File 1707/1924 ‘Arabia:- Jeddah Situation Reports. (1924-1930)’ [‎435r] (874/898)

guides prevailed on them not to make a deposit which would have put a large sum out
of the reach or the Hedjaz harpies.
In reply to a notice published in the Turkish press warning Turks not to go on the
pilgrimage at present because of the risks they would run, the “ Kibla ” publishes a long
proclamation signed by the Grand Kahdi, but probably composed by the King. The
Hedjaz, says this proclamation, is enjoying general order, peace and comfort under his
Hashimite Majesty, Commander of the Faithful. “The simplest proof of this” (the
Kings phrase to introduce a thumping lie) is that the Turks who have come to the
Hedjaz during the last years have been able to perform the pilgrimage in comfort, peace
and security. By what antisepsis the Turks have escaped the plagues which afflict all
other pilgrims the proclamation does not state.
Apart from the money raised for the two steamers, the King has had over 100,000L (
sent to him since he left to supplement the large sums which he took with him.
Buying Caliphates is expensive. To make up for this expenditure the most shameless
eftorts are being made to squeeze every possible penny out of the pilgrims. The guides
in Mecca have been instructed not to let their pilgrims go shopping until they have
arranged for their journey to Medina, so that the King may not lose the large sum he
gets on every camel. Meanwhile, the “ National Company,” he., King Hussein, is doing
a roaring trade. There is a serious shortage of camels this year for some reason, and to
relieve the congestion of pilgrims at Jeddah the carriage to Mecca of food-stuffs belonging
to private merchants is allowed only one day out of every four or five The “ National
Company,” however, sends fifty camels of food-stuffs to Mecca every day and pays less
than half what the merchant pays. As the King then sells his goods in Mecca at the same
price as that which the merchant is forced to charge, he makes a very handsome profit.
Another particularly brazen way of robbing pilgrims is by underloading the camels.
Indians, who are adepts at haggling over small sums, rarely allow this, but the richer
and more easy-going pilgrims from the Far East, both British and Dutch, fall 6asy
victims. A camel loaded with pilgrim gear carries less than a half its ordinary load. It
is common to see a camel start off with two half-bags of rice instead of three .full bags,
or with nothing but a miserable load of firewood on each side. This scandal is gravely
inspected and passed by the president of the Pilgrim Committee, a relative and rival in
villainy of King Hussein’s. He, the Government, the camel-men and the guides all get
their pickings out of the fraud. The pilgrims could circumvent this to a large extent if
they would cut down their luggage to a minimum. Indians arc reasonable, and as a
rule bring nothing beyond their personal effects but rice and ghi. I he Far Eastern
pilgrims, however, bring the most fantastically unnecessary things : firewood, fruit,
cocoa-nuts with the fibre on, &c. Apart from the expense of getting the. stuff to
Jeddah and the landing and customs dues, they have to pay on such things, in camel-
hire to Mecca alone, many times the price at which they could buy similar food or fuel
in Mecca. It is even doubtful whether they are wise in bringing rice. Rice imported into
the Hedjaz from India wholesale must be cheaper than single sacks of Indian rice
brought here via Java. This overloading of the pilgrim has another disadvantage for
him : it increases the congestion of luggage at the custom-house and the consequent
risk of loss. There is already this year a mountain of “ unclaimed ” luggage, and most
of it will never be recovered by the owners. When the boxes and bales have been
rifled by the customs officials they will be sold for the benefit of the Hedjaz
Government. -jw 9
But who shall save the pilgrim from the consequences of his own stupidity .
There have just arrived at Jeddah, quite penniless, a party of about forty pilgrims who
started off from the Far East on the pilgrimage a year ago They travelled via
Bombay, where they fell in with a certain Haji Muhammad Nur, who represented
himself to have been, and really was at one time, a religious teacher m Mecca. i his
man, after winning their confidence by teaching them prayers, collected all their money
on pretext of buying their tickets, and vanished. Some charitable person pai leir
passages by dhow A term adopted by British officials to refer to local sailing vessels in the western Indian Ocean. as far as Mokalla, and another, finding them there begging, sent them
on to Jeddah. Most of them are Dutch subjects, but one or two are British The
swindler is also believed to be British—a native of Perak Ihe Hedjaz authorities
have promised to arrest him if he returns to the Hedjaz, and say gema y 1a e may
get off with the loss of one of his hands. . This is probably a correct forecast. Ihe King
hates that anyone but himself should swindle the pilgrims, j n
The King has now purchased the two steamers which he had announced that he
was buying for the pilgrim traffic. They were bought at Genoa, and it is understood
that the captains and the engineers at least will be Italians. I understand ihat one of
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