File 1707/1924 ‘Arabia:- Jeddah Situation Reports. (1924-1930)’ [‎329v] (663/898)

2
rj
criticism, I informed Ibn Sand that, while the Jeddah route was open for pilgrims
bound for India, they could, if they liked, e.g., if they had left baggage at Rabigh,
travel back by the way they came, but I asked that other British pilgrims should come
to Jeddah. Ibn Saud replied that the Indian pilgrims wanted to go to Rabigh, and
the Malays too. A document purporting to be a petition from British Malays, asking
for steamers to be sent to Rabigh, was enclosed. Most of the signatures were in the
same hand, and the petition began with the untrue statement that the Hedjaz
Government had prevented the signatories from travelling to Mecca via Jeddah. All
the Far Eastern pilgrims in Mecca for this Hajj, except perhaps a dozen or so, were
people who had been there a year or more, and the absence of fresh pilgrims was due
to the fact that, at the time when the Far Eastern pilgrims usually travel, Jeddah
was closely besieged, and not to any opposition on the part of the Hedjaz Government.
The petition was, of course, concocted by the people who used to forge similar
documents in Hussein’s time, with the object of supporting Ibn Sand’s plan to divert
all the pilgrim trade to Rabigh. But this plan is not possible, and both the Nether
lands consul and I were obliged to explain to Ibn Saud that for several reasons it was
necessary that the Far Eastern pilgrims should come to Jeddah rather than
Rabigh.' The Blue Funnel and Dutch lines will not send their big steamers to an
unknown port; there is no means of telegraphic communication, and no shipping
agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. at Rabigh whereby arrangements can be made for such ships, which make a
call at Jeddah as an incident in their voyage to the East, and do not make special
pilgrim voyages, as the Indian ships do, to call at a given hour for a given number
of pilgrims; and, finally, many British Malays and all Javanese are registered at
their respective consulates in Jeddah and have to call here for their tickets or for
some formality or other. Ibn Baud’s reply was rather curt, but the Malays and
Javanese were duly sent to Jeddah. It is quite clear that none of them had wanted
to make the five-day journey to Rabigh or took the least interest in the Indian
delegation’s efforts to make Rabigh the pilgrim port.
8. Rabigh does very well indeed for a small number of pilgrims, but it would not
meet the requirements of a normal season. The commanding officer of
H.M.S. “Cornflower” estimates that only four or five ships could lie at anchor in
the harbour, and that ships which were much bigger than the ordinary Indian pilgrim
steamers would have difficulty in turning, and outside the harbour the water is too
deep to anchor. This would not do for a normal season, when pilgrims pour in from
seven or eight ports and when as many as twenty steamers lie at anchor in Jeddah
Harbour waiting for the pilgrims to return.
9. About 200 British Malays and 1,000 Takrunis have reached Jeddah from
Mecca. One or two seem to have been robbed by Wahabis on the way, but most of the
parties saw no Arabs at all.
10. Many, if not all, of the Wahabi troops released by the raising of the siege of
Jeddah made for Medina, not for Mecca. A body of some 3,000 passed through
Rabigh. They retook Badr and went on towards Medina. It appears that all the
tribes between here and Medina, except those in the immediate neighbourhood of
1 ambo, have gone over to Ibn Saud and have been received by him on condition that
they help in the siege of Medina.
If persistent stories received from Mecca through pilgrims are to be believed,
Ibn Saud is having some trouble with his people about Jeddah. They want to rush
the defences, which they could easily do while they are so numerous and the defence
is so weak, but require as a reward permission to plunder the town. Ibn Saud, while
equally anxious to end the struggle, and aware that the quickest way to do it is to
take Jeddah, does not dare to risk another Taif.
11. One of the Germans who left a few months ago has returned with four others
who profess to be air pilots. All that these pilots have done is to smash the old
Armstrong aeroplane after a few very short flights. This leaves only one machine—
a de Havilland—at all capable of flight.
12. King Ali has asked whether His Majesty’s Government would receive a
certain Egyptian lawyer, Hassan Sabri, as his representative in London, in place d
Dr. Naji-al-Asil. His Majesty s Government replied that they were not prepared
in the present circumstances to receive a Hedjaz representative in London, either
officially or unofficially.
13. An Indian delegation consisting of representatives from the Caliphate Com
mittee and the Committee of F lama, appear to have travelled to Mecca via Rabigh.
According to the “ Umm-al-Kura,” the Mecca newspaper (No. 28 of the 10th July),
they seized the occasion of the Hajj feast (Id-al-Adhha) at Mima to exchange speeches