at the settlement of Maʻân at that particular time, and ʻAwde produced twenty witnesses, all of whom swore that the chief had not left his camp either in February or March, 1908. The ḳâjmaḳâm at Maʻân therefore informed the authorities at Damascus that he could punish neither ʻAwde nor ʻArʻar for what had been done by other chiefs who, moreover, were recognized by the Government as independent and not accountable to the two leaders accused. The inhabitants of Salamja sent four men into the environs of Maʻân to find out which chiefs were looking after the animals stolen from them. The investigators reported five petty chiefs to the Government at Maʻân, but the chiefs mentioned did not put in an appearance, preferring to proceed farther into the desert. In the summer of 1909 two men from Salamja were again staying at Maʻân and reiterated their complaints. In reply to a fresh summons by the ḳâjmaḳâm, the accused chiefs arrived with numerous witnesses, who all asserted that they had, indeed, had the stolen camels with them, but that these animals did not belong to them, being the property of strangers who were now encamped somewhere with the Beni ʻAṭijje or with the Šarârât. So the inhabitants of Salamja did not recover a single horse or a single camel. Yet I personally bought from Fawzân a young she-camel which bore the mark of the settlers at Salamja, and I was informed that in ʻAwde’s camp there were twenty-eight such camels and six horses. The Ḥwêṭât laughed not only at the foolish settlers of Salamja, but also at the unwise Government. If the Ḥwêṭât had had a single head chief and the Government had effectively supported him, he could have controlled the chiefs under him and thus preserved order. But he would, of course, have had to stand in awe of the Government, knowing that obedience would be forced from him if he did not fulfill its wishes voluntarily.
EBEN SAʻÛD AND EBEN RAŠÎD
From the autumn of 1909 to March, 1910, Fawzân had been residing in the Neǧd, in the territory of the Princes Eben Saʻûd and Eben Rašîd. He explained that during the last few years there had been very little rain in the region of Eben Saʻûd, in consequence of which expeditions against Prince Saʻûd eben Rašîd had suffered. During the last rainy
