Sat Dec 20. [20 December 1913] Horribly cold in night. Ther. fell to
19; 30 when I breakfasted. Sun rose gloriously through mists which at
once cleared. We rode over low ground all sailing down to the
Khabra Makhul; no water but plenty of grass and shih. At 8 (we had
got off at 7 - the men's tent was stiff frozen and had to be melted) we
sighted J. Sais which we reached at 12. Passed over autumn
encampments of the W. Ali and near Sais Muhammad saw two men
and was much perturbed. They were probably shepherds of the
Sayyad. Passed a Khabra of Sais to the left - dry, but there is a big
Khabra Sais to the {left} right about 2 miles away full of water. Also a
small khabra under Sais on the NW side in which there was still water.
A deep moat round the W and S sides of the volcano ending in a
lake on the SE side, full of water. Also N of the ruins some old biyar
full of water, very clean and good. We reached the ruins at 12.30 and
camped. Plenty of shih and rimth. The ruins consist of a small
mosque to the W; a qasr with towers one of which is bigger than the
rest and stands two storeys high; and a hammam partly of brick and
partly of stone. The mosque is the best building, all of fine cut stones;
in the qasr all the foundations are of roughly cut stones, but the inside
room of the lower storey and all the upper storey of dressed stones.
The masonry of the bath is very rough. Having taken some
photographs I climbed to the top of the Jebel which is a perfect round
volcano and took bearings and photographs. Lots of big waterpools
to the E and South but no Arabs visible anywhere. Saw the J. al Safa
and the J. Druze [Duruz, Jabal ad]. Came down and had tea. Then
from 3 to 5 measured the ruins. Warmer tonight. Note that the small
brick vaulted room in the Hammam has no ..... but the vault of the big
apsed room oversails the wall. The mixture of brick and stone is very
curious and inexplicable. Brick only in the big apsed room and the 2
little rooms to the S of it. Looks as if they had been built up with brick
after being ruined, but is that likely? and where did they bring the
bricks from? In the lower storey of the qasr a fine cut stone vault. It
was a gate tower. On the hill opposite the ruins are remains of
houses. Fine cut stones. One door standing. I said to Hamad "Who
lived in this place?" He replied "We would learn from you. Ya Sitt,
who knows? there is no true guide but God."