During our stay at Magháir Shu'ayb the camp had been much excited by Bedawi reports of many marvels in the lands to the north and the north-east. The Arabs soon learned to think that everything was worth showing: they led M. Lacaze for long miles to a rock where bees were hiving. A half-naked 'Umayri shepherd, one Suwayd bin Sa'íd, had told us of a Hajar masdúd ("closed stone") about the size of a tent, with another of darker colour set in it; the Arabs had been unable to break it open, but they succeeded with a similar rock in the Hismá, finding inside only Tibn ("tribulated straw") and charcoal. Another had seen a Kidr Dahab ("golden pot"), in the 'Aligán section of the Wady el-Hakl (Hagul) where it leaves the Hismá; and a matchlock-man had brought down with his bullet a bit of precious metal from the upper part. This report prevails in many places: it may have come all the way from "Pharaoh's Treasury" at Petra, or from the Sinaitic Wady Lejá. At the mouth of the latter is the Hajar el-Kidr ("Potrock"), which every passing Arab either stones or strikes with his staff, hoping that the mysterious utensil will burst and shed its golden shower. Moreover, a half-witted Ma'ázi, by name Masá'í, had tantalized us with a glorious account of the "House of 'Antar" in the Hismá, and the cistern where that negro hero and poet used to water his horses. Near its massive walls rises a Hazbah ("steep and solitary hillock") with Dims or layers of ashlar atop: he had actually broken off a bit of greenstone sticking in the masonry, and sold it to a man from Tor (Khwájeh Kostantin?) for a large sum--two napoleons, a new shirt, and a quantity of coffee. A similar story is found in the Bádiyat el-Tíh, the Desert north of the Sinaitic Peninsula. At the ruined cairns of Khara'bat Lussán (the ancient Lysa), an Arab saw a glimmer of light proceeding from a bit of curiously cut stone. "This he carried away with him and sold to a Christian at Jerusalem for three pounds."[EN#91] Shaykh 'Brahím had also heard of this marvel; but he called it the Haráb 'Antar ("Ruin of 'Antar"), and he placed it in the Wady el-Hakl, about an hour's ride south of the Wady 'Afál. Finally, a tablet in the Wady Hawwayi', adorned with a dragon and other animals, was reported to me; and the memory of inscriptions mentioned in the Jihan-numá was still importunate. Evidently all these were mere fancies; or, at best, gross distortions of facts. The Bedawin repeat them in the forlorn hope of "bakhshísh," and never expect action to be taken: next morning they will probably declare the whole to be an invention. Yet it is never safe to neglect the cry of "wolf": our most remarkable discovery, the Temple at the Wady Hamz, was made when report promised least.