T. E. Lawrence Correspondence – Page 415

To Hogarth Don't of course reply to this: but I want to talk to you about it when you come on. Aleppo, Tues. Feb.13 (1912) Am here waiting for money still, but in the time am working gristly with the Little Oil over Aleppo for a sale: till Sunday we had fair business - of good - but now they are getting scarce. Today and yesterday we tramped miles and interviewed one village-looking settler after another, till we were quite snappy with each other - for a sale: each day only, and those poor ones. However I have a dozen or fifteen,(my best year), mainly ordinary, but with one of the non-Mesopotamian cylinders, the de...cult, grotesqued linking of a man and goat: you will like this - from the Narrouçoli gang, who have another of the same style, too torn, which is worrying me horribly - and also a little triangular one, nicely cut, from an Armenian. The fifteen have been pretty dear (about £4 French) but of course you needn't take them all, or you can have them half- price: if you pay for 'em I'll throw in the cylinder not yet bought, for I'm not going to let that go to America or Berlin. When Jenyon's money comes I'm going in for it, anyhow. By the way, in case of need, he rang to tell me, that all his money is gone: I'm going to draw enough to build the house, and the some in hand as well to show Hagnan Agha, if the report from Constantinople gains anything possible. Only in hand is worth to ... much more than cheque or promise. Also I now owe Mr.Pog- tana £10 for this week's amusement, and as I must have a caravan to carry over the finds and stuff to Jerabüus, I'm going to buy the stores (permanent) which we shall need: enough to make two three or four loads with what is here. Stuff like rice, gited britticulents, etc. All this I shan't wan to talk about: but about Bahreïn. Prof. Petrie spoke to me two or three times in Egypt about his Persian Gulf and S.Arabic. He told me Bent had dug ivories (early) in Bahrein the year we found some very curious Mesopotamian-like (1/4 bull's...) prehistoric tees (one I hung got to Oxford - really good things) he declared that he believed the early dynasties (have going by sea from areas or thereabout to Egypt: and that Bahreïn was a stage of their journey along. Finally in my last week with him he suggested my going down there to dig: my first year, as a preliminary season, to be followed by a second one larger mode. If it seemed promising. He said he could provide the funds. I told him I'd ask about it: and that I'd rather you got what profits were going: he didn't seem to think the idea were