File 756/1917 Pt 2-3 ‘ARAB BULLETIN Nos 66-114’ [‎396r] (800/834)

of the inhabitants. They were driven out on the arrival of
Sherifial regular reinforcements from Taif.
The affair may turn out to be a mere tribal raid, but it has
occurred at a very inopportune moment and has caused much
bitterness in the Hejaz. Such incidents only render a satis
factory An East India Company trading post. settlement of the JNejd-Hejaz territorial dispute more
difficult, and indicate the pressing need for an early meeting
between Ibn Sand and the King.
On March 1 Colonel Vickery received an urgent invitation
to visit King Husein at Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Fatma, about twelve miles west
of Mecca, and from his report on the interviews he had there with
the King and Emir Abdullah the following extracts are taken—
“ I arrived at the camp on the evening of March 2, where
I was warmly received by King Husein and Emir Abdullah.
“ The following morning I had a private conversation with
the Emir Abdullah. He assured me how anxious he was to
settle the outstanding questions of the telegraphs, currency, and
other matters, but that he had to wait his time and obtain the
King’s sanction at favourable opportunities, which did not occur
frequently. He said that he found the King much easier to
deal with when he got out of Mecca and away from the numerous
petty matters with which he would concern himself to the detri
ment of his temper and of state affairs. I was able to see Emir
Abdullah’s point of view for myself, and to judge what an
extremely difficult task he has ; I am convinced that he is loyal
to our interests and anxious to get all our requests and proposals
conceded by the King. The King’s character is well known, the
difficulties of Abdullah’s task can therefore be gauged, and to
his difficulties must be added the fact that from the Emir
Abdullah downwards the Hejazis are terrified of the King.
“ The King urged me to tell the High Commissioner to
show no weakening towards the Egyptians, to get them and hold
them by the throats. He laughed at the Milner Commission,
and requested me repeatedly to inform His Excellency that he
should get rid of it.
“ He stated that it would be a catastrophe if we left Egypt,
and that, having once put our hand to the plough, we had no
right to take it off ; this we owed as a duty to the Moslem w r orld.
“ His Majesty was very bitter against the Idrisi, wdio was
enlisting in his army many Somalis, and whose powder was daily
increasing. ‘ What did he do in the war?’ asked the King. ‘And
now you offer him Hodeidah and pay more attention to him than
you do to me.’