The Foreign Service Journal, January 2005

tion about conditions there, though they promised her no protection while she traveled. At Hayil in 1914 she was held hostage by the local sheik inside his mud fortress — or rather, as he was away, by his tough old grandmother. This family, the Rashids, head of the Shammar, were particularly self- destructive, killing each other off until the young sheik was the only one left to lead the clan. In addition to sounding them out, Bell needed the Rashids to honor a letter of cred- it so she could provision her caravan, and was held up for several days for reasons she did not really know. She was finally given some bags of gold and sent on her way. And always she spent time with the local people, in the desert sitting cross-legged on the ground in their tents, in their homes and coffee hous- es in town and city. She pleased them with her colloquial Arabic and knowl- edge of their history, drank countless tiny cups of thick black coffee, exchanged gifts, ate with her fingers the roasted lamb served on huge trays piled with rice, and chain-smoked cig- arettes while they sucked water pipes. During her earlier Syria trip, she even participated in preparations for a trib- al raid involving gunfire, chanting and dancing around a bonfire. She often described the cold, damp desert winter in her little sleep- ing tent, and the usefulness of her fur coat. She was always writing for dresses to be sent from London, but admitted to her stepmother early on that she had arranged to have split skirts made locally so she could ride her horse astride (though camels did not require it). Far from roughing it, she traveled with a table and bed linens, china and crystal, all strapped onto a camel or mule, as well as a fold- ing canvas bathtub — which, on occa- sions when she camped near a well, rather than an oasis, came in handy to water the camels. Baghdad At Last When she finally settled down in Baghdad in 1917, having followed J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 5 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 49 And always she spent time with the local people, in the desert sitting cross-legged on the ground in their tents, in their homes and coffee houses in town and city.