Thousands of camels, sheep, and cows come down to water every day and the dust rises in clouds and the galumphing young camels canter down the last few hundred yards to water and the herdsmen shout “Ha! Ho! Ha!”. And then as the camels reach the basins of mud, the herdsmen say “Trrriim-Trrriim” and the camels snuffle the water.
-Diary, April 2, 1931, C.E.A. Lea
Cyril Lea was right, our drovers did say “Trrriim, Trrriim” to calm the camels and urge them to drink after they’d cantered into the Mirkh well flats raising dust and galumphing. We had left behind us the craggy silhouette of Jebel al-Atshan, Mountain of Thirst- not far from Jebel al-Nahud, Mountain of the [Nursing] Breasts- that morning on our way in so we too were ready to snuffle at the troughs, Ha! Ho! Hamdu!