Talked to Nimr and Adam about superstitions…it is unlucky to see a poor man or an ugly one before starting on a journey- you want to see a pretty woman or a rich man…
-January 15, 1932, Trek Journal, C.A.E. Lea, A.D.C. in Dar al-Kababish
The ceremonial sheep slaughter, the Karāma, before leaving Nahud must have been what blessed us later on the trail. The last person I saw before mounting up that day, Hajj Bashir’s agent Sadiq abd al-Wahāb, was not particularly rich or handsome as far as I could tell by looking at his beat up truck and face behind the dusty sunglasses. Nothing bad happened in the next forty days, so I guess that God was on our side, in addition to KhairAllah as our trail boss.