This last week has been the most useful of all. It makes me quite sad to think that in all probability I shall never come back here. We have been a sort of small providence, what with our work and the market we have offered.

Two days ago we were held up by heavy rain. We marched for two hours, by which time all the men were wet through and I was far from dry. The clouds stay on top of the sandhills like a thick fog and at last my rafiq declared that he could see no landmarks and could not be sure of our direction. No Arabs march in rain and I had to give way.

THE LETTERS OF GERTRUDE BELL

His mother, too, was an Atrash, and he looks as if he came of a great race. It is very pleasant travelling in this weather, but the nights, after midnight, are bitter cold. This morning the water in my tent was frozen.

I have been so busy travelling the last three days that I have put off letter writing till I got here. On the 7th We retraced our steps through the sand as far as Amm el Gharrof and then journeyed by a good firm path along the bottom of the sea to Nejef which we reached at mid-day. It is a walled town standing on the edge of the cliff of the dry seaand surrounded on the other sides by a flat plain. We pitched our tents on the third side and after I had lunched I went to call upon the Kaimmakam who instructed the chief of the police to take me sight-seeing. At night, however, I came into conflift with the officials who wished to place a guard of thirty soldiers round my tents. I protested with oaths and the guard was withdrawn.

SELECTED AND EDITED BY LADY BELL, D.B.E.

There lives on the plateau the largest beetle I have been privileged to see. Black and green is his colour and he is the size of a mouse. Oh, if you could have seen where I slept! It was in the khan, a tiny room separated by a rough wall of planks from the 30 or 40 muleteers and camel drivers who were lodging there for the night. He did not think it a suitable lodging for my Excellency.

• I must get this book done or someone else will nip in and take the wind out of our sails.
• They themselves rode with me till beyond Lina and then by the Mecca railway, they, Nimrud, and I, and various slaves and retainers made a hearty lunch and I Parted from them with a feeling of gratitude.
• It is on a shoulder of the Kara Dagh, 1000 ft. above Maden Sheher and it is entirely composed of churches, chapels and monastic foundations.
• Some interest surrounds me, for I am the first foreign woman who has ever been in these parts.
• At the second I confess my heart failed me. it was awful–indescribable.

Anyway it’s not a church, of so much we are certain; and the guesses of all our Predecessors have been wrong, but what to guess ourselves is the problem. The learned world is agog about my Hittite inscription. We shall have to go up and do some more work there. It’s all very, very nice-I’m enjoying it thoroughly. I often wonder if one gets most pleasure out of the Alps this way. Some year I shall try the other and come and wander over grass passes and down exquisite Italian valleys and see how I like it.

He told us we should meet the Serdiyyeh moving camp and half an hour later we did meet them and went through the usual formulae. It happened to be the chief Sheikh, Ghalib, whose people we had met, and he joined us and insisted on our camping with him that night. There was no help for it since we shall have to take a rafiq from him to guarantee us with his tribe further on. And now I am going to dine with Ghalib, who has killed a sheep for us.

We shall certainly be able to contribute a great deal to the knowledge of such settlements as this must have been. I look forward to a delightful winter at home drawing my plans and writing my part of the book. I should have been helpless here without Sir W. And the more I work with him the more I like him and respect his knowledge. In fact, it’s being a magnificent success, quite everything I hoped it would be. We carried out our programme with immense enjoyment.

Sunday

I wonder if Elsa is back at Rounton yet. Very soon the wild daffodils by the little pond will come out and nod their heads to the east wind. I’m off finally at a moment’s notice to catch a troop ship at Suez, I really do the oddest things. That I could catch it if I left at 6 p.m.

The family-run seafood restaurant and market has its own fleet of boats, hauling in better quality stuff than any of its swanky neighbors. You’ll enjoy said catches upstairs, with a stunning view of the Miami skyline and the considerably cleaned-up river. All at a fraction the cost of the fancier restaurants nearby. Though Miami has gained a worldwide reputation for its stone crabs, few people realize the vast majority of those claws come from tiny little Everglades City. As the name might imply, this town is set off US-41 deep in the Glades, a swampy hamlet of folks who choose to live surrounded by alligators and mangroves.

• I have discovered in Jerusalem a German who has started a market garden and collected all the bulbs of the country.
• It’s a complete Bethlehem costume, with the high hat and the veil and everything.
• I must take a rubbing of it to-morrow and see what can be made of it.

Australia is the first country outside North America to launch White Claw Surge, the amped-up version of a White Claw. In comparison to White Claw’s 4.5% ABV, you can taste the difference. It has the same great, refreshing taste with a hint of natural fruit flavour, so it’s perfect for throwing in the esky this summer for beach days and picnics. You can get Surge in a blood orange or blackberry flavour.

INTRODUCTION TO THE LETTERS OF GERTRUDE BELL

Seven new peaks–one of them first-class and four others very good. We have been on the Roman road all day. The men are all in good spirits and we are extremely cheerful. I have been to Clarence to-day-it was no use sitting and moping so I thought I had better make myself useful if I could. Auntie Maisie asks me to dine with her Friday and go to a ball, and Maurice is to come to dinner if she can possibly find a place for him, and at any rate to come in directly after dinner and go to the ball too. I have told Lizzie about the bonnet and cloak so you will find them ready.