Coll 6/8(1) 'Printed Series: 1929 to 1938.' [‎206v] (417/1062)

Enclosure to Serial No. (65).
ILftter from His Majesty's Miihster, Jedda, to the Foreign Office, No. 251,
dated the 17th June 1932.
With reference to the despatch addressed to you by His Majesty’s Minister
at Kabul, No. 38, of March 9 [Serial No. (27)], I have the honour to state that
the Afghan Government are understood to have purchased for £6,000 a house in
Mecca belonging to the Governor of Jedda to be used as a hostel for Afghan
pilgrims. The deal was carried through during the visit of the recent
Afghan mission, apparently under the auspices of the Afghan Minister
in Cairo. There is said to have been, a difference of opinion in the
mission as to the suitability of this means of providing for the needs of Afghan
pilgrims. According to a rumour, which I should be very sorry to vouch for in
any way, the Minister in Cairo received a substantial sum of money for his ser
vices as broker Often a local commercial agent in the Gulf who regularly performed duties of intelligence gathering and political representation. .
2. I am sending copies of this despatch to His Majesty’s Representative at
Kabul and to the Government of India.
{Received on 17th July 1932, with Political Secretary’s letter No. 26, dated the
24th June 1932.)
Enclosure in Foreign Office covering letter dated the 24th June 1932.
Letter from His Majesty's Charge de'Affaires, Jedda, No. 1, dated the 8th
April 1932.
Mr. Hope Gill to Mr. Warner .— {Received April 26.)
PHILBY reached Mecca from the Rub-al-Khali on the 5th April, and came
to Jedda on the 6th. I saw him then, and again yesterday, when he described
his trip with the aid of “ Southern Arabia ” (Thomas), published last Septem
ber by the Royal Geographical Society. If the details interest, pull out the
map and I will recount them as briefly as I can.
Philby left Hufuf on the 6th January, with thirty-two of the finest
Omaniya camels in Arabia provided by Ibn Saud, eighteen barbarian Bedonin,
all sectional sheikhs of the Ajman and Murra tribes, chosen by Ibn Jiluwi of Hasa
and engaged by him for the adventure at 30 riyals (£2) a head, with the promise
of a gratuity at the end. They took with them only dates and rice, also tents,
Philby carried a sporting gun, sextant, compass, chronometers, &e., as well as
tour different kinds of Kodaks and a Zeiss Ikon ” cinema camera, with which
he took several hundred photographs and reeled 200 feet of film. He and three
of his companions kept Ramadhan (the 9th January—7th February) religious-
ly, and felt all the better for it. Two salukis accompanied them throughout and
caught hares for them during the first part of the trip.
They first made south-east across the Jafura, which, like the Dahana to its
vcs , is a pi oiongation northward of the Rub’-al-Khali. Arrived at Salwa, which
les at the southern end of the bay separating Qatar from Hasa, they turned
south-westward to the Jabrin oasis (about 23° 15' N. 49° 15' E.).
Plulby found that Cheeseman’s plotting of Jahrin is about 25 miles ' too
tar to the w r est, as are the other mapped points of that area.
170 l Vent soutl1 a . magnificent well called Maqainama, dug
22° 10' ^49° 'io' E 6 and C01ltainin £ Purest water ; it lies at about
they eame t0 Bir FacUiil (about 22“ 15'N.
Vomlin rah; i ti' " '1" ' ^ 1Pre tbey turned south-eastward towards
n a W ’A J 1 Thoma ? Vlsit<1<:1 ( ahont 21 ° 35' N. 51 ° 10' E.). On the way they
S’roupof shallow^ wells, but also large surface deposits
tentative rminl t] 8 fh • 'l ,lal ' l f lr ' p of dressed din implements. Philby is of the
now shmdfff A lat thlS r re - a y atlU directly connected with the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Maqran,
buldhich he hth map firas j un g s?me 300 miles away, a little south of west,
unnamed r A'f fh A^n'd 6 fl ,°"’ ecl U 'indent times into the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . An
unnamed one of these wells he has called Bir Maqran.
city of lYfYYiYTn'Vrd Kilby’s immediate objective was the traditional
beau" ies and o her i a i; d Q^-castles or palacesAvhich used to house 2,009
easily recomiisahie nurl .f 1 - 4661 ! years ago he was told that the site was
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