File 756/1917 Pt 2-3 ‘ARAB BULLETIN Nos 66-114’ [‎175v] (359/834)

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Ibn Saud, the King placed himself unreservedly at our discretion,
putting his two hands to his forehead in the attitude of
submission.
The truth about the tribes in question (see p. 27) is that
King Husein is claiming a right which, on Sherif Abdullah’s
evidence (see p. 12), had virtually lapsed. If it had not been
exercised during three preceding reigns, that is since the Emirate
of Abdullah, it is very unlikely that it was exercised pre\dously
while the Emirs were puppets in Egyptian hands or under
Wahabite domination. Further, there is no doubt that the
allegiance of all of these tribes is a very precarious plant, whose
roots need constant feeding with gold if it is to survive at all.
The natural instinct of the Sbei, for example, who are in question
at Khurma, makes them look rather to Riyadh than to Mecca ; for
they are Hanbali, with Wahabite sympathies : and King Husein,
knowing this fact, has tried to coerce them through another tribe,
the Buqum. We may confidently expect, therefore, constant
recurrence of this sort of trouble, not merely in the Asir hinter
land, but also anywhere in the great Ateibah country. A fourth
tribe, claimed for the Sherifs, namely the Meteir, seems also to
have been going more and more Wahabite of late.
K mveit—Damascus Contraband.
1 he same Arab, whose report on the above subject was given
in our No. 86 (p. 128), has been back at Jauf el-Amr and
returned. IIis outward journey took him nine days. What he
has lo tell now is, on the whole, confirmatory of his previous
information. He found Nawwaf ibn Nuri es-Shaalan in residence
at Jauf and up to his neck in contraband business. No doubt
his father, Nuri, is equally guilty. Nawwaf pockets L.T. 1 per
camel and takes a share of the petroleum carried, while other
Rowalla notables levy a mejidieb or two when and where they
can. A big caravan of 2,000 camels laden with cloth, petrol and
sugar, chartered by Mohammed el-Bassam, was halting at the
moment on its way to Damascus. Ibrahim el-Hablani, a big
merchant of Aneizah, was in charge, and he was to proceed north
under the conduct of Sheikh Shawan, Nawwaf’s man. The route
would lie through the harm via Rueishid, Juweif and Dhumeir,
care being taken to give Jebel Druz a wide berth. The original
consigners at Kuweit are two members of the Sagr familv,
Hamad and Shahin, together with Mohammed el-Thanaiyan and
usem er-Rumi. In Qasim the traffic has the energetic support
of 1 ahad el-Maamir, Ibn Sand’s governor of Boreida, the obscene
individual whom Raunkiaer and Shakespear encountered. He
tarns his toll per camel. Other men of Qasim in the trade are
Ibrahim Humeidi of Boreida, an Ageyli, and other Ageylis of
Aneizah v ] z. Suleiman el-Ghurmas, and Ibrahim er-Ribdi, while
filial el-Mtein of Kuweit, and Abdul Aziz Omar of Zubeir are
co-operators. Caravans break up on leaving Qasim into small
)odies, and go via Hayyaniya, Hazil and Truba to the Jauf