مجموعة ٦/ ٩ "تقارير جدة يناير ١٩٣١ -" [و‎‎١‎٢‎٠] (٨٠٢/٢٤٠)

5
e ween Egypt and Saudi Arabia. In addition to the more familiar arguments
used agamst the continuance of the present state of affairs the writer spoke
0 , as a country in which the Islamic and modern systems of education
C ? m j 11 ^ eC ^ in j a ^ J^ ian V s y n ^ es ^ s ’ while Saudi Arabia was a young country and
stood in need of Egyptian education, products and learned men.
IV.— Miscellaneous.
T i in paragraph 64 the French sloop Bougainville arrived in
Jedda from Kodeida on the 11 th February. She left next day.
. ■ ® climate of Jedda was very variable during the month. Parts of
it were excellent, e.g., after another great rainstorm on the 2 nd February. The
unusua rams ol this winter have made the wilderness even more verdant than last
>eai. i any or the elements of a positively pastural scene can be observed within
d or 4 miles of the town.
A/r at num h er of huropean visitors during the month included
Mi\ Maxwell Darling (paragraph 41 above), who arrived on the 21st February
am is s aymg m the Legation. He hopes to explore the coastal area southward
as tar as Jizan and perhaps further.
72. On the 21st February the Umm-al-Qura put the number of sea-borne
pilgrims up to date at 20,414. No later figures have appeared in the press, but
the total should well exceed 25,000. As regards arrivals by the motor route
rom iMejef, see paragraph 57 above. Twenty-five Indians are known to have
Ta\e led by it and there may have been more. According to information from
-Bagdad DO Afghans were waiting at Nejef towards the end of January to use
the route.
P^£> iams ’ especially those of the poorer class, have encountered
unusual difficulty this year. Apart from the measures mentioned in para
graph 44 above the baudi authorities have enforced rigorously the rule against
proceeding to Medina on foot and the rule that the bulk of the charges for the
pilgrimage must be paid before leaving Jedda. The enforcement of the rule
against pedestrianism seems to have led to one serious fracas at or outside Rabigh
late in January. Various versions of the affair gained currency, but the suggestion
that some pilgrims had been shot down was probably exaggerated. Floods on
the road from Rabigh to Medina also caused difficulty and probably some loss
of life, but the details are not certainly known. The Legation had to deal with
one case of six pilgrims in Jedda who were unable or unwilling to pav dues
and were held prisoner for some days by the local agent of their pilgrim guide.
74. Yemeni pilgrims are expected to be numerous this year. It was stated
at one moment that the use of the inland route had been prohibited by Ibn Baud
and that all pilgums must collect at Jizan. It was said later that permission
had been given for 7,000 to travel overland from Khamis Musheyt near Abha.
75. The most notable pilgrim of the year is the Princess Khadija of Eowpt
sister of the late Khedive and widow of the late Abbas Halim Pasha, formerly
well known in Constantinople. This lady was a passenger on board the Kawsar
of the Misr Navigation Company, which ran on to a reef when attempting to
enter the harbour at Jedda on the 28th February. The pilgrims were brought
ashore, but the ship was still stranded on the 1 st March. Princess Khadiia"is
to proceed to Medina and thence home to Egypt by air. There are a fair number
of important, but less conspicuous, pilgrims, including a brother of the Nawab
of Rampur, Fawwaz-ash-Shaalan, now the King’s brother-in-law, two sons of
the Sheikh of Bahrein and a sister of the Prime Minister of Iraq.
76. It is confirmed (paragraph 36 of the last report) that stringent rules
have been adopted to prevent occidentals professing Islam from goino-^to Mecca
without satisfying the authorities that they have been JVloslems and practised as
such for a stated period. Permission was refused to Mrs. Sterling, who seems
to be an unbalanced woman and who left Jedda towards the end of the month
Mr. Abdur Rahman McBryan was kept on tenter-hooks until the last moment
but was finally authorised to proceed. The European Moslems have included a
Greek and a Pole, who, after pestering half the foreign missions and vowin^
that he was neither Jew nor Moslem, was seen gaily starting for Mecca
in ihram. 1 &