szolout may have about one hundred tents, the
Medledj one hundred and twenty, and the others fifty or sixty. They
breed a vast number of goats, which easily find pasturage amongst the
rocks; a few of them also keep sheep and cows, and cultivate the soil in
some parts of the Ledja, where they sow wheat and barley. They possess
few horses; the Medledj have about twenty, and the Szolout and Dhouhere
each a dozen. But I shall have occasion to speak of these Arabs again in
describing the people of the country.
The tent in which we slept was remarkably large, although it could not
easily be perceived amidst the labyrinth of rocks where it was pitched;
yet our host was kept awake the whole night by