"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎١‎٤‎٧] (١٧٨٢/١٣٠٢)

1147
day with considerable slaughter, while another son of Hamud, named
'Obaid, was among those who perished in the battle. This decisive action
seems to have brought the whole of Qasim, including the town of
Buraidah, under the influence of the Wahhabis with very little delay.
It was probably the events just related that finally determined the
Ottoman Government to intervene actively in Central Arabia, where the
influence of their protege Ibn-Rashid appeared to be at an end and his
complete subjugation by Ibn-Sa J ud already appeared as a not remote
contingency.
iiiit r
mfm"
Turkish military expedition to Qasim, 1904.
The Turkish expedition, when it marched from Samawah on the
Euphrates in the last days of May 1904, consisted of about 2,000 infantry
and six light guns, each carried in a litter between two mules, and it was
escorted by a large contingent of Shammar and ' Anizah Bedouins; but
its proportions were considerably reduced by disease and desertion before
it reached the scene of action. It was too late to save Buria'dah ; but an
attack on Hail, which was threatened by the Wahhabis, was probably
averted by the timely arrival of the expedition; and war was carried
into the enemy^s country by an advance southwards into Qasim.
The opening engagement took place at Bukairiyah, on the afternoon of Battle of
the 15th of July, and appears to have been a confused affair. The first fstjf jujy^'
attack on Ibn-Rashid and his Turkish allies was made by an 'Aridh con- 1904.
tingent under the command of ^Abdul ; Aziz-bin-^Abdur Rahman; but it
failed, and the assailants were routed and driven off the field with con
siderable loss by Ibn-Rashid''s mounted troops. Meanwhile, however, the
men of Qasim, unaware of the fate of their associates who were separated
from them by some low hills, were advancing on the Turkish camp; and
in the evening they captured it. The Turkish commander, about a
dozen of his officers, and a large number of his men were killed in the
fight; all the Turkish guns and a large number of Turkish prisoners fell
into the hands of the Qusman ; and Majid, the eldest son of Ibn-Kashid's
cousin Hamud, was killed in a cavalry melee at the close of the day,—
the fourth of his family to fall in a vain endeavour to retrieve the sinking
fortunes of Jabal Shammar. After this success the Qusman withdrew to
; Anaizah. The remains of the Turkish force then resumed possession of
their guns, except one which had been removed by the enemy and was
If
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