Page 202 - Life of Gertrude Bell

184 GERTRUDE BELL

from the local tribes, but from the urban riff-raff of Mosul,
Bitlis, and Diarbekir. These Kurds were called gendarmes, but
were in reality mere butchers; bands of them were publicly
ordered to take parties of Armenians, of both sexes, to various
destinations, but had secret instructions to destroy the males,
children and old women ... One of these gendarmes confessed
to killing 100 Armenian men himself ... [they] were dying of
typhus and dysentery, and the roads were littered with the
decomposing bodies. The empty desert cisterns and caves were
also filled with the corpses ... The Turkish officers of the
battalion were horrified by the sights they saw, and the regi­
mental chaplain (a Moslem divine) on coming across a number
of bodies, dismounted his horse and publicly prayed that the
Divine punishment of these crimes should be averted from
Moslems, and by way of expiation, himself worked at digging
three graves ... No man can ever think of a woman’s body
except as a matter of horror, instead of attraction, after Ras-ul-
Ain ...

And while Gertrude worked at her routine tasks, her friends in
Cairo were bringing the Arab Revolt to fruition. Even the army
command, which had all along poured cold water on the schemes
of the Bureau which most of them looked on as little more than a
mischievous prank, now began to see at least one advantage in
these costly antics. The rebellion of a few tribesmen in a part of
the Ottoman Empire which was of no military or civil interest
to Britain, since it already controlled the Red Sea, might not be
of great significance in itself, but the propaganda value was
obvious. It is difficult to say exactly when the Revolt started. On
June 7th, Ronald Storrs interviewed the Sharif’s youngest son
Zaid near Jidda. He was told then that Zaid’s brothers Faisal and
Ali had attacked Madina on June 4th with the intention of cutting
the Hijaz rail link. At that meedng Storrs was told that the Sharif
himself would shortly attack the Turkish garrison in Mecca,
while Abdullah would take Taif and a nephew would occupy
Jidda. The Sharif’s proclamation of the rebellion was dated June
5 th and that is usually taken as the actual date.
In the name of God, die most merciful, the compassionate.
O, Our Lord, judge between us and between our people in truth.
Thou art the best of Judges ... To all our brother Moslems.
It is well known that the first people who recognised the