‘A Pilgrimage to Nejd, the cradle of the Arab race. A visit to the court of the Arab Emir, and "Our Persian Campaign."' [‎251] (308/334)

Cfl. X.]
The Emir's jealousy.
251
of his. I fancy the Emir has taken Ferhan's part
in the family quarrel. It is certain that when
Amsheh, Sfuk 's widow and Abdul Kerim's mother,
came with her son Faris to Nejd, he would see
neither of them. They stayed in the desert all the
time they were here, and never came to Hail.
Rashid ibn Ali, too, is Faris's friend, and of course in
no favour at this court.* He then asked about
Jedaan, touched rather unfeelingly on the idiotcy of
Turki, Jedaan's only son, and then cut some jokes
at the expense of our old acquaintance, Smeyr ibn
Zeydan. "An old fool," the Emir exclaimed,
" why did they send him here ? They might as
well have sent a camel! " This is the Smeyr who
came to Nejd a year and a half ago to try and get
Ibn Rashid's assistance for Sotamm, and arrange a
coalition against Jedaan and the Sebaa. We knew
his mission had failed, but the fact is Ibn Rashid is
eaten up with jealousy of anyone who has the least
reputation in the desert. We are surprised, how
ever, to find him so well informed about everything
and everybody in the far north, and we are much
interested, as he has solved for us one of the problems
about Nejd which used to puzzle us, namely, the
relations maintained by the tribes of Jebel Shammar
with those of the north. The Emir has told us that
the Shammar of the Jezireh and his own Shammar
still count each other as near relations. "Our
• The Ibn Alis were formerly Sheykhs of tlie Shammar, but were
displaced by the Ibn Easbids fifty years ago.