Page 34 - Arabian Studies (II)

24 Arabian Studies II

provincial headquarters, then something astonishing in Arabia and
most useful to have. Visitors too were, of course, well treated, given
presents and questioned. He saw those that his bedouin chamberlain
felt had anything of interest to say. Mountainous meals, sacks of rice,
presents of arms and clothes would induce loquacity, and his charm
and understanding did the rest. More and more visitors came, some
from over the frontiers. So many arrived, indeed, that he had to fix
visiting seasons.
The budgetting was simple - not much more than the approxi­
mate assessment of the income from the poll tax on animals, from
customs dues and from the pilgrimage, set against expenditure. The
latter was mostly the Privy Purse and the amount required by
provincial governors, over and above that collected by them when
their expenses were deducted from it. A new final expenditure came
under the heading ‘foreign affairs’. The Minister of Finance,
‘Abdullah Sulaiman, in a land without banks or safes, kept the cash,
mostly in English and Turkish gold pieces, in person with his guards.
This was before the oil company had begun to export. In 1934 it
had only just negotiated preliminary arrangements for exploring in
certain areas in eastern Arabia. It was also before the formation of a
standing army.

Practical Joking
hanHpH^d Was a Practical J°ker. He tried some joking on me. Once he
hv it* Jiw 3fC C,^en at d*nner Polling it out of a great mound of rice
drop it immedialelyjtwas so°hofd ^ ^ ^ ^ °ther ^ ^

noo^'hTtid,5 TorwouW0 fiT'o 3'WayS °f *“ ^ °Ut °" ^
see my haram after dinner?’ I
mere?v VnHH DI10t !?aVe meant h or that I had not understood and
to take me th ^afterwards he told his Chamberlain, al-Tabaishi,
when we r t 6re* p*ace> r°und a huge courtyard was empty and
reolfed ‘Tnct nfd *° .hini and he asked how it went, al-Tabaishi
wedding party3’ TherC 1S n° °ne left They have a11 gone to the

thouehtThe^ d^scussed the war in Abyssinia. He
rnake^them °f armaments the Italians could produce would
- «—

.'2hemCleer’Wh'=h WuS frved while we talked, was the kind called
thought Sliehtlv™* he- husk ~~ for coffee made from the beans was
wfen iSl1, ?1C3t "8 and therefore forbidden.
set of Arab dress a^dTgoIdlaS" f * PreSe"tS °f Cl°3k ^ “