File 756/1917 Pt 2-3 ‘ARAB BULLETIN Nos 66-114’ [‎213r] (434/834)

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days. So far as Maan itself goes, it has been relieved by the arrival
of some 300 all ranks of the 75th Regiment, with six machine guns,
on July 3 ; but though about 300 men are repairing the line
between Fareifra and Hasa, and work is going on at three
points, railway communication is a long way from re-established,
and our air reconnaissance on July 6 observed broken bridges as
far north as Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Sultani, between Kutrani and Hasa.
General .—Sherif Ali reports that the convoy of 1,800 camels
for Medina, mentioned on p. 218, has turned back, finding all
roads closed. Ibn Rashid, he says, will now try the Qasim road
to Koweit.]
NOTES.
Khurma.
Col. Lawrence, lately arrived from Jiddah, sends the
following :—
“ Ibn Saud began to collect Dhikat (a semi-religious tax)
from some sections of the Sbei this year, thus reviving his custom
of four or five years ago, Shortly afterwards messengers front
the Sherif, demanding the same tax, were imprisoned by Sherif
Khalid ibn Elwi in Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Khurma,
Khalid (a lean fanatical silent man, said to be more capable
than his elder brother Naif) was made Emir of Khurma by the
Sherif years ago. He was converted to the Nejdean Religion four
years ago, and was last year confined in the Sherif’s prison at
Mecca, On his release on Abdullah’s intervention, he paid a secret
visit to Ibn Saud, an old friend of his father’s.
The imprisonment of the Sherifian messengers was an act
of war, and Khalid at once collected his followers. Only the
converts joined him, and they were a mixed lot of Beni Thor
Sbei ; Jithima, Khararis (whose sheikh, Naif, is in prison in
Mecca), Shlawa and Hamarza Ateibah ; and many Kahtan.
The Kahtan were those formerly in the East, who fled from Ibn
Saud over the Ajman affair, and have since been living in the
upper reaches of Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Dawasir. They are not in any way
under Khalid, and have only joined temporarily, for the
Religion’s sake.
Khalid began by expelling the other Sbei, and all the
villagers and freedmen, from. Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Khurma, into the main valley
Truba, of which it is a tributary. Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Truba (Tharba or
Tarabat) runs south-west into a cultivated plain in Jebel Areysh,
of the Goz aba el-Air (Joz Belair) district. Khalid proposed to
instal converted peasants in the palm-gardens in their place.
His brother, Naif, then waylaid and killed four Ageyl, two
Ateibah, and four women, Sunnis from Mecca on their way to
Khurma for the summer. They refused to be converted, but
nevertheless Khalid protested against their slaughter.