When Gertrude Bell set out on one of her journeys to the Middle East in January 1905, she primarily wanted to study Byzantine and Roman ruins. As it would later turn out, she was preparing for her future mission as an advisor to the English government regarding the reorganization of the Middle East. With her caravan and a few local servants, she ventured into areas of the deserts and mountains of Syria, Palestine, and Lebanon that had hardly been entered by any European, let alone a woman, before her. Confidently, she sought contact with sheikhs and tribal leaders, under whose protection she managed to travel between the rival tribes. She listened to the stories of shepherds, sat with soldiers by the campfire, in the black tents of the Bedouins, and in the reception rooms of the Druze.