File 756/1917 Pt 2-3 ‘ARAB BULLETIN Nos 66-114’ [‎48r] (104/834)

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Turks may begin by trying to hold outside the walls of Medina, to
safeguard conduits or for other reasons, can be driven in, there
is no reason why the investment should not be very nearly as
complete as that of Taif. But even so, it is hardly likely that
all ingress of tribesmen and supplies and egress of propagandists
can be prevented by Arab besiegers, as month follows month.
Difficulties in the way of any evacuation whatever are of
course obvious ; but it is idle to discuss these here and now,
since it is on action yet to come both by the Arabs themselves
and by our Palestine forces, that their full import will depend.
Sufficient to note at present that, in any case, should the Turks
hold on to Medina itself, we may expect the Hejaz problem to
remain, for a good long time to come, almost as embarrassing
as ever.
D.G.H.
HUBER’S GEOGRAPHICAL WORK IN ARABIA
(1879-1884.)
Mr. D. Carruthers has forwarded to Cairo the following :—
O
“ It is thirty-three years since Charles Huber w r as murdered
by his guides near Rabugh, on his way back into Nejd from
Jedda, and although his journal and field-notes were subsequently
recovered, worked out and published, there has appeared as yet
no criticism of them. This is partly due to the fact that, in spite
of our great increased knowledge of Northern Arabian topography,
since Huber’s day, no traveller has been over Huber’s own
special area, and therefore his work has not been called into
question ; but a deeper reason is that, until quite recently, a real
interest in the details of Arabian geography had not been
sufficiently aroused. The plotting of Huber’s route-surveys was
accepted as it stood ; but we now find it necessary to go back in
all cases to the original field-notes.
A close study of Huber’s work is essential to all who would
follow the course of Arabian exploration. It is also most
important to remember that the results of his Second Journey,
as published by the Asiatic and Geographical Societies of Paris,
are not sufficiently accurate in the light of present-day knowledge.
There are many obvious errors in the text, and the maps can be
greatly improved by careful re-plotting.
Not one word of Huber’s Journal d\m Voyage en Arabic
can be spared. His work will stand as the basis of all map-
making in the regions he traversed for many a long day ; and
Huber is likely to be our only authority on certain regions for
many years to come. Considering that this energetic traveller
covered, in his two journeys, some 7,000 miles of route (ever}^
day’s march of which is recorded) and that travellers in Arabia,