Page 52 - A Hand book of Arabia Vol 1 (iii) Ch 1,2

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caravan can be formed for his journey under escort to Medina,
a
,• *r,ies down to Jiddah, carrying with him, more often than not,
d Pease or infection engendered by the putrefaction of the sacrificial
victims at Mina, by the holy but unwholesome waters of Zemzem,
or i)%• the pollution of the main Meccan conduit, through thousands
of pilgrims having bathed in its sources on the Day of ‘Arafat. He
is alinost certain to be quarantined on his way—on Kamaran Island
or at Tor or at some inland station—and frequently he will die
in the odour of sanctity before he reaches his home.
O

Politics

The peninsula has been claimed in its entirety by the Porte as right­
fully part of the Ottoman Empire, in virtue of the Sultan’s Caliphial
authority, of an alleged definitive annexation by Suleiman the Magni­
ficent four centuries ago, and of the temporary Egyptian occupation
of the central provinces early in the nineteenth century. Assertion
of this claim by effective occupation was one of the dreams of Turkish
.Imperialists, and has been the motive of several ventures, from the
expedition of Midbat Pasha who, having taken Hasa in 1871, was
vaunted victor of ‘Nejd’, to that of Ahmed Feizi Pasha in 1905,
which hoisted the Ottoman flag in Qaslm and Woshm, but failed
to keep it flying more than a few months. In Ha’il there have been
Turkish troops from time to time since that date, but without
prejudice to the Emir’s independence. »i
In actual fact most of the peninsula is under a number of indepen­
dent native rulers, and, in the smaller part excepted, a great propor­
tion of the population owns allegiance to mediatized or protected
native princes,some of whom are still under Ottoman influence, others
under British. Even before the recent revolt, Ottoman jurisdiction was
limited (a) in Hejaz, to the two Holy Cities with their port settlements,
and to the line of the railway; (b) in Asir, to one or two ports and
the inland town and district of Ibha (Ebha) ; (c) in Yemen, to the
garrisoned towns in the south and central districts, and to those _ on
the coast as far north as Loheia, with their immediate neighbour­
hoods and connecting roads. Effective British jurisdiction is°limited
to Aden and its immediate neighbourhood, while on the Oman coasts,
in Bahrein Island, and at Koweit British influence is dominant.
If, however, the spheres of princes, mediatized and protected,
are ^reckoned to the Powers under whose influence these actually
are, the peninsula maybe apportioned politically into three vertical
belts, of which the central one, twice as broad as the two outer
ones taken together, is independent from end to end. Of the

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