Page 269 - Life of Gertrude Bell
P. 269

faisal’s kingdom                  *43

       native government took over in the country. To discuss them
       with the Iraq authorities would, he thought, be unnecessary.
       However, Faisal was anxious to protect the country’s archaeo­
       logical heritage and in October the Cabinet appointed Gertrude
       honorary Director of Archaeology. The department of Antiqui­
       ties was part of the Ministry of Works under her friend Sabih Bey,
       and so she was able to work amicably with die Iraqi side in what
       was in some ways the most apposite task of her endre life, though
       it was perhaps a comedown from her role of kingmaker. To her
       credit, Gertrude stood by the German claim to a share of the
       treasures, while T. E. Lawrence advised the Foreign Office that
       they should all go to die British Museum. As the archaeological
       expedidons of Europe and America returned to the country, and
       her Carchemish acquaintance of pre-war days Sir Leonard Woolley
       came to excavate the mounds of Ur, she assumed the responsibility
       for ensuring that the old methods of haphazard and compeddve
       digging for treasures and the unfair appordonment of the finds
       was replaced by an orderly approach in which Iraq received its
       proper share of the spoils.
         There was still strength and physical endurance in her slender
       frame and every day she went riding and swimming. A1 Khatun
       remained the most familiar sight in Baghdad, loved by the Arabs
       and increasingly estranged from her own people. During 1922, at
       a time when Cox was preparing his last major diplomatic act in the
       East—a conference at Ujair on the A1 Hasa coast to fix the boun­
       daries of Iraq, Syria, Transjordan, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia—the
       Syrian writer Ameen Rihani turned up in Baghdad. He was
       travelling around the peninsula in the hope of meeting Ibn Saud.
       But his first call was on Faisal, established in his temporary palace
       on the east bank of the Tigris. He found the King of Iraq in a sour
       mood as far as Britain and Gertrude were concerned. He did not
       like the terms of the proposed Anglo-Iraq treaty and he blamed
       her for allowing it to be imposed on him. Afterwards, Rihani
       crossed the river to the High Commission where he was received
       by Gertrude.

         The Iraqis call her Khatun, that is a lady of the court who keeps
          an open eye and ear for the benefit of the State. I found Miss Bell
          had two other loyal troopers—her tongue and her mind—and
          the manner of being quite at home in Baghdad. Her figure is quite
         English - tall and lank; her face is aristocratic - rather long and
           R
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