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On one night during his journeys from 1945 to 1950 in and around the Empty Quarter
in Oman and Saudi Arabia, Wilfred Thesiger reports the following [1]:
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When it grew dark we couched the camels,... I had just decided to get into my
sleeping-bag when bin Ghabaisha [one of his Bedu companions] signed to us to
be quiet and pointed to the camels. They had stopped chewing, and all of them
were staring in the one direction. Our rifles were already in our hands, during
these days we never put them down, and we slid quietly to the ground, crawling
to the edge of the small basin in which we had camped. It was to dark to see
anything, but the camels still watched something, although now they were looking
farther to our right. I lay there motionless, straining to see what they saw.
Shadows formed and re-formed but I could be sure of nothing. Bin Kabina [another
Bedu companion] lay beside me. I touched him inquiringly but he made a sign that
he too could see nothing. The cold rain which had soaked through my shirt ran
down my flanks, and pattered on my bare legs. The camels started to chew the cud
again and were no longer watching. I thought uneasily, ‘They are working
round behind us.’ Amair and bin Ghabaisha evidently thought the same, for
they moved farther round to watch the night behind us. Hours later I crawled to
my saddle-bags to fetch a blanket, which I shared with bin Kabina. The rest of the
night passed very slowly, and nothing happened.
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What is your guess?
Get the answer!
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Obviously Wilfred Thesiger and his Bedu companions didn't worry about an animal, but
were thinking of raiders. The Empty Quarter is not that empty. One has to be alert,
since uninvited visitors or raiding parties may approach through a valley or come over the
sand dunes at any time. But this night it was an animal that was circling the camp.
What kind of animal was it?
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Wilfred Thesiger: Arabian Sands (1959). Reprinted in Penguin Travel Library, 1991;
page 235.
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Last update was made on March 29 in 2008 by Axel Drefahl
Please, email comments and suggestions to
axeleratio@yahoo.com
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© 2008 Axel Drefahl. All rights reserved.
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