Saker entered fully into our views; but it was still necessary to explain to him that the Wahabee[J] might counteract our plans; that his religious fanaticism would naturally be opposed to the passage of a Christian army; that his spirit of domination, which had already made him master of Yemen, Mecca and Medina, would extend his pretentions to Syria, where the Turks could not offer him any serious resistance: that, on the other hand, a great maritime power, enemy to the one we favoured, would infallibly make an alliance with him, and would send forces by sea to cut us off from the road of the desert. After much debate, in which Saker showed both judgment and sagacity, he entirely acquiesced in our arguments, and promised to use all his influence with the other tribes. It was agreed that he should be chief of the Bedouins of the country we were then in, as the Drayhy was of those of Syria and Mesopotamia: he engaged between this time and the same period in the next year to unite the different tribes under his orders, while we should pursue our route; and promised that at our return all should be made easy to us. We separated, enchanted with each other, after loading his son with presents, and liberating all the other prisoners. Saker, on his part, sent back our forty men; and the next day wrote us word that Mohdi and Douackhry no longer opposed our projects, and that they were about to remove to hold a conference with Bargiass, at three hours’ distance. In fact, they broke up their camp, and we did the same; for the assemblage of so large a number of men and cattle had covered the earth with filth, and rendered our continuance in the place quite intolerable. We encamped at six hours’ distance, at Maytal el Ebbed, where we rested eight days. Saker came there to us, and it was agreed that he alone should undertake to raise the Bedouins of these districts, while we should return into Syria, lest by too long abandoning our first conquest, our enemies should take advantage of our absence to embroil our affairs and detach the tribes from our alliance. Besides, the spring was already advanced, and it behooved us to hasten thither, lest the pasturages of Syria and Mesopotamia should be occupied by others. We deferred then, till the year following, the project of pushing our recognizance as far as the frontiers of India. By that period, Saker would have had time to prepare the tribes of his neighbourhood to second us; “for,” said he, “the tree is uprooted by one of its branches.” Some days’ march brought us back to Mesopotamia. In two more we crossed the Euphrates near Mansour and the desert called El Hamad. We encamped in a place where water is only to be had by digging deep holes, and is at last only fit for the beasts. Man cannot drink of it. The place is called Halib El Dow, because milk is here the only beverage.