the preparation of coffee. The coffee is usually fresh roasted, and not so brown as the roast in the United States. It is brewed very strong and strongly flavored with cardamom seed and frequently cloves as well. The result is a beverage that the average American Is not apt to care much

Fig. 5 Hafar al Batin

for at first, although it may be tolerated and even liked after some acqaintance. The coffee Is invariably served in cups somewhat smaller than a demi-tasse, and without handles. A necessary part of the entertainment appears to be the skill with which the servant is able to draw the spout of the coffee pot three or four feet away from the cup before cutting off the stream. It has been remarked that a cup of Arabian coffee has one great virtue - there is so little of It. It also has another, however - it is usually very hot, which, in view of the source of the water and other obvious conditions is somewhat consoling. A noisy sip keeps one from getting burned and is considered polite.

West of Hafur, the character of the terrain changes to some extent but speaking generally, one may consider the Dibdiba gravel plains as extending to the Wadi es Shimah about 40 kilometers west of Hafur. The Wadi al Batin itself is a broad depression, rather than any real watercourse and offers no obstacle to pipe line construction.

The party stopped for the night at Uguba where there was a small geological camp under the leadership of Ernest Berg. Uguba is a typical ancient Arabian "ain" or hand dug water well. It is just the same In appearance as any one of a dozen other wells in Arabia and located at the southern Point of the neutral zone, which In fact It defines. (Fig. 9)

In case the pipe line is routed with a view to picking up oil from Kuwait or from other fields in the northeastern part of Arabia, it would