Page 35 - Arabian Studies (II)

Memories and Impressions of the Arabia of I bn Sand 25

Ibn Saud had said that there was no question of an aeroplane
landing or flying over what he called ‘My Najd’, but he told me
‘Imperial Airways’ might land at Jedda, which in consequence they
did, flying from Cairo once a fortnight. It was considered quite a
triumph and I was warmly thanked by Imperial Airways.

Arms still required by Travellers

My party en route for Kuwait was the headman armed with a rifle,
two guides with rifles, two drivers with revolvers, one assistant driver
unarmed, one relative of Ibn Sabah, the ruler of Kuwait, carrying a
large automatic pistol, my servant with a revolver, two body-
guardsmen with rifles and revolvers and myself with a revolver. A
baker of bread, aged about fifteen, joined us having only a dagger
which, of course, all the others had too.
On the first day, the Chevrolet nearly went over a cliff on our way
up the Jabal Tuwaiq. Otherwise we had no difficulty, and three days
later we reached Kuwait.

A Visit Ceremony
In 1935 I went to Riyadh again, accompanying the first British
Minister to Saudi Arabia, Sir Andrew Ryan. I wrote a little account
of that journey which I called Arabia Phoenix, published in 1946. I
would however just mention the two outstanding things about that
journey — first that we went from the coast opposite Bahrain and the
track was in parts very rough and in the sands unmarked. We walked
at times, it was so bad. Finally, having got into the cars again, the
Minister hit his head on the car roof and bled so profusely that we
had to stop. I tended his wound as best I could — he fainted and I
wondered if he was not very seriously hurt, perhaps with a broken
skull. However, although we were not supposed to have alcohol, I did
have some brandy to give him and he revived, though for two days
experienced difficulty in walking.
Secondly, we brought presents from the British Government and
from King George VI, the G.C.B. chain and order, with the robe and
ostrich feathered hat, all formally presented along with a letter from
the King which the Minister read out, it being followed by the
translation in Arabic read by myself.

Kuwait

The next time I saw Ibn Saud was in 1936 in Kuwait, where he
happened to be visiting the Shaikh, just as I arrived to take over as