"كتيّب الجزيرة العربية. المجلد I. ١٩١٧" [‎٣‎٧‎٩] (٧٤٨/٣٨٨)

RECENT HISTORY AND PRESENT POLITICS 379
another court intrigue, and with him wisdom and sobriety of judge-
^ 1 ment are said to have vanished from the immediate counsels of the
Hid Emir. His post as the Emir's adviser was taken by the distant
cousin who had instigated the murder, Sa'ud ibn Salih es-Subhan,
a man of bad reputation and little ability. Sa'ud himself has
a reputation for irresponsible violence.
Notwithstanding these internal dissensions, the policy of the
mar Rashid house has held to the lines laid down a generation ago by
the the great Emir Mohammed, though the authority of the ruler of
lift Jebel Shammar has suffered considerable diminution. Mohammed
eof instituted friendly relations with the Turks, which have been con-
i 'M tinued unbroken. Erom 1888 until his death in 1897 he maintained
the a supremacy over Riyadh, which was lost by his nephew and suc-
Iziz, cessor, 'Abd el-'Aziz. In fact, since 1897 the Rashid have been
the almost continuously at war with Ibn Sa'ud, Emir of Riyadh, and
heir fortune has been mainly on the latter's side. On several occasions,
isof notably in 1904 and 1905, Ottoman forces were called in to help
'Abd el-'Aziz in his struggle against Ibn Sa'ud and the Sheikh of
stic- Koweit; but in an eight years' campaign, which impoverished his
two own territories, he did not succeed in unseating his rival. The inter-
jrief vening oases of Qasim have thrown off their allegiance to Ha'il. Of
the their chief towns, Aneizah is now ruled, under Ibn Sa'ud's suzerainty,
pre- by an independent Sheikh, and Boreidah pays tribute to Riyadh. It
mir, is true that for the last two years, since Ibn Sa'ud has been engaged in
ens- the Hasa, Ibn Rashid has been able to maintain his position against
to him ; the latest pitched battle between the Emirs, fought at Mejma'
nth early in 1915, left honours easy. There have been rumours that the
ting Sherif of Mecca, with whom Ibn Rashid is on friendly terms, has
In attempted, through the mediation of his second son, 'Abdullah (see
jon p. 355), to bring about a reconciliation between the two ; but his
y efforts do not seem to have been attended with any success ; nor,
!a ie in any case, is a lasting peace within the bounds of probability.
Ibn Rashid still holds the oasis of Teima and exacts a yearly
in( l tribute from the group of Bishr tribes,' Awajah, Wuld Suleiman, and
ged Euqara (Eejr), who roam over the southern and western borders
y of the Nefud and over the desert up to the Hejaz Railway; but to
the north the Sherarat have slipped from his hands into those of the
Huweitat, and to the south the Harb no longer give him obedience,
[in The Huteim offer open resistance, raiding the Teima road up to
the the gates of Ha'il. The oasis of Jauf el-'Amr, on the northern edge
1]lt | of the Nefud, an important station on the caravan road from Ha'il
nar to Damascus, was seized four years ago by the Ruweilah Sheikh,
[0 f Nuri esh-Sha'lan, and is administered by his sonNawwaf ; nor has