'Persian Gulf Gazetteer, Part I: Historical and Political Materials: Précis of Nejd Affairs, 1804-1904.' [‎29r] (57/68)

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Amir that his understanding would become affected by his malady. “ Mad!
and I, the Amir, ,, ejaculated Tilal, and, as Doughty says, “ because his high
heart might not longer endure to live in the common pity, he set his pistols
against his manly breast and fired them and ended.”
199. He was succeeded by his brother Mutaab, a mild mannered and
intelligent man, who, however, after two years was assassinated by Tilal’s two
sons, Bandar and Bedr, at which the former succeeded him.
200. Meanwhile Mahomed, brother of Tilal and uncle of Bandar, fled to
Riadh. Here Al)dullah*ibn*Saud brought about a reconciliation between him
and Bandar, and Mahomed at the latter’s invitation returned and became
again Governor of the Baghdad Haj caravan. On one occasion when return
ing to Hail he sent before him to greet the Amir Bandar. The latter, being
displeased, refused him admittance to Hail and rode out with Bedr and Hamud
to meet him, causing the town-gates to be shut behind them. A dispute
arising Mahomed killed Bandar; then entering the town, he and Hamud
ordered the slaughter of all the children of Tilal.
201. Mahomed thus began his long reign which lasted till his death in
1897. In his time the Ibn Rashid dynasty reached its heighest pitch of power.
The homage to Ibn Saud was gradually disused in the decay of the Wahabi
State, and in 1876 Ibn Rashid was the greatest Prince in Mejd. His was,
according to Doughty, a ruler of factious Arabs by right to the sword : none
of them, not persuaded by fear, would be his tributaries. The bloodshed attend
ing his accession and the severity of his methods caused as much reprobation as
terror among the Arabs, but all were obliged to admit that his rule w T as strong
and successful. “ I think it would he hard to find a fault in Ibn Rashid’s
Government,*’ says Doughty in words w r hich recall Palgrave’s dithyrambic
praise of Tilal.
f 02. Mahomed-ibn-Rashid, early in his reign, endeavoured to withstand
a Turkish expedition against the Jof in 1872 : he was, however, defeated and
glad to submit to terms, paying an annual tribute of 1,500 Mejids for the Jof,
and admitting a Kaimaknm and garrison to reside there. Doubtless this im
pressed him with a great idea of Turkish power, for even when at the height
of his glory, and while humbling the Ibn 8aud house to the dust in 1888, he
posed as the officer or Lieutenant of the Ottoman Government.
203. To give figures is but misleading ; however, Doughty, in a style more
convincing of veracity than Palgrave, says that Mahomed Ibn Rashid might
summon 2,000 fighting men from his villages and about 1,300 nomad Arabs;
he is said to have 400 tiorses. His boundarieswere: on the north the Roualla,
northern Shamn ar andThuffir, friendly but not tributary tribes; on the east
his limits were at the dominion of Boreydah, which includes a good many vil
lages in the 4 Nefud of Kasim; captured by Mahomed-ibn-Rasbid in 1888, it
has again passed into the hands of Ibn Saud ; in the south his limits are at
about 100 miles from Medina; his western boundary is the Syrian Haj road.