File 756/1917 Pt 2-3 ‘ARAB BULLETIN Nos 66-114’ [‎282r] (572/834)

THE PILGRIMAGE, 1918.
The Pilgrimage passed off uneventfully. It was not, however,
as successful as that of 1917, as a result mainly of the strained
relations existing between King Husein and Ibn Sand. The
numbers totalled forty-four thousand as against fifty-eight thou
sand last year. Then Nejdis formed the bulk of the pilgrims
from outside the Hejaz : over twelve thousand reached Mecca,
including Abd er-Rahman, Ibn Sand’s brother, and the latter
would have been there but for a touch of sun-stroke on the
way. This year, on the other hand, he issued orders that
none of his followers were to go. As a result the very few
present came incognito.
With regard to the Imam Yahya, too, events left something
to be desired. Some ten thousand armed Yemenis (including
eight thousand Zeidis)—three times as many as last year—started
for Mecca. But so persistently had rumour thrown suspicion
on their intentions that the King showed considerable nervousness,
and had most of them disarmed at Taif, the rest at Mecca.
Apparently they accepted the situation without resentment; and
he is said to have pleased them shortly afterwards by tactful
remarks in a public address at Arafat.
Of the rest of the pilgrims some seven thousand came by sea
(one thousand fewer than last year), including fourteen hundred
and fifty Indians, five hundred and eighty-five Egyptians, and
four thousand and sixty-five Sudanese. Among the few who
came from North-West Africa was Sayid Mohammed ibn Sasi,
the new French representative at Mecca. He brought the King
some handsome presents from the French Government, comprising
silk carpets, gold watches, diamond pins, gold chains, field-glasses
and pistols. On each was inscribed “from the French Nation in
memory of the Pilgrimage of 1336 (i.e. 1917).” He is an
Algerian, and is said to be less intelligent than his predecessor,
Cherchali. The Senussi sent two men. In spite of his relations
with Italy they expressed strong anti-Italian sentiments, de
scribing the alliance as ephemeral.
No case of plague or any epidemic was reported, though the
quarantine arrangements were haphazard and unsatisfactory.
The streets of Mecca, near the Haram particularly, are said to
have been cleaned and generally improved under the directions
of Sheikh Abdul Kader Abdu, then chief of the Municipality.
The roads were well guarded throughout, and the pilgrims
seem to have been given every facility en route.
Further and more detailed reports are expected shortly-