Page 755 - Neglected Arabia (1916-1920)

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NEGLECTED A RAM A

i On November 8th the party sailed from Glasgow for home. The
! weather was rough and as Ahmed is a poor sailor, he got little fun
out of this part of the show. In fact there was hardly a calm day
between Glasgow and Kuweit. On November 21st, Alexandria was
reached and the mission was duly met by representatives of the
i Government who showed the visitors what there is to see in that city.
Cairo was next visited and there they were received by Lord Allenbv,
who, like the King, presented Sheikh Ahmed with a signed photograph.
The party lodged at the famous Shepheard's Hotel. Excursions in
Cairo included the Pyramids and the Sphinx, which curiously enough,
did not impress the visitors, but the museum with its collection of
mummies of age-long departed Egyptians could not but make the Arab
stop and think, for an Arab grave is one of the least permanent things
of its kind in the world. The mosque of Mohammed Ali and the Citadel
were visited and of course El Azhar University. There was a special
audience with the Sultan of Egypt besides a reception given in Ahmed’s
honor by the Arab Bureau.
On November 27th everyone left for Suez where the mission was
to rejoin its ship. But the ship was late and our Arab friends had
one more night in a hotel. It was not until December 15th when the I1
little launch, which had met Sheikh Ahmed at the Basrah bar, entered
Kuweit harbor, to the salute of five guns from Sheikh Salim's battery.
The town was decorated as was also the launch, and the beach was
crowded. There is no doubt of Ahmed's popularity, his welcome
after an absence of some months was a sure test. Without question
his travels have taught him much, and it is to be hoped that what he
has learned may make him one more influence for good in this part of
the world. He now knows a little English and it remains to be seen
whether he is sufficiently energetic to learn some more, and sufficiently
progressive to insist that his young sons shall learn English too. Perhaps
the photograph of George V., as it hangs in his house, its silver frame
steadily tarnishing, and with the dust settling on it for evermore, will
be to him what Kipling’s poem is to us, “Lest we forget."

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