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'File 8/7 I Jidda Intelligence Reports' [‎55r] (109/536)

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The record is made up of 1 file (266 folios). It was created in Jul 1931-Dec 1934. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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142. The financial and economic depression has thus decisively outweighed the
attraction of the Friday Haj. Total approximate figures of oversea pilgrims to
Mecca in recent years have been.
1927
1928
1929
1930
1931
1932
1,32,000
88,000
82.500
85.000
39.500
29.000
There was a larger attendance tins year than has before been known of notable
pilgrims from oversea, however. The names of some of these are given in para
graph 149.
143. No Hejazi statistics of local or overland pilgrims are kept. In fact they
are not called pilgrims at all, but the Arabic equivalent of tramp or hoboe, since
they bring no money into the country. Such are the Yemenis, of whom 5,000 are
said to have come to Mecca this year. The estimated total of these and more local
pilgrims is 20,000.
144. Departwe—There was an exceptional glut of pilgrims at Jedda during
the last part of April. The slender funds of the majority were exhausted by hi^h
prices and extortion. The great idea was to get away by the first boat availabfe.
Large numbers moreover were unable to afford the visit to Medina, which is gene
rally paid after the pilgrimage to Mecca. Consular and shipping staffs have con
sequently been working since April 20th at considerably higher pressure than usual,
in spite of the smaller pilgrimage.
145. Haj Regcjata .—Another successful meeting was added on April 17th to the
long list of Haj Regattas with which, since before living memory, the waiting
pilgrim ships and the European community of Jedda have filled in the time while
the Moslems are in Mecca. The oldest captain could remember a time when 42
ships lay at anchor. This year there were only 8, seven British and one French.
The usual Regatta meeting was held at the British Legation, the usual luncheon on
board the Regatta flagship, S.S. “ Boulac ”, and a programme of nine pulling and
sailing events was carried through harmoniously, with the valuable assistance
of H.M.S. “Hastings ”. Ships were dressed overall on April 16th to 19th for the
four days’ pilgrimage festival, the Td-al-Zoha. Salutes, however, are only fired
by the shore battery, which fired them incessantly.
CHAPTER VIII.— Slavery.
141. Manumissio'ns .—One male and two female slaves who took refuge in
the Legation in April were manumitted on the 20th and repatriated to the Sudan,
their country of origin.
147. Slave Trade .—The signature of the Italo-Hejazi treaty (paragraph 59)
was accompanied by an exchange of letters, in the first of which the Italian pleni
potentiary opined that his Government considered it necessary that Ibn Sa’ud’s
Government should assume the obligation of co-operating with them in suppressing
the slave trade. Similarly his Government desired that their representatives at
Jedda should have powers of manumission and repatriation. They trusted that
Ibn Sa’ud would appreciate their attitude. The slave-owners’ representative replied,
however, that while appreciating the Italian Government’s humane sentiments,
he had to explain that the suppression of the illicit trade in slaves constituted one
of the most important question to which Ibn Sa’ud’s Government had directed
their attention, that His Majesty was personally interested in preventing the im
port of slaves into his country, and that his Government would persevere to this end.
As to manumission, the Government were themselves of their own initiative en
deavouring to reach the end enjoined by Islamic law, with its principles of supreme
justice and its pure sentiment of humanity. They could not grant powers of
manumission to the Italian representative because such action was their own sole
and exclusive right. This Italian face-saving and Hejazi clap trap will no doubt
be published with the treaty as evidence of good faith on both sides. A further
exchange of notes agreed that the most-favoured nation treatment accorded
to Italy by the Hejaz-Nejd did not include the “ favourable treatment which,
for reasons which are generally known, has been granted to a third Power in the
o

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Content

The file contains intelligence reports on the Kingdom of Hejaz, Najd and its Dependencies (after September 1932, Saudi Arabia) written by the British Legation at Jeddah.

Between July 1931 and December 1932 the reports are issued every two months, with the exception of the January-March 1932 and April 1932 reports. From January 1933 the reports are sent on a monthly basis.

Between July 1931 and December 1932, each report is divided into sections, numbered with Roman numerals from I to IX, as follows: Internal Affairs; Frontier Questions; Relations with States outside Arabia; Air Matters; Military Matters; Naval Matters; Pilgrimage; Slavery; and Miscellaneous. Each section is then further divided into parts relating to a particular matter or place, under a sub-heading. Some reports contain an annex.

From January 1933, when the reports become monthly, they take a new format. Each is divided into sections, as follows: Internal Affairs; Frontier Questions and Foreign Relations in Arabia; Relations with Powers Outside Arabia; Miscellaneous (often containing information on slavery and the pilgrimage).

Most reports are preceded by the covering letters from the Government of India, who distributed them to Political Offices in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. and elsewhere, and the original covering letter from the Jeddah Legation, who would send them to the Government of India and Government departments in London. From May 1933, most reports were sent directly to the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. at Bahrain from Jeddah.

Up until January 1933, each report began with an index giving a breakdown of the sections with references to the corresponding paragraph number. From January 1933 onwards no index is included.

Extent and format
1 file (266 folios)
Arrangement

The file is arranged chronologically.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover and terminates at the back cover; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. An additional incomplete foliation sequence is also present in parallel between ff 6-11; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled, and are located in the same position as the main sequence.

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English in Latin script
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'File 8/7 I Jidda Intelligence Reports' [‎55r] (109/536), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/R/15/2/295, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100025543724.0x00006e> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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