Mount thee on thy she-camel- Travel-stained and hard she is…
-from the Pre-Islamic Ode of Labīd Ibn Rabī’a
Jamals in our Dabouka were hot iron-branded with the merchant’s export number, marked by a bloody handprint made at the pre-departure sheep sacrifice asking God’s protection, and later, as birdlife ventured out to us from the Nile, splattered by the droppings of tick-eating crows perched on the humps of camels too exhausted to roust them with a shake or a nip. Travel-stained by the honorable scars of the Darb, as were some drovers and all the Khawajas.