“But when, nor is this seldom, the sweet smell of the aromatic thyme-like plants that here abound mixes with the light morning breeze and enhances its balmy influence, then indeed can one excuse the raptures of an Arab Ovid or Theocritus, and appreciate—at least I often did—their yearnings after Nedjed, and all the praises they lavish on its memory. “Then said I to my companion, while the camels were hastening To bear us down the pass between Meneefah and Demar, ‘Enjoy while thou canst the sweets of the meadows of Nedjed: With no such meadows and sweets shalt thou meet after this evening. Ah! heaven’s blessing on the scented gales of Nedjed, And its greensward and groves glittering from the spring shower, And thy dear friends, when thy lot was cast awhile in Nedjed, Little hadst thou to complain of what the days brought thee; Months flew past, they passed and we perceived not, Nor when their moons were new, nor when they waned.’” For three days more they travelled forward over this undulating table-land, making from sixty to seventy miles a day. The view was extensive, but rather monotonous. There were no high mountains, no rivers, no lakes, no deep valleys; but a constant repetition of stony uplands, shallow and sandy hollows, and villages surrounded by belts of palm-groves, the extent and direction of which indicated the subterranean water-courses. On the third evening they reached Kowarah, the most southern station in Telal territory—a large village, lying in a wooded and well-watered hollow. Here they still found the order and security which that ruler had established, and maintained everywhere throughout his dominions. Leaving the next morning, the 14th of September, they crossed a few low hills, came to a sudden dip in the general level of the country, and then the extent of Southern Kaseem burst suddenly upon their view. [Picture: The village of El Suwayrkiyah]