File 756/1917 Pt 2-3 ‘ARAB BULLETIN Nos 66-114’ [‎307v] (623/834)

by the Bedu camelmen for the journey from Medina to Yenbo
was £2 per camel. The owners, mainly picked sheikhs and
Bedu of the Harb and Juheina tribes, accompanied the columns
and acted as escorts.
At first it had been thought simpler that the railway gar
risons, as distinct from that of Medina, should be transported
from Hediyah or Bueir direct, hut finally all were concentrated
in Medina, and, after dumping their arms, were evacuated from
there in eight batches of about 1,000 each, as camels appeared,
at irregular intervals between January 10 and February 1,3.
A Turkish commandant was appointed to each column and
given a sum of money, about £100, as a contingency fund for
the journey. Each column took rations—accounts vary as to
the amount—and the medical personnel and stores were divided
as evenly as possible. The journey from Medina to Geria
took, on an average, four and a half days. The first two
columns, owing to the discontent and suspicion existing among
the Bedu resulting in shortage of camels, moved slowly. After
the departure of the second column there was an ugly pause, and
it seemed probable that the first lot of camels collected would
have to be responsible for the whole evacuation, i.e. taking one
batch of prisoners down, returning with supplies from Yenbo,
and then repeating the process.
An unpromising situation, however, was transformed by the
arrival of £15,000 in gold from King Husein, sent on urgent
representations from Captain Goldie, it was distributed by the
Emirs and the effect was instantaneous. The Camels required
were immediately forthcoming and, with the exception of a few
trivial incidents inevitable in any plan of such magnitude, the
evacuation moved without a hitch according to plan.
Geria, a partially abandoned village in the wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. , with an
excellent water supply and its buildings in ver^ fair repair,
proved as good a camp as had been anticipated. The columns
came in intermittently but in safety, and were segregated on
arrival for quarantine purposes. They were conveyed from Geria
to Yenbo as sea transport became available, and have since been
scattered amongst the various camps in Egypt. Their embark
ation was complicated by the sudden appearance of bubonic
plague amongst the civilian population of Yenbo, but, thanks to
the energetic measures taken by the medical staff, and to the help
^iven by the Kaimmakam, the infection did not reach them.
Such sickness as there was was dealt with successfully in an
improvised hospital of 180 beds.
Statistics of the Garrison.
It is very difficult to arrive at exact figures in regard to the
garrison which surrendered, owing to the laxity of the Arab
methods of counting. This was supposed to be carried out by