Page 152 - Gertrude Bell (H.V.F.Winstone)

i)6 GERTRUDE BELL
raiding and an uncle of his is left in charge.5 Hogarth was to write
of her visit to the Rashid: ‘No European, other than a Turkish
officer, was known to have been seen in Hail for over twenty
years, and no European woman for more than thirty. The all-
powerful Amir Muhammad ibn Rashid, who protected more than
one western visitor, had died half a generation ago; and since his
death murder after murder had thinned the princely house. Its
power had been waning for some time in comparison with that of
the Amirate of Southern Najd; and one result of the growing
preponderance of the Ibn Sauds in central Arabia was likely to
be the accentuation of Wahhabism, heretofore lukewarm. Miss
Bell might well be doubtful how she would be received.5
In fact, Hail was a veritable metropolis of trade and was in
regular communication with the outside world. The Turks
visited the place in considerable numbers and Shakespear,
travelling in the opposite direction, met numerous people in the
desert who had passed Europeans on their way to the capital of
the Rashids. Lady Anne Blunt, the only other woman to penetrate
to central Arabia up to that time, had left a colourful description
of the place. And of course two of the finest writers in the entire
world of travel literature, Palgrave and Doughty, had given
accounts of it generations before. But Gertrude’s powers of
description were in no way diminished by the knowledge of
famous precedents:

And now I must relate to you the strange tale of my visit...
When we had been on the road for about an hour we met Ali
on his camel, all smiles. They had seen Ibrahim, the uncle in
charge. He was most polite and ha! ha! there were three slaves
of his household come out to receive me ... So we came up to
the walls of Hail in state ... At the doorway of the first house
stood Muhammad al Murawi... I walked up a long sloping
passage ... to an open court and so into a great room with a
roof borne on columns and divans and carpets round the walls.
It was the Roshan, the reception room. Here I sat and one of
the slaves with me. These slaves, you must understand, are
often very important personages. Their masters treat them like
brothers and give them their full confidence. Also when one of
the Rashids removes the reigning prince and takes his place
(which frequently happens) he is careful to murder his slaves
also, lest they should avenge the slain ... Thereupon there