,,pan-,,islam ,,macmillan ,,and ,,co41 ,,limited ,,london 4 ,,bombay 4 ,,calcutta 4 ,,madras ,,melbourne ,,the ,,macmillan ,,company ,,new ,,york 4 ,,boston 4 ,,chicago ,,dallas 4 ,,san ,,francisco ,,the ,,macmillan ,,co4 ,,of ,,canada1 ,,ltd4 ,,toronto ,,pan-,,islam ,,by ,g4 ,,wyman ,,bury ,author of ,the ,land of ,us1 ,arabia ,infelix4 ,,macmillan ,,and ,,co41 ,,limited ,,st4 ,,martin',s ,,street1 ,,london #aiai ,,to ,,my ,,wife ,,preface ,i have written this book to present the main factors of a many-sided problem--political1 social and religious--in a form which the general public can easily grasp4 ,modern democratic principles tend to give the public increasing control of international and inter-racial affairs1 and therefore any contribution to public knowledge on such questions is in the interests of sound administration4 ,the book is not intended to advise those who actually handle these affairs3 ,i give such advice1 when required1 in more detail and not through the medium of a published work4 ,pan-,islam is an elementary handbook1 not a text-book--still less an exhaustive treatise1 but the questions it discusses are real enough4 ,my qualifications for writing it are based on a quarter of a century's experience of the subject in most parts of the ,moslem world1 and ,i have studied the question in areas which ,i have not actually visited through intercourse with pilgrims from those parts4 ,i have no axe to grind or infallible panacea to advocate2 ,i merely lay the result of my researches before the public for its information1 as failing health has warned me to pass the ball when collared1 and ,i would like to think that the land where most of my life's work has centred will not be mishandled by cranks and opportunists after ,i have left the game4 ,an arm-chair is a sorry substitute for an ,arab pony1 and a garden plot for the highlands of ,arabia ,felix1 but the human mind is not necessarily confined by such trammels1 and if my environment is narrow ,i hope my book is not4 ,g4 ,,wyman ,,bury4 ,helouan1 #bgth ,july1 #aiai4 ,,contents ,,page ,,chapter ,i ,,its ,,origin ,,and ,,meaning #aa ,,chapter ,,ii ,,its ,,bearing ,,on ,,the ,,war #bd ,,chapter ,,iii ,,its ,,strength ,,and ,,weakness #hc ,,chapter ,,iv ,,moslem ,,and ,,missionary #aaj ,,chapter ,v ,a ,,plea ,,for ,,tolerance #ahg ,,pan-,,islam ,,chapter ,i ,,its ,,origin ,,and ,,meaning ,much has been written about ,christianity and ,islam1 so ,i hasten to inform my readers that this is not a religious treatise1 nor do ,i class them with the globe-trotter who searched ,benares brass-bazar diligently for a really nice image of ,allah and pronounced the dread name of ,hindustan's avenging goddess like an effervescing drink4 ,i presuppose that ,christians or ,moslems who read this book have got beyond the stage of calling each other pagans or kafirs1 and it will have served its purpose if it brings about a friendlier feeling between the two great militant creeds whose adherents have confronted together many a stricken field4 ,most people have heard of the pan-,islamic movement1 especially during the ,war4 ,some of us have called it a political bogey and some a world-menace1 but these are extremist views--it is really the practical protest of ,moslems against the exploitation of their spiritual and material resources by outsiders4 ,pan-,islam 7as its name implies7 is a movement to weld together ,moslems throughout the world regardless of nationality4 ,the ethics and ideals of ,islam are more attainable to ordinary human beings than those of ,christianity3 whether it is better to aim high and score a partial success or aim lower and achieve is a matter of personal opinion and need not be discussed here1 but one tangible fact stands out--that ,islam1 with its easier moral standard and frequent physical discipline of attitudes and observances connected with obligatory prayer1 enters far more into the daily life of its adherents than ,christianity does with us4 ,hence pan-,islam is more than a spiritual movement3 it is a practical1 working proposition which has to be reckoned with when dealing with ,moslems even in secular matters4 ,pan-,islam is no new thing--it is as old as the ,hejira1 and then helped to knit together ,moslem ,arabs against their pagan compatriots who were persecuting them4 ,in the palmy days of the ,abbaside ,caliphate it was quiescent enough1 and men of all creeds were welcomed at ,baghdad for their art1 learning1 or handicraft when we were massacring ,jews in ,london as part of a coronation pageant4 ,medieval ,moslems never fanned the movement into flame as long as they were let alone1 and even now tribes living beyond the scope of missionaries and traders prefer the ,christian traveller whom they know to the ,moslem stranger from the coast whom they usually distrust1 and who1 to do him justice1 seldom ventures among them1 unless compelled by paramount self-interest1 generally in connection with some ,european scheme or other4 ,hitherto pan-,islam had been an instinctive and entirely natural riposte to the menace or actual aggression of non-,moslems2 it assumed the character of a definite organisation under the crafty touch of that wily diplomat ,abdul ,hamid1 once called by harsh critics the ,damned1 though his efforts in that direction have been quite eclipsed by more recent exponents4 ,in extreme evangelical circles it used to be frequently urged that pan-,islam was a bugbear discovered1 if not created1 by one of ,india's most eminent ,viceroys1 whose remarks thereon are said to have given ,abdul ,hamid the hint4 ,this method of eliminating a danger by denying its existence has been discredited1 since #aiad1 as completely as the somewhat similar one 7attributed to ,mississippi engineers7 of sitting on the safety-valve just too long for safety4 ,moreover1 in view of ,abdul's undoubted ability1 he probably discovered for himself its efficacy as a weapon of reprisal when hard pressed by pertinacious and inquisitive ,ambassadors1 for he often found himself much embarrassed in his dealings with ,armenia and other domestic affairs by the intrusions of the more formidable ,christian ,powers4 ,great ,britain naturally felt the point of this weapon most as governing wide ,moslem territories1 and one can imagine some such interview as this3 ,frontier rectifications1 my dear ,sir ,nicholas8 ,by all means--and1 talking about frontiers1 ,i do hope affairs are quite quiet now on your north-west frontier2 ,i take such an interest in my ,east ,indian correspondence4 ,and those ,britons who have handled ,oriental affairs for the last twenty years can appreciate the extent of that interest when we remember that even while ,yamen ,arabs were fighting the ,turks1 their neighbours on the ,aden side of the frontier were praying in their mosques that the ,sultan and his troops might be victorious by land and sea4 ,all this1 however1 was merely playing with intrigue as a political counterpoise2 it remained for a ,christian nation to put pan-,islam on a business footing4 ,first we have polite bagmen calling at ,stamboul with ,german guns and a ,german military system4 ,then our ,mr4 ,william of the well-known ,potsdam firm of ,hohenzollern and ,sons made his great advertising campaign in the ,near ,east2 many of us remembered his theatrical visit to ,saladin's tomb and the tawdry wreath with its bombastic inscription1 ,from the ,emperor of the ,franks to the ,emperor of the ,saracens--,greeting4 ,that astute pilgrim made himself especially affable to the ,american ,protestant missionaries in the ,holy ,land1 preached to a small but select congregation at the church of the ,holy ,sepulchre1 and posed alternately as a pious but militant ,moslem 7when ,hajji ,guiyaum rode in military pomp into ,jerusalem7 and as a prince of peace4 ,that the hospice of ,kaiserin ,augusta ,victoria on the top of the ,mount of ,olives was loop-holed for musketry and mounted a searchlight in its tower that could signal with ,haifa was possibly due to some wayward caprice of the builder1 but it came in very useful later on4 ,so did the scholarly researches of eminent ,germans in ,sinai1 assisted as they were by maps which the ,anglo-,egyptian authorities courteously placed at their disposal1 and which formed a basis for a more detailed survey of wells and routes4 ,but the old firm at ,potsdam excelled itself in its representatives on the ,palestine coast4 ,there was1 for example1 the ,german ,consul at ,haifa famed for his culture and diplomacy 7the ,teutonic brand71 who also spoke ,arabic1 ,turkish1 ,french and ,english fluently4 ,this gifted official frequented native cafes1 where he fraternised with the local ,arabs and conducted a vigorous verbal propaganda against the ,entente4 ,then there was the ,german engineer who wrecked the ,british railway scheme to connect ,haifa and ,damascus and re-naturalised as a ,german citizen after being ,american ,consul4 ,the ,belgian ,vice-,consul too1 that merry ,hun1 who was also agent for our ,khedivial mail line4 ,when the ,turks came in against us this good and faithful servant danced on the ,belgian and ,british flags and threw himself heart and soul into pan-,islamic propaganda4 ,nor must we overlook that reverend pastor and ,koranic scholar who distributed anti-,christian and more especially anti-,british propaganda by means of native emissaries4 ,last but not least1 the ,herr ,direktor of the ,hejaz ,railway1 who was collecting railway material for ,sinai before war broke out4 ,some time before the ,turks came in he imported1 for the alleged use of the ,jewish technical school1 so great a quantity of high explosives that it caused a panic in ,haifa4 ,yet it did not sufficiently impress our ,levantine ,vice-,consul there for him to report it1 though the ,german ,consul's remarkable activity to get the stuff landed might have given him the hint4 ,at ,jeddah our ,khedivial ,mail ,agency1 under the good old ,english name of ,robinson1 was a perfect nest of ,germans and pro-,german ,dutchmen when ,i called there in #aiab4 ,they were very active early in the ,war1 but had wisely disappeared before my last visit1 when ,jeddah fell to our blockade and bombardment4 ,as for ,hodeidah1 the chief port of ,yamen1 it was the happy hunting-ground of a great ,german firm1 and the ,american ,consul was himself a ,german4 ,decidedly1 for people who believed that they had a monopoly of ,divine assistance1 they had taken a lot of pains that their ,holy ,war should be a success4 ,to grasp the world-wide conspiracy which hatched out so many formidable events during the ,war and to appreciate the causes which contributed to its final collapse we must take a comprehensive glance at the ,ottoman ,caliphate and how it came about4 ,remember1 the ,ottoman ,turks are not ,semitic1 as is the bulk of the ,moslem world4 ,tradition derives them from ,turk1 son of ,japhet1 and they are a ,turco-,mongol blend which most people agree to call ,tartar4 ,their language is closely allied to ,mongolian1 though written in ,arabic1 or rather ,persian1 character1 and its ,arabic words are pronounced unintelligibly to an ,arab4 ,a true ,turk learns ,arabic with difficulty1 and a far higher percentage of ,britons in ,india speak ,hindustani than ,turks do ,arabic in ,turkish ,arabia4 ,then1 again1 look at their early history4 ,their ,mongol-,turkish ancestors were driven westward because they made ,mongolia too hot for them1 and we hear of ,turks smelting iron for their ,mongol masters in what is now ,eastern ,turkestan until they threw off the ,mongol yoke in ,a4,d4 #eeb1 when ,turkish history begins4 ,at the dawn of ,islam 7,a4,d4 #fcb7 ,turks and ,mongols were harrying each other all over the ,caspian countries like rival wolf-packs1 sometimes combining for a raid on their neighbours and then fighting over the loot4 ,that is why you find racial ,turks in such outlandish places as ,merv1 ,khiva1 ,samarcand1 ,bokhara and ,cabul1 for the ,turkish race is not confined to ,asia ,minor and ,turkey in ,europe1 but is scattered over parts of ,russia and ,china and ,afghanistan4 ,now to consider the ,ottoman ,turks1 with whom we are chiefly concerned4 ,they were superior to their ,mongol fellow-wolves in that they could smelt iron and had some idea of constructive enterprise4 ,they had also adopted ,islam1 which was a great advance from the ,shamanistic wizardry and totem-worship they used to practise1 and their contact with the ,arabs who raided them and afterwards accepted their military service to the ,caliphate had civilised them considerably4 ,their ,seljouk cousins were already ruling in ,asia ,minor1 whither they had been driven by the ,mongols when a wandering ,turkish band sought similar asylum there in the earlier part of the thirteenth century and intervened most opportunely to help the ,seljouks repulse a ,mongol raid2 in return1 the ,seljouk ,emperor gave them a grant of land in ,bithynia4 ,in #acjj the ,seljouk ,empire was finally smashed by the ,mongols1 who withdrew eastward without occupying the country1 for they were merely predatory and destructive and had no gift or desire for permanent colonisation4 ,so it came about that the ,ottoman ,empire began in #acbf under ,othman ,i in ,bithynia and grew by absorption and lack of effective opposition until1 in #aeag1 we find it spreading under ,selim ,i 7the ,magnificent7 to the gates of ,vienna and extending from ,germany to ,persia and from ,arabia to the ,atlantic4 ,the benign sun of the ,arabian ,caliphate1 under which learning and industry flourished securely1 had long since set in blood under circumstances of treachery and murder which have hardly been surpassed even in the late war4 ,under the later ,abbasides1 when the glories of the ,caliphate were waning1 there were bitter dissensions between ,sunnis and ,shiahs 7the main orthodox and schismatic sects of ,islam7 which culminated in fierce rioting at ,baghdad in #abeh4 ,the then ,caliph was foolish enough to appeal for assistance against the schismatic seditionists to his ,mongol neighbours4 ,it had been done before under similar conditions1 and even in these days such a manoeuvre seems still to appeal to some types of religious fanaticism1 judging by certain passages between our sister isle and the modern ,hun4 ,on the above occasion1 however1 it was practised once too often4 ,hulaku ,khan1 the fierce ,mongol chief1 had long had his eye on ,baghdad as holding princely loot in all too slack a grip1 for the ,caliphate had been relying on ,tartar mercenaries for years4 ,he approached that queen of cities1 as she then was1 with a great host1 lured the ,caliph out to meet him by the promise of an alliance1 and murdered the whole party1 the ,caliph being trampled to death4 ,then ,baghdad was given over to sack and massacre for more than a month1 by which time #a1hjj1jjj people are said to have perished4 ,the ,caliphate was transplanted to ,cairo1 where it dragged out an anaemic existence until ,selim ,i seized it1 with the person of the then ,caliph1 by right of conquest1 and it has been an appanage of the ,ottoman reigning house ever since4 ,selim the ,magnificent may be called the ,turkish top-note4 ,after him the ,ottoman ,empire gradually declined4 ,it has generally taken advantage of disaster or dissension to extend its borders--a precarious method of empire-building unless consolidated by benevolent and sound administration1 which is not a feature of ,turkish rule4 ,add to this the facts that ,turks are slack ,moslems1 that the national party which ousted ,abdul ,hamid 7himself most orthodox7 is not religious at all1 with all its barbarian1 totemistic nonsense of the ,white ,wolf1 and that they would pose as conquerors on insufficient grounds1 and we begin to see why they have been kicked out of their ,asiatic empire bit by bit4 ,if ,turk and ,mongol had been capable of dynastic evolution and co-ordinate policy they might have shared most of the ,eastern ,hemisphere between them4 ,we have seen the high-water mark of the ,ottoman ,empire2 ,marco ,polo has told us of ,kubla ,khan's ,chinese ,empire1 and the ,moguls did much for ,india in their prime4 ,but the wolf-taint was in their blood1 and just as a pet wolf gets fat and degenerate1 so it has been with these ,tartars4 ,their undoubted soldierly qualities are sapped by luxury1 and they possess no constructive gifts which peace and prosperity might develop4 ,hence it is that every empire they have founded has risen to a culminating point of conquest and then dwindled away in sloth and corruption4 ,the ,turk is not fit to be put in charge of any race but his own1 for he is at heart a bitter wolf who will turn and rend without ruth or warning4 ,i have met ,turks who have shown tact1 humanity1 and ability under trying conditions1 and ,i have met well-mannered wolves in captivity1 but would not trust the pack ranging in its native forest4 ,i once heard a member of our ,ottoman ,embassy who has unique experience of the ,turk size him up as follows3 ,the ,turk can be a suave and cultured gentleman till his time comes1 and then he will tear your guts out and dance on them4 ,it was the ,seljouk ,turks whose persecutions caused the ,crusades4 ,before them1 ,arab rule in ,palestine was tolerant enough1 and the ,caliph ,omar was scrupulously careful when he entered ,jerusalem as a conqueror to respect ,christian prejudices and the monuments of our creed4 ,so it came about that their empire was dropping from them piecemeal even before the ,war1 for a race that can no longer conquer and has never learned to conciliate must draw in its borders or cease to exist as a ,state4 ,when war broke out ,turkey was just hanging on to the last scrap of her empire in ,europe and had lost all but the shadow of sovereignty in ,egypt1 while ,arabia was seething with discontent1 where not in actual revolt1 and regarded the belated efforts of local officials to govern tactfully as signs of weakness4 ,the colossal brigandage of ,germany appealed to her freebooting instincts1 although it took a corrupt1 self-seeking ,government and a final push from the ,goeben and the ,breslau to plunge her into war against her best friends4 ,to proclaim a jihad was her obvious course1 if only to keep ,arabia moderately quiet1 apart from its value as a weapon against her ,christian foes4 ,we will now see how she fared in the ,holy ,war4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,,its ,,bearing ,,on ,,the ,,war ,quite early in the ,war those of us who had to deal with pan-,islamic propaganda realised that the widespread organisation which ,germany had grafted on to the original ,turkish movement must have existed some time before the outbreak of actual hostilities4 ,for example1 there was a snug1 smooth-running concern at ,san ,francisco which spread its tentacles all over the ,moslem world1 but specialised in a seditious newspaper called ,el'-,ghadr1 which means treachery or mutiny4 ,this was particularly directed at our ,indian ,army1 but ,egypt was not forgotten4 ,a gifted censor sent us an early copy1 but had1 unfortunately1 lost the wrapper1 so our earnest desire to make the addressee's closer acquaintance was thwarted4 ,stamboul was naturally an active centre1 and1 before the ,turks entered the ,war1 ,turkish officers in full uniform1 and sometimes even wearing swords1 permeated ,cairo cafes with espionage and verbal propaganda1 trying to fan into flame the military ardour of ,egyptian students and men about town4 ,this last activity was wasted effort1 as anyone who knew the type could have told them2 the effendis abstained from the crudities of personal service and confined themselves to stirring up the town riffraff1 who wanted a safer form of villainy than open riot1 and the fellahin1 who wanted a safe market for their produce and easy taxation1 both of which they stood to lose by violence4 ,many a fellah still believes that the ,war was a myth created by the authorities to put prices up4 ,even ,teuton activity failed to stimulate these placid folk1 and the glad tidings preached by the madder type of ,german missionary that the ,kaiser was the ,messiah left them unmoved4 ,when the ,turks came in against us1 and the ex-,khedive1 safe among his new-found friends1 threw off the mask1 the ,cairene effendis became tremendously active4 ,forgetting how they had disliked ,abbas ,,ii and called him a huckstering profligate1 they mourned for his deposal by wearing black ties1 especially the students4 ,some of these enthusiastic young heroes even went so far as to scatter chlorate of potash crackers about when their school was visited by poor old ,sultan ,husein 7who was worth six of his predecessor71 and he got quite a shock1 which was flagrantly and noisomely accentuated by asafoetida bomblets4 ,the ex-,khedive did not share their patriotic grief4 ,he was quite comfortable while awaiting the downfall of ,british rule1 for1 with shrewd prescience that almost seems inspired1 he had taken prudent measures for his future comfort and luxury before leaving ,egypt on his usual summer tour to ,europe4 ,he had mortgaged real estate up to the hilt1 realised on immobile property as far as possible1 and diverted his fluid assets through various channels beyond the reach of his sorrowing subjects and the ,egyptian ,government4 ,when an official inventory was taken in ,abdin ,palace at the accession of the late ,sultan ,husein1 it was ascertained that the famous inlaid and begemmed coffee-service1 which1 like our ,crown jewels1 was not supposed to leave the country1 had been sent after the ex-,khedive to his new address--truly a man of parts4 ,i have often wondered whether his ,hunnish friends got him to disgorge by means of a forced loan or war-bonds1 or something of that sort4 ,if so1 they achieved something notable1 for he has left behind him1 beside his liabilities1 the name of being a difficult man to get money out of4 ,when the ,turco-,teuton blade was actually drawn in ,holy ,war ,i was down with enteric1 which ,i had contracted while working in disguise among seditious circles in the slums of ,old ,cairo4 ,i just convalesced in time to join the ,intelligence ,staff on the ,canal the day before ,jemal ,pasha's army attacked4 ,his ,german staff had everything provided for in advance with their usual thoroughness4 ,from the documents and prisoners that came through our hands we learnt that the hotel in ,cairo where the victors were to dine after their triumphant entry had actually been selected1 and some enthusiasts went so far as to insist that the menu had been prepared4 ,if so1 they omitted to get the ,canal ,army on toast1 and for want of this indispensable item the event fell through4 ,all the same1 it was a soldierly enterprise1 and if the ,senussis had invaded in force or the population risen behind us1 as they hoped would be the case1 the result might have been different4 ,as it was they put up a very good fight and their arrangements for getting across the ,sinaitic desert were excellent4 ,for the last ten miles they man-handled their pontoons to the edge of the ,canal4 ,these craft were marvels of lightness and carrying capacity1 but1 of course1 no protection whatever against even a rifle-bullet1 and they had not fully reckoned with the ,franco-,british naval flotilla1 which proved a formidable factor4 ,the morning after the main fight a little ,syrian subaltern passed through my hands4 ,he had been slightly wounded in the leg and still showed signs of nervous shock1 so ,i made him sit down with a cigarette while ,i questioned him4 ,he had been in charge of a pontoon manned by his party and said that they had got halfway across the ,canal in perfect silence when the mouth of hell opened and the pontoon was sinking in a swirl of stricken men amid a hail of projectiles4 ,he and two others swam to our side of the ,canal1 where they surrendered to an ,indian detachment4 ,our ,indian troops on the ,canal were naturally a mark for pan-,islamic propaganda reinforced by ,hindu literature of the ,bande ,mataram type1--a double-barrelled enterprise to bag both the great creeds of ,india4 ,the astute propagandists had a pamphlet or two aimed at ,sikhism1 which they seemed to consider a nation1 as they spoke of their national aspirations1 though an elementary study of the subject might have taught them that it was a religious and secular movement originally intended to curb ,moslem power in ,india during the sway of the later ,moguls4 ,anyone but a ,moslem can be a ,sikh4 ,naturally ,i was on the qui vive for signs of pan-,islamic activity on the enemy's side1 and ,i questioned my little ,syrian very closely to ascertain how far the movement was used as a driving force among the troops engaged against us4 ,he1 personally1 had rather a grievance on the subject1 for the ,indian ,moslems who took him had reproached him bitterly for fighting on the wrong side4 ,i fought1 he said1 because it was my duty as an officer of the ,ottoman ,army4 ,i know that men were invited to join as for a jihad1 but we officers did not deceive ourselves4 ,par exemple1 ,i think myself a better ,moslem than any ,turk1 but what would you8 ,i consoled the little man while concealing my satisfaction at the feeling displayed against him4 ,an extraordinarily heterogeneous collection of prisoners came dribbling through my hands directly after the ,turks were repulsed4 ,most were practically deserters who had been forcibly enrolled1 given a ,mauser and a bandoleer1 and told to go and fight for the ,holy ,places of ,islam4 ,as one of the more intelligent remarked1 ,if the ,holy ,places are really in danger1 what are we doing down this way8 ,they came from all over the ,moslem world4 ,there were one or two ,russian pilgrims returning from ,mecca to be snapped up by the military authorities at ,damascus railway station when they got out of the pilgrim train from ,medina4 ,there were cabdrivers from ,jerusalem1 a stranded pilgrim from ,china1 several ,tripolitans who had been roped in on the ,palestine seaboard while trying to get a passage home1 a ,moor who tried to embrace my feet when ,i spoke of the snow-crowned ,atlas above ,morocco ,city 7,marraksh7 and told him that he would be landed at ,tangier in due course--,inshallah4 ,of course we released1 and repatriated as far as we could1 men who were not ,ottoman subjects and had obviously been forced into service against us4 ,a few days later1 when ,jemal ,pasha's army was getting into commissariat difficulties out in the ,sinaitic desert 7for the ,staff had relied on entering ,egypt71 we began to get the real ,turks among our prisoners4 ,i was very curious to ascertain if they had been worked up with pan-,islamic propaganda or carried any of it on them1 for there was not even a ,red ,crescent ,koran on any of the ,arabic-speaking prisoners4 ,a search of their effects revealed a remarkable phase of propaganda4 ,there was hardly any religious literature except a loose page or two of some pious work like the ,traditions of ,muhammad1 but there were quantities of rather crude 7and very lewd7 picture-cards portraying soldiers in ,turkish uniform outraging and murdering nude or semi-nude women and children1 while corpses in priestly garb1 shattered crucifixes1 and burning churches indicated the creed that was being so harried and gave the scene a stimulating background4 ,from their appearance ,i should say these pictures were originally engraved to commemorate ,balkan or ,armenian atrocities1 but their possessors1 on being closely questioned1 admitted that the impression conveyed to them was of the joyous licence which was to be theirs among the ,frankish civilians after forcing the ,canal4 ,one ,kurdish gentleman had among his kit fancy socks1 knitted craftily in several vivid colours1 also ornate slippers to wear in his promised palatial billet at ,cairo4 ,there were some odd articles among the kit of these ,turkish prisoners1 to wit1 a brand-new garden thermometer1 which some wag insisted was for testing the temperature of the ,canal before immersion1 and a lavatory towel looted from the ,hejaz railway4 ,still1 nothing was quite so remarkable as a white flag with a jointed staff in a neat1 compact case which had been carried by a ,german officer4 ,among his papers was an indecent post-card not connected1 ,i think1 with propaganda of any sort1 as it portrayed a bright-coloured female of ripe figure and ,teutonic aspect1 wearing a pair of long stockings and high-heeled shoes1 and bore the legend ,gruss von ,muenchen4 ,a certain coyness1 or possibly an appreciation of their personal value1 kept most of the ,german officers from actual contact with our line4 ,only one reached the ,canal bank1 and he is there still4 ,the ,german touch1 however1 was much in evidence4 ,there were detailed written orders about manning the pontoons1 not to talk1 cough1 sneeze1 etc41 and for each man to move along the craft as far as feasible and then sit down4 ,they seem to have relied entirely on surprise1 and ignored the chance of its occurring on the wrong side of the ,canal4 ,the emergency rations too which we found on the earlier batches of prisoners had a distinctly ,teutonic flavour--they were so scientifically nourishing in theory and so vilely inedible in practice4 ,they were a species of flat gluten cake rather like a dog-biscuit1 but much harder4 ,an amateur explosive expert of ours tested one of these things by attempting detonation and ignition before he would let his batch of prisoners retain them1 which1 to do their intelligence justice1 they were not keen on doing1 but offered any quantity of the stuff for cigarettes4 ,we ascertained from them that you were supposed to soak it in water before tackling it in earnest1 but as the only supply 7except the runlet they still carried on them7 was in the fresh-water canal behind our unshaken line1 such a course was not practicable2 the discovery of a very dead ,turk some days later in that canal led to the ribald suggestion that he had rashly endeavoured to eat his ration4 ,our scientist laid great stress on its extraordinary nutritive properties1 but desisted1 after breaking a tooth off his denture1 in actual experiment4 ,german influence1 too1 was apparent in the relations between officers and men4 ,a ,turkish yuzbashi was asked to get a big batch of prisoners to form two groups according to the languages they spoke--,arabic or ,turkish4 ,it was not an easy task in the open on a pitch-black night1 but he did it with soldierly promptitude and flung his glowing cigarette end in the face of a dilatory private4 ,as a natural corollary it may be mentioned here that one or two of our prisoners had deserted after shooting officers who had struck them4 ,for some days after the battles of ,serapeum and ,toussoum we expected another attempt1 but they had been more heavily mauled than we thought at first4 ,the dead in the ,canal were kept down by the weight of their ammunition for some time1 and the shifting sand on the ,sinaitic side was always revealing hastily-buried corpses on their line of retreat4 ,jemal ,pasha hurried back to ,gaza and published a grandiloquent report for ,moslem consumption1 to the effect that the ,turks were already in ,cairo 7as was indeed the case with many hundreds71 and that1 of the giaour fleet1 one ship had sunk1 one had been set on fire1 and the rest had fled4 ,two heavy howitzers1 as a matter of fact1 had managed by indirect fire from a concealed position to land a couple of projectiles on the ,hardinge1 which was not originally built for such rough treatment1 being an ,indian marine vessel taken over by the ,navy4 ,she gave more than she got when her four-point-sevens found the massed ,turkish supports4 ,a great deal of criticism has been flung at this first series of fights on the ,canal1 mostly by ,anglo-,egyptian civilians4 ,they asked derisively whether we were protecting the ,canal or the ,canal us4 ,the answer is in the affirmative to both questions4 ,ordinary steamer traffic was only suspended for a day during the first onslaught1 and the ,g4,o4,c4 was not such a fool as to leave the ,canal in his rear and forgo the defensive advantage4 ,there are some who1 in their military ardour1 would have had him pursue the enemy into the desert1 forgetting that to leave a sound position and pursue a superior force on an ever-widening front in a barren country which they know better than you do and have furnished with their own supply-bases is just asking for trouble4 ,our few aeroplanes in those days could only reconnoitre twenty miles out1 and there was no evidence that the enemy had not merely fallen back to his line of wells preparatory to another attempt4 ,we had not then the men1 material1 or resources for a triumphant advance into ,sinai2 it was enough to make sure of keeping the enemy that side of the ,canal with the ,senussi sitting on the fence and ,egypt honeycombed with seditious propaganda4 ,anyone at all in touch with native life in ,cairo could gauge the extent of propagandist activity by gossip at cafes and in the bazars4 ,the ,senussi was marching against us4 ,india was in revolt and the ,indian ,army on the ,canal had joined the ,turks4 ,the crowning stroke of ingenuity was a tale that received wide credence among quite intelligent ,egyptians4 ,it was to the effect that the ,turks had commandeered an enormous number of camels and empty kerosene tins4 ,this was quite true so far1 but the yarn then rose to the following flight of fancy3 ,these empty tins were to be filled with dry cement and loaded on camels1 which were to be marched without water for days until they reached the ,canal1 when the pangs of thirst would compel them to rush madly into the water4 ,the cement would solidify and the ,faithful would march across on a composite bridge of camel and concrete4 ,our flotilla was to be penned in by similar means4 ,there must be something about a ,turk that hypnotises an ,egyptian4 ,his country has suffered appallingly under ,ottoman rule1 and a pure-blooded ,turk can seldom be decently civil to him and considers him almost beneath contempt4 ,this is the conquering ,tartar pose that has earned the ,turk such detestation and final ruin in ,arabia1 but it seems to have fascinated the ,egyptian like a rabbit in the presence of a python4 ,quite early in the ,turkish invasion of ,sinai a detachment of ,egyptian camelry1 operating in conjunction with the ,bikanirs1 deserted en masse to the enemy4 ,it was at first supposed that they had been captured1 but we afterwards heard of their being feted somewhere in ,palestine4 ,on the other hand1 an ,egyptian battery did yeoman service on the ,canal2 ,i saw a pontoon that looked like a carelessly opened sardine-tin as a result of its attentions4 ,the most tragic aspect of this spurious and mischievous propaganda was its victims from ,indian regiments4 ,the ,indian ,moslem as a rule has no illusions about the ,turks1 and will fight them at sight1 but there will always be a few misguided bigots to whom a specious and dogmatic argument will appeal4 ,there is no occasion to dwell on these cases1 which were sporadic only and generally soon met with the fate incurred by attempted desertion to the enemy4 ,we looked on the movement as an insidious and dangerous disease and did our best to trace it to its source and stop the distributing channels4 ,after events on the ,canal had simmered down1 ,i was seconded to ,cairo to help tackle the movement there3 to show how little hold it had over the minds of thinking ,moslems4 ,i may mention that my colleague was a ,pathan major who was a very strict ,moslem and a first-rate fellow to boot4 ,we both served under an ,anglo-,indian major belonging to the ,c4,i4,d41 one of the most active little men ,i have ever met4 ,there were also several ferrets1 or ,intelligence agents1 who came into close contact with the suspects and could be trusted up to a certain point if you looked sharply after them4 ,this is as much as can be said for any of these men1 though some are better1 and some worse1 than others4 ,on the ,canal we employed numbers of them to keep us informed of the enemy's movements and used to check them with the aerial reconnaissance--they needed it4 ,it did not take us long to find out that these sophisticated ,sinaites had established an ,intelligence bureau of their own4 ,they used to meet their opposite numbers employed by the enemy at pre-arranged spots between the lines and swop information1 thereby avoiding unnecessary toil or risk 7the ,sinaitic ,bedouin loathes both7 and obtaining news of interest for both sides4 ,it was a magnificently simple scheme2 its sole flaw was in failing to realise that some of us had played the ,great ,game before4 ,we used to time our emissaries to their return and cross-check them where their wanderings intersected those of others--all were supposed to be trackers and one or two knew something about it4 ,of course they were searched and researched on crossing and returning to our outpost line1 for they could not be trusted to refuse messages to or from the ,turks4 ,it was among this coterie that the brilliant idea originated of shaving a messenger's head1 writing a despatch on his scalp1 and then letting his hair grow before he started to deliver it4 ,i doubt if any of our folk were thorough enough for this1 but we tested for it occasionally1 and an unpleasant job it was4 ,generally they would incur suspicion by their too speedy return and the nonchalant way in which they imparted tidings which would have driven them into ecstasies of self-appreciation had they obtained such by legitimate methods4 ,then a purposely false bit of information calculated to cause certain definite action on the other side would usually betray them4 ,some purists suggested a firing party as a fitting end for these gambits1 but that would have been a waste4 ,such men have their uses1 until they know they are suspected1 as valuable channels of misinformation4 ,no doubt the enemy knew this too1 and that is how an ,intelligence ,officer earns his pay1 by sifting grain from chaff as it comes in and sending out empty husks and mouldy news4 ,but to return to ,cairo4 ,we netted a good deal of small fry1 but only landed one big fish during the time ,i was attached4 ,he was a ,mesopotamian and a very respectable old gentleman1 who followed the calling of astrologer and peripatetic quack--a common combination and admirably adapted for distributing propaganda4 ,he came from ,stamboul through ,athens with exemplary credentials1 and might have got through to ,india1 which was the landfall he proposed to make1 if his propagandist energy had not led him to deviate on a small side-tour in ,egypt4 ,here we got on his track1 and ,i boarded the ,port ,said express at short notice while he and the ferret who had picked him up got into a third-class compartment lower down4 ,as the agent made no signal after the train had pulled out1 ,i knew our man had not got the bulk of his propaganda with him1 otherwise ,i had powers to hold up the express1 for it was more important to get his stuff than the man himself4 ,at ,port ,said he had a chance of seeing me1 thanks to the agent's clumsiness1 and ,i had to shave my beard off and buy a sun-helmet in consequence1 for ,i was travelling in the same ship along the ,canal to see that he did not communicate with troops on either side of the bank1 and on the slightest suspicion he would have put his stuff over the side4 ,all went smoothly and he was arrested in ,suez roads by plain-clothes men with a sackful of seditious literature for printing broadcast in ,india4 ,of course they arrested the ferret too1 as is usual in these cases4 ,i went ashore with them in the police-launch as a casual traveller and was amused to hear the agent rating the old man for not having prophesied this mishap when telling his fortune the night before4 ,the propagandist was merely interned in a place of security--it was not our policy to make martyrs of such men1 especially when they were bona fide ,ottoman subjects4 ,i was rather out of touch with the pan-,islamic movement during the summer of #aiae1 as my lungs had become seriously affected on the ,canal1 and the trouble became so acute that ,i had to spend two or three months in the hills of ,cyprus4 ,before ,i had been there a week the ,g4,o4,c4 troops in ,egypt cabled for me to return and proceed to ,aden as political officer with troops4 ,i was too ill then to move and had to cable to that effect4 ,my chagrin at missing a show was much alleviated when ,i heard what the show was4 ,as it had a marked effect on the pan-,islamic campaign by enhancing ,turkish prestige1 it is not out of place to give some account of it here4 ,while ,i was still on the ,canal in ,february 7#aiae7 a memo was sent for my information from ,headquarters at ,cairo to say that the ,turks had invaded the ,aden protectorate at ,dhala1 where ,i once served on a boundary commission4 ,i noted the fact and presumed that ,aden was quite able to cope with the situation1 as the ,turks had a most difficult terrain to traverse before they could get clear of the hills and reach the littoral1 while the hinterland tribes are noted for their combatant instincts and efficiency in guerilla warfare1 besides being anti-,turk4 ,i had1 however1 in spite of many years' experience1 failed to reckon with ,aden apathy4 ,true to the policy of laissez faire which was inaugurated when our ,boundary ,commission withdrew some twelve years ago1 ,aden had been depending for news of her own protectorate on office files and native report1 especially on that much overrated friend and ally the ,lahej sultanate4 ,the ,turks knew all about this1 for the leakage of ,aden affairs which trickles through ,lahej and over the ,yamen border is1 and has been for years1 a flagrant scandal4 ,the invasion at ,dhala was a feint just to test the soundness of official slumber at ,aden2 the obvious route for a large force was down the ,tiban valley1 owing to the easier going and the permanent water-supply4 ,our border-sultan 7the ,haushabi7 was suborned with leisurely thoroughness all unknown to his next-door neighbour1 that purblind sultanate at ,lahej1 unless the latter refrained from breaking ,aden's holy calm with such unpleasant news4 ,in ,may ,aden stirred in her sleep and sent out the ,aden troop to reconnoitre4 ,this fine body of ,indian cavalry and camelry reported that affairs seemed serious up the ,tiban valley2 then inertia reasserted itself and they were recalled4 ,also the ,lahej sultanate1 in a spasm of economy1 started disbanding the ,arab levies collected for the emergency from the tribes of the remoter hinterland which have supplied fine mercenaries to many oriental sultanates for many centuries4 ,the watchful ,turk1 with his unmolested spy system1 had noted every move of these pitiful blunders1 and1 at the psychological moment1 came pouring down the ,tiban valley some #c1jjj strong with another #e1jjj ,arab levies4 ,they picked up the ,haushabi on the way1 whose main idea was to get a free kick at ,lahej1 just as an ordinary human boy will serve some sneak and prig to whom a slack schoolmaster has relegated his own obvious duty of supervision4 ,to do that inadequate sultanate justice1 it tried to bar the way with its own trencher-fed troops and such levies as it had1 but was brushed aside contemptuously by the hardier levies opposed to it and the overwhelming fire of the ,turkish field batteries4 ,then a distraught and frantic palace emitted mounted messengers to ,aden for assistance like minute-guns from a sinking ship4 ,aden behaved exactly like a startled hen4 ,she ran about clucking and collecting motor-cars1 camel transport1 anything4 ,the authorities dared not leave their pet sultan in the lurch--questions might be asked in the ,house4 ,on the other hand they had made no adequate arrangements to protect him4 ,just as a demented hen will leave her brood at the mercy of a hovering kite to round up one stray chick instead of sitting tight and calling it in under her wing1 so ,aden made a belated and insane attempt to save ,lahej4 ,the ,aden ,movable ,column1 a weak brigade of ,indians1 young ,territorials1 and guns1 marched out at #b p4m4 on ,july #d1 i4e4 at the hottest time of day1 in the hottest season of the year and the hottest part of the world4 ,motor-cars were used to convey the infantry of the advanced guard1 but the main body had to march in full equipment with ammunition4 ,the casualties from sunstroke were appalling4 ,the late ,g4,o4,c4 troops in ,egypt mentioned them to me in hundreds1 and one of the ,aden politicals told me that not a dozen of the territorial battalion remained effective at the end of the day4 ,many were bowled over by the heat before they had gone two miles4 ,most of the native camel transport1 carrying water1 ammunition and supplies1--and yet unescorted and not even attended by a responsible officer--sauntered off into the desert and vanished from the ken of that ill-fated column4 ,meanwhile the advanced guard of #bej men 7mostly ,indians7 and two #aj-pounder mountain-guns pushed on with all speed to ,lahej1 which was being attacked by several thousand ,turks and ,turco-,arabs with #ae-pounder field batteries and machine-guns4 ,they found the palace and part of the town on fire when they arrived1 and fought the ,turks hand-to-hand in the streets4 ,they held on all through that sweltering night1 and only retired when dawn showed them the hopeless nature of their task and the fact that they were being outflanked4 ,they fell back on the main body1 which had stuck halfway at a wayside well 7,bir ,nasir7 marked so obviously by ruins that even ,aden guides could not miss it4 ,shortage of water was the natural result of sitting over a well that does not even supply a settlement1 but merely the ordinary needs of wayfarers4 ,this well is marked on the ,aden protectorate survey map 7which is procurable by the general public7 as ,bir ,muhammad1 its full name being ,bir ,muhammad ,nasir4 ,there are five wells supplying settlements within half an hour's walk of it on either side of the track1 but when we remember that the column's field-guns got no further owing to heavy sand1 and that the aforesaid track is frequently traversed by ordinary tikkagharries1 we realise the local knowledge available4 ,the column straggled back to the frontier town of ,sheikh ,othman1 which they prepared to defend1 but ,simla1 by this time thoroughly alarmed1 ordered them back for the defence of ,aden1 and they returned without definite achievement other than the accidental shooting of the ,lahej sultan4 ,this was hardly the fault of the heroic little band which reached ,lahej2 that ill-starred potentate was escaping with his mounted retinue before dawn and cantered on top of an ,indian outpost without the formality of answering their challenge4 ,he was brought away in a motor-car and died at ,aden a few days later--another victim to this deplorable blunder4 ,any intelligent and timely grasp of the enemy's strength and intention would have given the poor man ample time to pack his inlaid hookahs1 ,persian carpets1 and other palace treasures and withdraw in safety to ,aden while our troops made good the ,sheikh ,othman line along the ,british frontier4 ,i am presuming that ,aden was too much taken by surprise to have met the ,turks in a position of her own choosing while they were still entangled in hilly country where levies of the right sort could have harried them to some purpose1 backed by disciplined1 unspent troops and adequate guns4 ,what ,i wish to impress is that the ,intelligence ,department at ,aden must have been abominably served and organised1 for ,i decline to believe that any ,g4,o4,c4 would have attempted such an enterprise with such a force and at such a time had he any information as to the real nature of his task4 ,as it was1 the ,british town of ,sheikh ,othman1 within easy sight of ,aden across the harbour1 was held by the ,turks until a reinforcing column came down from the ,canal and drove them out of it1 while the protectorate has been overrun by the ,turks and the ,turco-,arabs until long after the armistice1 and the state of ,british prestige there can be imagined4 ,official attempts to gloze over the incident would have been amusing if they were not pathetic4 ,needless to say they did not deceive ,moslems in ,egypt or the rest of ,arabia4 ,here is the most accurate account they gave the public3 ,,turks ,,and ,,aden4 ,,engagement ,,at ,,lahej4 ,the ,india ,office issued the following communique last night through the ,press ,bureau3 ',in consequence of rumours that a ,turkish force from the ,yamen had crossed the frontier of the ,aden ,hinterland and was advancing towards ,lahej1 the ,general ,officer ,commanding at ,aden recently dispatched the ,aden ,camel ,troop to reconnoitre4 ',they reported the presence of a ,turkish force with field-guns and a large number of ,arabs and fell back on ,lahej1 where they were reinforced by the advance guard of the ,aden ,movable ,column consisting of #bej rifles and two #aj-pounder guns4 ',our force at ,lahej was attacked by the enemy on ,july #d by a force of several thousand ,turks with twenty guns and large numbers of ,arabs1 and maintained its position in face of the enemy artillery's fire until night1 when part of ,lahej was in flames4 ,during the night some hand-to-hand fighting took place1 and the enemy also commenced to outflank us4 ',meanwhile the remainder of the ,aden ,movable ,column was marching towards ,lahej1 but was delayed by water difficulties and heavy going4 ,it was therefore decided that the small force at ,lahej should fall back4 ',the retirement was carried out successfully in the early morning of ,july #e1 and the detachment joined the rest of the column at ,bir ,nasir4 ,our troops1 however1 were suffering considerably from the great heat and the shortage of water1 and their difficulties were increased by the desertion of ,arab transport followers4 ,it was therefore decided to fall back to ,aden1 and this was done without the enemy attempting to follow up4 ',our losses included three ,british officers wounded3 names will be communicated later4 ,we took one ,turkish officer 7a major7 and thirteen men prisoners4' ,aden seems to have made no attempt to stem the tide of ,turkish influence while she could4 ,the best fighting tribe in the protectorate stretches along the coast and far inland north-east of ,aden1 and its capital is only a few hours' steam from that harbour4 ,the ,turks made every effort to win over this important tribal unit1 which might have been a grave menace on their left flank4 ,its sultan made frequent representations to ,aden for even a gunboat to show itself off his port1 but to no purpose4 ,after the ,turks had succeeded in alienating those of his tribe they could get at1 or who could get at them1 a tardy political visit was paid by sea from ,aden4 ,the indignant old sultan came aboard and spoke his mind4 ,you throw your friends on the midden1 he said bitterly1 and departed to establish a modus vivendi on his own account with the ,turks4 ,the situation at ,aden has had a marked effect in bolstering up the ,turkish campaign of spurious pan-,islamism1 and those of us who have been dealing with chiefs in other parts of ,arabia have met it at every turn4 ,it is idle to blame individuals--the whole system is at fault4 ,the policy of non-interference which the ,liberal ,government introduced1 after the ,boundary ,commission had finished its task and withdrawn1 has been over-strained by the ,aden authorities to such an extent that they would neither keep in direct personal touch themselves nor let anyone else do so4 ,as an explorer and naturalist whose chief work has lain for years in that country1 ,i have made every effort to continue my researches there until my persistency has incurred official persecution4 ,the serious aspect of this attitude is that at a time when accurate and up-to-date knowledge of the hinterland would have been invaluable it was not available4 ,the pernicious policy of selecting any one chief 7unchecked by a ,european7 to keep her posted as to affairs in her own protectorate has been followed blindly by ,aden to disaster4 ,the excuse in official circles there is that the ,haushabi sultan had been suborned by the ,turks without their knowledge and he had prevented any information from getting through ,lahej to them4 ,can there be any more damning indictment of such a system8 ,the ,aden incident is similar to the ,mesopotamian medical muddle1 both being due to sporadic dry-rot in high places which the test of war revealed4 ,the loyalty of its princes and the devotion of its army prove that there is nothing fundamentally wrong with ,british rule in ,india to command such sentiments1 but some of those mandarins who have had wide control of human affairs and destinies have ignored a situation until it was forcibly thrust upon them and have fumbled with it disastrously4 ,it is difficult to bring such people to book1 for they shuffle responsibility from one to the other or take refuge in the truly oriental pose of heaven-born officialdom4 ,such types should be obsolete even in ,india by now1 but this war has proved that they are not1 and when their inanities fritter away gallant lives and trail ,british prestige in the dust they need rebuke4 ,i hope some day1 if ,i live1 to deal faithfully with ,aden's hinterland policy4 ,in the autumn of #aiae ,i was fit enough to join the ,red ,sea maritime patrol as political officer with the naval rank of lieutenant4 ,our duties were to harry the ,turk without hurting the ,arab1 to blockade the ,arabian coast against the ,turk while allowing dhow-traffic with foodstuffs consigned to ,arab merchants and steamer-cargoes of food for the alleged use of pilgrims to go through4 ,incidentally we had to keep the eastern highway free of mines and transportable submarines1 prevent the passage of spies between ,arabia and ,egypt1 and fetch and carry as the shore-folk required4 ,taking it all round1 it was not an easy job1 but ,i think the blockade presented the most complex features4 ,you knew where you were with spies--anyone with the necessary experience could spot a doubtful customer as soon as the dhow that carried him came alongside2 and irregular but frequent visits at the various ports soon put a stop to the mine-industry and prevented any materialisation of the submarine menace except in reports from ,aden which caused me a good many additional trips in an armed steam-cutter to go1 look1 see4 ,but the problems presented by the blockade required some solving with very little time for the operation1 and if your solution was not approved by the authorities on the beach they lost no time in letting you know it--usually by wireless1 which was picked up by most ships in the patrol by the time it reached you4 ,the basic idea was that if in doubt it was better to let stuff through to the ,turks than pinch ,hejazi bellies and get ourselves disliked4 ,in theory this was perfectly sound1 for we wanted the ,hejaz to like us well enough to fight on our side1 and only the ,huns think you can get people to love you by afflicting them4 ,in practice1 however1 we soon found that the ,hejazi merchants were selling direct to the ,turks and letting their fellow-countrymen have what was left at the highest possible price4 ,on top of it all ,india started a howl that her pilgrims in the ,hejaz were starving1 and we had to defer to this outcry4 ,i have never had to legislate for highly-civilised ,moslems with a taste for agitation1 but ,i have always sympathised with those who have1 and could quite appreciate ,india's position in the matter4 ,still1 after comparing her relief cargoes with the number of her pilgrims in the country and finding that each had enough to feed him for the rest of his natural life1 ,i ventured to ask that this wholesale charity might cease1 more especially as these big steamer-cargoes were dealt with much as the dhow-borne cereals and chiefly benefited the ,turks and local profiteers4 ,as regards dhows1 our rule was to allow coastal traffic from ,jeddah and empties returning there1 as it tended to distribute food among the ,arabs and get it away from the ,turks4 ,dhows bringing cargo from the ,african coast or from ,aden were permitted1 provided they did not carry contraband of war2 this permitted native cereals1 such as millet1 but barred wheat and particularly barred barley1 which the local ,arab does not eat for choice1 but which the ,turks wanted very badly for their cavalry4 ,in this connection a typical incident may be mentioned as illustrating the sort of thing we were up against4 ,the ship ,i was serving in at the time lay off ,jeddah and had three boats down picketing the dhow-channels leading in to that reef-girt harbour1 for which dhows were making like homing bees4 ,in such cases my post was usually on the bridge1 while the ship's interpreter and ,arab-speaking ,seedee-boys went away in the boats4 ,the dhows were reached and their papers examined1 then allowed to proceed if all was in order4 ,otherwise the officer examining signalled the facts and awaited instructions4 ,usually it was some technical point which ,i could waive1 but on this occasion one of the cutters made a signal to the effect that barley in bulk had been found in one dhow4 ,i was puzzled1 because all the dhows were from ,suakin or further south1 quite outside the barley-belt1 except on very high ground which rarely exports cereals4 ,however1 the signal was repeated1 and ,i had to have the dhow alongside4 ,meanwhile the owner was anxious to get steerage-way1 for we were not at anchor and in very ticklish soundings2 so ,i slid off the bridge and had a sample of the grain handed up to me3 it was a species of millet1 looking very like pearl-barley as milled for culinary purposes4 ,i shouted to the reis to go where he liked as long as he kept clear of our propellers1 which thereupon gave a ponderous flap or two as if to emphasise my remarks1 and he bore away from us rejoicing4 ,in the ward-room later on ,i rallied that cutter's officer on his error4 ,well1 it was just like the barley one sees in soup1 was his defence4 ,in the southern part of the ,red ,sea1 which was handled politically from ,aden1 the problems of blockade were even more complex1 for there even arms and ammunition were allowed between certain ports to meet the convenience of the ,idrisi chief1 who was theoretically at war with the ,turks1 but rather diffident about putting his principles into practice1 especially after the ,turkish success outside ,aden4 ,this meant that the sorely-tried officers responsible for the conduct of the blockade in those waters had frequently to decide on a cargo of illicit-looking rifles and cartridges1 not of ,government make1 but purchased from private firms and guaranteed by a filthy scrap of paper inscribed with crabbed ,arabic which carried no conviction4 ,all they had to help them was the half-educated ship's interpreter1 with no knowledge of the political situation1 for ,aden had not an officer available for this work4 ,to enhance the difficulties of the position1 some of these coastal chiefs were importing contraband of war to sell to the ,turks for private gain4 ,up north there were no difficulties with illicit arms2 we allowed a reasonable number per dhow1 provided that they were the private property of the crew1 and when rifles were dished out to our ,arab friends the ,navy delivered the goods1 which were all of ,government mark and pattern4 ,the political aspect of the blockade required delicate handling anywhere along the ,arabian littoral of the ,red ,sea1 but especially so on the ,hejazi coast4 ,we were at war with the ,turks but not with the ,arabs1 whom it was our business to approach as friends if they would let us4 ,the ,turks1 however1 used ,arab levies freely against us whose truculence was much increased on finding they could make hostile demonstrations with impunity1 as the patrol only fired on the ,turkish uniform1 since few people can distinguish between a ,turco-,arab gendarme and an armed tribesman at long range unless they know both breeds intimately4 ,the general standard of honour and good faith at most places along the ,arabian littoral is not high1 even from an ,oriental point of view1 and is nowhere lower than on the ,hejazi coast4 ,frequently an unattached tribesman would take a shot at a reconnoitring cutter on general principles and then rush off to the nearest ,turkish post with the information and a demand for bakshish1 and there were several attempts 7one successful7 to lure a landing party on to a well-manned but carefully hidden position4 ,as for the actual levies1 they would solemnly man prepared positions within easy range of even a #c-pounder when we visited their tinpot ports1 relying on us not to fire1 and telling their compatriots what they would do if we did4 ,even when examining dhows one had to be on one's guard1 and it was best not to board them to leeward and so run the risk of having their big1 bellying mainsail let go on top of you and getting scuppered while entangled in its folds4 ,african dhows could generally be trusted not to resist search1 for when a reis has got his owners or agents at a civilised port like ,suakin he likes to keep respectable even if he is smuggling4 ,our chief difficulty with such craft1 before we tightened the blockade1 was due to the nonchalant manner in which they put to sea and behaved when at sea4 ,their skippers had the sketchiest idea of what constituted proper clearance papers and why such papers must agree with their present voyage4 ,their confidence too in our integrity1 though touching1 was often embarrassing4 ,one of our rules was that considerable sums in gold must be given up against a signed voucher realisable at ,port ,sudan4 ,i was never very brisk at counting large sums of money1 and one day when hove to off ,jeddah there were five dhows rubbing their noses alongside1 with about ,l#hjj in gold between them and very little time to deal with them1 as we were in shoal water with no way on the ship4 ,my operations were not facilitated by the biggest ,croesus of the lot producing some ,l#djj in five different currencies from various parts of his apparel and stating that he had no idea how much there was but would abide by my decision4 ,i believe he expected me to give him a receipt in round hundreds and take the oddment1 as we call it in ,warwickshire1 for myself4 ,as it was1 ,i was down half a sovereign or so over the transaction1 having given him the benefit of the doubt over two measly little gold coins of unascertainable value4 ,some of them were just as happy-go-lucky in their seamanship1 though skilful enough in handling their outlandish craft4 ,early one morning1 about fifty miles out of ,jeddah1 ,i boarded a becalmed dhow and found them with the dregs of one empty water-skin between a dozen men4 ,not content with putting to sea with a single mussick of water1 they had hove to and slept all night1 and so dropped the night breeze1 which would have carried them to ,jeddah before it died down4 ,we gave them water and their position1 but ,i told the reis that he was putting more strain on the mercy of ,allah than he was1 individually1 entitled to4 ,but the craft that plied along the ,hejazi coast were sinister customers and wanted watching4 ,some time before ,i joined the patrol one of our ships was lying a long way out off ,um-,lejj1 as the water is shallow1 and her duty-boat was working close in-shore examining coastal craft4 ,one of these had some irregularity about her and was sent out to the ship with a marine and a bluejacket in charge while the cutter continued her task4 ,that dhow stood out to sea as if making for the ship and then proceeded along the coast4 ,the cutter1 still busied with other dhows1 presumed that the first craft had reported alongside the ship and been allowed to proceed2 the ship naturally regarded her as a craft that had been examined and permitted to continue her journey4 ,and that is all we ever knew for certain of her or the fate of our two men4 ,their previous record puts desertion out of the question2 besides1 no sane men would desert to a barren1 inhospitable coast among semi-hostile fanatics whose language was unknown to them4 ,on the other hand1 the men were1 of course1 fully armed1 and there were but five of the dhow's crew all told1 of whom two were not able-bodied4 ,there must have been the blackest treachery--probably the unfortunate men goodnaturedly helped with the running gear and were knocked on the head while so engaged4 ,their bodies would1 no doubt1 have been put over the side when the dhow was out of sight1 and their rifles sold inland at a fancy price4 ,when ,i first joined the patrol we were not allowed to bombard or land at any point between the mouth of the ,gulf of ,akaba and the ,hejaz southern border4 ,the ,turkish fort up at ,akaba had been knocked about a good deal by various ships of the patrol1 and the whole place was uninhabited2 but we visited it frequently1 as drifting mines were put in up there1 having been taken off the rail at ,maan and brought down to the head of the gulf1 in section1 by camel4 ,i always suspected the existence of a ,turkish observation-post1 but no signs of occupation had been seen for a long time till ,h4,m4,s4 ,fox went up one dark night without a light showing4 ,all dead-lights were shipped1 and dark blue electric bulbs replaced the usual ones where a light of some sort was essential and visible from out-board4 ,the padre1 who had opened the vicarage dead-light about an inch to get a breath of air1 was promptly spotted by an indignant ,number ,one who said that it made the ship look like a floating gin palace4 ,this must have been a pardonable hyperbole1 for the signal-fires ashore which used to herald our approach from afar were not lit4 ,we were off ,akaba at peep of day1 and two armed cutters raced each other to the beach4 ,i went with the one that made for the stone jetty in the middle front of the town2 we had to jump out into four feet of water1 as the port has deteriorated a good deal since ,solomon used it and called it ,eziongeber4 ,a careful search revealed no one in the town1 but water had been drawn recently from the well inside the fort1 and a mud hut out in the desert behind the town seemed a likely covert to draw4 ,the cutter's officer accompanied me1 leaving the crew ensconced in the cemetery1 which was a wise move1 for1 when we were close to the hut1 heavy fire was opened on us from a hidden trench some three hundred yards away4 ,we both dropped and rolled into a shallow depression caused by rain-wash1 where we lay as flat as we could while the flat-nosed soft lead bullets kicked sand and shingle down the backs of our necks4 ,as we had only revolvers--expecting resistance1 if any1 to be made among the houses--we could not reply1 but the ship handed out a few rounds of percussion shrapnel which shook the ,turks up enough for us to withdraw4 ,fortunately for us1 they were using black powder1 and outside four hundred yards one has time to avoid the bullet by dropping instantly at the smoke4 ,otherwise they should have bagged us in spite of the support of our covering party in the cemetery1 for the ground was quite open and so dusty that they could see the break of their heavy picket-bullets to a nicety4 ,we landed in force an hour later and turned them out of it4 ,on returning1 the men who searched the hut 7which the ship's guns had knocked endways7 brought me a budget of correspondence4 ,it was chiefly addressed to the officer in charge and told me that the detachment was ,syrian1 which ,i had already suspected from their using the early pattern ,mauser4 ,it gave other useful information1 and the men did well to bring it along2 but ,i would have given much to have found some channel through which ,i could return it4 ,most of it was private2 there were several congratulatory cards crudely illuminated in colours by hand for the feast of ,muled-en-,nebi 7the birthday of the ,prophet71 which corresponds with our ,christmas4 ,there was also a letter from the officer's wife enclosing a half-sheet of paper on which a baby hand had imprinted a smeared outline in ink4 ,it bore the inscription ,from your son ,ahmed--his hand and greeting4 ,early in the spring of #aiaf we managed to persuade the political folk at ,cairo to extend our sphere of action4 ,i had particularly marked down ,um-,lejj as containing a well-manned ,turkish fort which could be knocked about without damaging other buildings in the town if we were careful4 ,it was also a rallying-point for ,turkish influence1 and it was not conducive to our prestige or politically desirable that it should flourish unmolested4 ,i was in the ,fox again for that occasion1 she being the senior ship of the patrol and the only one that could land an adequate force if required4 ,the evening before we anchored far out on the fishing-grounds of ,hasani ,island1 and ,i managed to pick up a fisherman who knew where the ,turkish hidden position was1 outside the town1 and1 having been held a prisoner once in their ,customs building1 could point that out too4 ,next morning we stood slowly in for ,um-,lejj with the steam-cutter groping ahead for the channel1 which is about as tortuous a piece of navigation as you can get off this coast1 and that is saying a good deal4 ,when we cleared for action ,i went to my usual post on the bridge with the ,s4,n4,o4 and took my fisherman-friend with me4 ,the civil population was streaming out of the town across the open plain in all directions like ants from an over-turned ant-hill1 probably realising that we meant business this time4 ,this was all to the good1 as otherwise ,i should have had to go close in with the steam-cutter1 a white flag and a megaphone to warn ,arab civilians2 thus giving the ,turks time to clear1 besides the chance of a sitting-shot at us if they thought my address to the townsfolk a violation of the rules of war1 which1 technically1 it might be4 ,however1 the fort was a fixture and our business was first of all with it4 ,standing close in1 the ship turned southwards and moved slowly abreast of the town4 ,the port battery of four-point-sevens loaded with ,h4,e4 and the two six-inchers fore and aft swung out-board and followed suit4 ,the occasion called for fine shooting1 as a minaret rose just to the right of the fort1 and the houses were so massed about it that there was only one clear shot--up the street leading from the beach past the main gate4 ,at the southern gate of the fort1 each gun to fire as it comes to bear up the street from the water-side4 ,as ,i turned my glasses on the big portico of the southern gate1 out stepped a ,turkish officer who regarded us intently2 the next instant the bridge shook to the crashing concussion of our forward six-inch1 and through a drifting haze of gas-fume ,i saw him blotted out by the orange flash of lyddite and an up-flung pall of dust and debris4 ,there was a pause1 cut short by the clap of the bursting shell reverberating like thunder against the foot-hills beyond the town4 ,a little naked boy ran in an attitude of terrified dismay up the water-street just as the first four-point-seven fired4 ,i saw him through my glasses duck his head between his arms1 then dive panic-stricken through a doorway as the fort was smitten again in dust and thunder4 ,was the poor little beggar hit8 ,no1 sir1 only scared4 ,while the target was still veiled in its dust the second four-point-seven spoke1 and the minaret disappeared from view behind a dun-coloured shroud4 ,cease fire sounded at once4 ,who fired that gun8 ,take him off1 came in tones of stern rebuke from the bridge4 ,luckily the minaret showed intact as the dust drifted clear and firing continued4 ,as the fort crumbled under our guns1 ,turkish soldiers began to break cover at various points of the town and fled across the plain4 ,the cutter1 in-shore1 opened with ,maxim-fire1 and so accurately that we could see the sombre-clad figures lying here and there or seeking frantically for cover1 while an ,arab in their vicinity1 leading a leisurely camel1 continued his stroll inland unperturbed4 ,we drove the main body out of their hidden position and into the hills with well-timed shrapnel1 and finished up by demolishing the ,customs 7where a lot of ammunition blew up71 to the temporary satisfaction of my fisherman1 who was curled up in a corner of the bridge1 nearly stunned by the shock of modern ordnance in spite of the cotton-wool ,i had made him put in his ears4 ,before we picked up our cutter the civil population was already streaming back4 ,the incident is worth noting in view of remarks made by a popular fiction-monger in one of his latest works1 that indiscriminate aerial raids on civil centres in ,england are on the same level of humanity as naval bombardments4 ,i visited the fishing-banks off ,hasani ,island a week or so after to get the latest news of ,um-,lejj1 which came from ,turkish sources4 ,there was one civilian casualty--a woman who was in the ,turkish concealed position4 ,no casualties among ,turkish officers1 but one of them left in charge of the fort had disappeared4 ,there were bits of the fort left1 but the ,commandant had moved his headquarters to the school-house within the precincts of the mosque--sagacious soul4 ,the object-lesson which we gave the ,arabs at ,um-,lejj put a check to their irresponsible sniping of boats and landing-parties1 though one could always expect a little trouble with an ,arab dhow running contraband for the ,turks4 ,in these cases their guilty consciences usually gave them away4 ,returning to the coast toward ,jeddah unexpectedly1 having played the well-worn ruse of the cat's away1 we sighted a small dhow close in-shore1 and should have left her alone as she was in shoal-water1 but1 on standing in to get a nearer view of her1 she headed promptly for the beach and ran aground1 disgorging more men than such a craft should carry4 ,i went away in the duty cutter to investigate1 and we had barely realised that she was heavily loaded with kerosene in tins 7a heinous contraband7 when the fact was emphasised by a sputtering rifle-fire from the scrub along the beach4 ,the ship very soon put a stop to that demonstration with a round or two of shrapnel1 while we busied ourselves with the dhow4 ,there was no hope of salving her1 as she had almost ripped the keel off her when she took the ground and sat on the bottom like a dilapidated basket4 ,we broached enough tins to start a conflagration1 lit a fuse made of a strip of old turban soaked in kerosene1 and backed hard from her vicinity1 for the kerosene was low-flash common stuff as marked on the cases1 and to play at snapdragon in half an acre of blazing oil is an uninviting pastime4 ,however1 she just flared without exploding1 and we continued our cruise up the coast just in time to overhaul at racing speed a perfect regatta of dhows heeling over to every stitch of canvas in their efforts to make ,jeddah before we could get at them1 for they had seen the smoke of that burning oil-dhow and realised that the cat was about4 ,good money is paid at ,cowes to see no more spirited sailing--we had to put a shot across the bows of the leading dhow before they would abandon the race4 ,there was always trouble off ,jeddah--the approaches to that reef-girt harbour lend themselves to blockade-running dhows with sound local knowledge on board4 ,at night1 especially1 they had an advantage and would play ,puss-in-the-,corner until the cutter lost patience1 and a flickering pin-point of light stabbed the velvet black of the middle watch1 asking permission to fire2 one rifle-shot fired high would stop the game1 and ,i made them come alongside and take a wigging for annoying the cutter and turning me out2 there was seldom anything wrong about the dhow--it was sheer cussedness4 ,all through the early part of #aiaf we were keeping in touch with the ,sharif of ,mecca by means of envoys1 whom we landed where they listed1 away from the ,turks1 picking them up at times and places indicated by them4 ,sharif ,husein had long chafed under ,turkish suzerainty1 in spite of his subsidy and the deference which policy compelled them to accord him4 ,he knew that the ,hejaz could never realise its legitimate aspirations under ,ottoman rule1 which was a blight on all ,arab progress and prosperity1 as the ,young ,turkish party was hardly ,moslem at heart1 being more national 7that is ,tartar7--certainly not pro-,arab4 ,husein's difficulty was to get his own people to rise together and throw off the ,turkish yoke1 for the ,hejazi tribesman1 especially between the coast and ,mecca1 has long been more of a brigand than a warrior1 as any pilgrim will tell you4 ,such folk are apt to jib at hammer-and-tongs fighting1 and of course we could not land troops to assist them1 as it would have violated the sacred soil that cradled ,islam and merely stiffened the bogus jihad which the ,turks had proclaimed against us1 besides compromising the ,sharif with his own tribesmen4 ,the ,hejazis' ingenuous idea was to go on taking money from us1 the ,turks and the ,sharif1 while--thanks to our lenient blockade--a regular dhow-traffic fed them4 ,we did not approve of this ,utopian policy1 and the fall of ,kut brought matters to a climax4 ,after certain communications had passed between the representatives of ,his ,majesty's ,government and the ,sharif1 it was decided to tighten the blockade and so induce the gentle ,hejazi to declare himself4 ,the day was fixed1 ,may1 #ae1 on and after which date no traffic whatever was to be permitted with the ,arabian coast other than that specially sanctioned by ,government4 ,in palaver thereon ,i managed to get local fishing-craft exempted4 ,the fisher-folk are not combatants either on empty stomachs or full ones1 and could be relied on to consume their own fish in that climate unless very close to a market1 where the pinch would be great enough to make them exchange it for foodstuffs1 thus helping the situation we wished to bring about4 ,i knew that all bona fide fishing-craft were easily recognisable by their rig and comparatively small size1 and hoped that good will would combine with freedom of movement to make these folk useful agents for ,intelligence4 ,i heard with some relief that the movements of the patrol would place ,h4,m4,s4 ,hardinge 7a roomy ship of the ,indian ,marine7 on station duty off ,jeddah1 which was to be my post while the enhanced blockade was in force--there are few more trying seasons than early summer in those waters4 ,i joined her from ,suez the day after the blockade was closed1 and found her keeping guard over a perfect fleet of dhows4 ,there were about three dozen craft with over three hundred people on board1 for many native passengers were trying to make ,jeddah before we shut down4 ,the feckless mariners in charge had made the usual oriental calculation that a day more or less did not matter1 but found to their horror that the ,navy was more precise on these points--and there they were4 ,the first thing to ensure was that the crew1 and especially the passengers1 among whom were a good many women and children1 did not suffer from privation4 ,this had already been ably seen to by the ship's officers--,i merely went round the fleet to sift any genuine complaints from the discontent natural to the situation in which their own slackness had placed them4 ,i insisted on hearing only one complaint at a time1 otherwise it would have been pandemonium afloat1 for they were anchored close enough together to converse with each other2 vociferous excuses for their unpunctuality were brushed aside1 legitimate requests for more water or food or condensed milk for the children or more adequate shelter for the women from the sun were attended to at once1 and our floating village quieted down4 ,the craft were all much the same type of small dhow or sanbuk which frequents the ,red ,sea and the ,gulf of ,aden1 having little in common with the big-bellied buggalows which ply with rice and dates between the ,persian ,gulf and ,indian ports but do not come into the ,red ,sea4 ,these were much smaller and saucier-looking craft1 some fifty to eighty feet long1 with a turn of speed and raking masts4 ,all were lugger-rigged with lateen sails1 and only the poop and bows were decked1 the bulwarks being heightened with strips of matting to prevent seas from breaking in-board4 ,sanitary arrangements were provided for by a box-like cubby-hole over-hanging the boat's side2 inexperienced officers often take it for a vantage-point to heave the lead from1 and only find out too late after attempting to board there1 that things are not always what they seem4 ,these little vessels are practically the corsair type of ,saracenic sailing-galley which used to infest the ,barbary coast in days gone by4 ,they do everything different from our occidental methods4 ,for example1 they reef and furl their tall lateens from the peak1 and have to send a man up the long tapering gaff to do it4 ,their masts rake forward and not aft1 which enables them to swing gaff1 sail1 and sheet round in front of the mast when they come about1 instead of keeping the sheet aft and dipping the butt of the gaff with the sail to the other side of the mast1 which would be an impossibility for that rig1 as the butt of their enormous mainyard or gaff is bowsed permanently down in the bows1 while the soaring peak may be nearly a hundred feet above the water4 ,cooking was done over charcoal in a kerosene tin half full of sand1 and the first-class passengers lived under an improvised awning on the poop1 the women's quarters being under that gim-crack structure4 ,all the same1 they are good sea-boats and remarkably fast1 especially on a wind1 quite unlike the big-decked buggalows which are built for cargo capacity and have real cabins aft but sail like a haystack on a barge4 ,it was inhuman 7as well as an infernal nuisance7 to keep all those people sweltering indefinitely at sea2 on the other hand1 our orders as to the strict maintenance of the blockade were explicit4 ,the owner and ,i conferred and decided that the situation could be met by transferring their cargo to the ship and letting the dhows beach4 ,this was referred and approved by wireless4 ,the job took us some days1 as the weather was rather unfavourable and all the cargoes had to be checked by manifest with a view to restitution later4 ,each dhow as she was cleared had to make for the shore and dismast or beach so that she could not steal out at night and add to the difficulties of the blockade4 ,none attempted to evade this order1 most carried out both alternatives2 perhaps a casual reminder that they would be within observation and gun-fire of the ship had some influence on their action4 ,hitherto the ,turco-,teutonic brand of ,holy ,war had been fairly successful4 ,the ,allied thrust at the ,dardanelles and ,gallipoli had failed1 the ,aden ,protectorate was in ,turkish hands1 we had spent a most unpleasant ,easter in ,sinai1 and ,kut had fallen4 ,still1 the ,turks were soon to realise that a wrongly-invoked jihad1 like a mishandled musket1 can recoil heavily1 and1 before the end of ,may1 signs were not wanting that trouble was brewing for them in the ,hejaz4 ,we were in close touch with the shore through fishing-canoes by day and secret emissaries by night1 who brought us news that some ,german officers had been done to death by ,hejazi tribesmen some eight hours' journey north of ,jeddah4 ,they had evidently been first over-powered and bound1 then stabbed in the stomach with the huge two-handed dagger which the ,hejazis use1 and finally decapitated1 as a ,turkish rescue party which hurried to the spot found their headless and practically disembowelled corpses with their hands tied behind them4 ,their effects came through our hands in due course1 and we ascertained that the party consisted of ,lieut4-,commander von ,moeller 7late of a ,german gunboat interned at ,tsing-,tao7 and five reservists whom he had picked up in ,java4 ,they had landed on the ,south ,arabian coast in ,march1 had visited ,sanaa1 the capital of ,yamen1 and had come up the ,arabian coast of the ,red ,sea by dhow1 keeping well inside the ,farsan bank1 which is three hundred miles long and a serious obstacle to patrol work4 ,they had landed at ,konfida1 north of the bank1 and reached ,jeddah by camel on ,may #e4 ,against the advice of the ,turks they continued their journey by land1 as they had no chance of eluding our northern patrol at sea4 ,they were more than a year too late to emulate the gallant 7and lucky7 ,odyssey of the ,emden's landing-party from ,cocos ,islands up the ,red ,sea coast in the days when our blockade was more lenient and did not interfere with coasting craft4 ,they hoped to reach ,maan and so get on the rail for ,stamboul and back to ,germany1 as the ,sharif would not sanction their coming to the sacred city of ,medina1 which is the rail-head for the ,damascus-,hejaz railway4 ,after so staunch a journey they deserved a better fate4 ,among their kit was a tattered and blood-stained copy of my book on the ,aden hinterland4,a ,meanwhile affairs ashore were simmering to boiling-point1 and on the night of ,june #i we commenced a bombardment of carefully located ,turkish positions1 firing by director to co-operate with an ,arab attack which was due then but did not materialise till early next morning1 and was then but feebly delivered4 ,we found out later that the rifles and ammunition we had delivered on the beach some distance south of ,jeddah to the ,sharif's agents in support of this attack had been partly diverted to ,mecca and partly hung up by a squabble with their own camel-men for more cash4 ,we continued the bombardment on the night of the #aath and were in action most of the day on the #abth1 shelling the ,turkish positions north of ,jeddah1 which we had located by glass and the co-operation of friendly fishing-craft who gave us the direction by signal4 ,during the morning the ,hejazis made an abortive and aimless attack along the beach north of ,jeddah1 and so masked our own supporting fire1 while the ,turks gave them more than they wanted4 ,by this time the senior ship and others had joined us1 and the ,s4,n4,o4 approved of my landing with a party of ,indian signallers to maintain closer touch with their operations1 provided that ,arab headquarters would guarantee our safety as regards their own people4 ,this they were unable to do4 ,the bombardment grew more and more strenuous and searching as other ships joined in and our knowledge of the ,turkish positions became more accurate4 ,on the #aeth it culminated with the arrival of a seaplane carrier and heavy bombing of the ,ottoman trenches which our flat-trajectory naval guns could hardly reach4 ,the white flag went up before sunset1 and next day there were pourparlers which led to an unconditional surrender on ,june #ag1 #aiaf4 ,mecca had fallen just before1 and ,taif surrendered soon after1 leaving ,medina as the only important town still held by the ,turks in the ,hejaz4 ,we began pouring food and munitions into ,jeddah as soon as it changed hands2 for the rest of this cruise my ship was a sort of parcels-delivery van1 and when the parcel happens to be an ,egyptian mountain battery its delivery is an undertaking4 ,my personal contact with the ,turks and their ill-omened jihad ended soon after1 as ,i was invalided from service afloat1 but ,i kept in touch as an ,intelligence-wallah on the beach and followed the rest of it with interest4 ,they got ,holy ,war with a vengeance4 ,the ,sharif's sons 7more especially the ,emirs ,feisal and ,abdullah1 who had been trained at the ,stamboul ,military ,academy71 ably assisted by zealous and skilled ,british officers as mine-planters and aerial bombers1 harried outlying posts and the ,hejaz railway line north of ,medina incessantly4 ,the ,turkish positions at ,wejh fell to the ,red ,sea flotilla1 reinforced by the flagship4 ,i should like to have been there1 if only to have seen the ,admiral sail in to the proceedings with a revolver in his fist and the elan of a sub-lieutenant4 ,the ,hejazis failed to synchronise1 as usual1 so the ,navy dispensed with their support4 ,on ,february #bd1 #aiag1 ,kut was wrested from the ,turks again2 on ,march #aa they lost ,baghdad2 on ,november #g their ,beersheba-,gaza front was shattered1 and ,jerusalem fell on ,december #i4 ,early next year ,jericho was captured 7,february #ba71 a ,british column from ,baghdad reached the ,caspian in ,august1 and after a final1 victorious ,british offensive in ,palestine the unholy alliance of ,turkish pan-,islamism and ,german ,kultur got its death-blow when ,emir ,feisal galloped into ,damascus4 ,the ,turks had drawn the blade of jihad from its pan-,islamic scabbard in vain2 its ,german trade-mark was plainly stamped on it4 ,there had been widespread organisation against us1 and the serpent's eggs of sedition and revolt had been hatched in centres scattered all over the eastern hemisphere1 but their venomous progeny had been crushed before they became formidable4 ,as a world-force this band of pan-,islamism had failed because it had been invoked by the wrong people for a wrong purpose4 ,such a movement should at least have as its driving power some great spiritual crisis3 this ,turco-,german manifestation of it had its origin in self-interest1 and if successful would have immolated ,arabia on the demoniac altar of ,weltpolitik4 ,seyid ,muhammed er-,rashid ,ridha1 a descendant of the ,prophet and one of the greatest ,arab theologians living1 has voiced the verdict of ,islam on this unscrupulous and self-seeking adventure in a trenchant article published in ,september1 #aiaf4 ,he showed up ,enver and his ,unionist party as an atheist among atheists who had deprived the ,sultan of his rightful power and ,islam of its religious head1 and contrasted their conduct with that of the ,british1 who exempted the ,hejaz from the blockade enforced against the rest of the ,ottoman ,empire until it became quite clear that the ,turks were benefiting chiefly by that exemption1 and who1 out of respect for the holy places of ,islam1 refrained from making that country a theatre of war4 ,true to the ,teutonic tradition1 the movement had been laboriously organised1 but lacked psychic insight1 for the ,turk is too much of a ,tartar and too little of a ,moslem to appreciate the ,arab mind1 and the ,german ignored it1 rooting with eager1 guttural grunts among the carefully cultivated religious prejudices of ,islam like a hog hunting truffles until whacked out of it by the irate cultivators4 ,the following incident may serve to illustrate their crude tactics4 ,soon after the ,turks came into the war the mullah of the principal mosque at ,damascus was told to announce jihad against the ,british from his pulpit on the following ,friday in accordance with an order from the ,grand ,mufti at ,stamboul4 ,the poor man appears to have jibbed considerably and sent his family over the ,nejd border to be out of reach of ,turkish persecution4 ,finally he decided to conform1 but when he climbed the steps of his minbar and scanned his congregation he saw a group of ,german officers wearing tarboushes with a look of almost porcine complacency4 ,his fear fell from him in a gust of rage and he spoke somewhat as follows3 ,i am ordered to proclaim jihad4 ,a jihad1 as you know1 is a ,holy ,war to protect our ,holy ,places against infidels4 ,this being so1 what are these infidel pigs doing in our mosque8 ,there was a most unseemly scuffle2 the ,turco-,german contingent tried to seize the mullah2 the ,arab congregation defended him strenuously from arrest4 ,in the confusion that worthy man got clear away and joined his family in ,nejd4 ,jihad is incumbent on all ,moslems if against infidel aggression4 ,we stood on the defensive when the ,turks first attacked us on the ,canal1 and when we finally overran ,palestine and ,syria it was in co-operation with the ,arabs1 who have more right there than the ,turks4 ,those who forged the blade of this counterfeit jihad could not temper it in the flame of religious fervour1 and it shattered against the shield of religious tolerance and good faith3 we make mistakes1 but can honestly claim those two virtues4 ,,footnotes3 ,footnote ,a3 ,the ,land of ,uz1 ,macmillan4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,,its ,,strength ,,and ,,weakness ,to gauge the strength or weakness of pan-,islam as a world-force we may best compare it with its great militant rival1 the ,christian ,church1 choosing common ground as the only sound basis of comparison1 and remembering that it is pan-,islam we are examining rather than ,islam itself--the tree1 not the root2 and though we cannot study the one without considering the other1 ,islam has already been extensively discussed by men better qualified than myself to deal with it3 the requirements of this work only call for comparison so far as the driving-power of pan-,islam is concerned as a material force4 ,first of all we must discard common factors4 ,i set the great ,shiah schism against the ,catholic ,church 7omitting the word ,roman as a contradiction in terms7 and cancel both for the purposes of comparison4 ,catholicism1 is not1 of course1 schismatic1 otherwise there are points of resemblance1 such as observances of saints and shrines1 which have permeated the other sects to a certain extent2 also the degree of antagonism is about the same4 ,therefore we can ignore the ,catholic ,church in this chapter1 and when we are talking of pan-,islam we should consider it a ,sunnite 7or ,orthodox7 movement1 and count the ,shiites out1 as they do not even recognise the same centre of pilgrimage4 ,perhaps the strongest factor in pan-,islam as a political movement or a world-wide fellowship is the ,meccan pilgrimage4 ,i have already alluded to its cosmopolitan nature in the previous chapter1 but never realised it so much till after the surrender of ,jeddah1 when stately ,bokhariots1 jabbering ,javanese1 ,malays1 ,chinese1 ,russians1 ,american citizens and ,south ,africans were among those who beset me as stranded pilgrims4 ,this implies a very wide sphere of influence1 against which we can only set the well-known immorality and greed which pilgrims complain of at ,mecca2 a huge influx of cosmopolitan visitors to any centre will generally cause such abuses4 ,on the feast of ,arafat there are normally #ajj1jjj pilgrims in the ,meccan area who represent #ajj million orthodox ,moslems throughout the world1 while the actual population of the city is only #ej1jjj4 ,the ,arabic language is another strong bond of brotherhood in ,islam4 ,i do not mean to say that it is generally understanded of the people1 any more than ,latin is throughout the ,catholic world2 but it is the language of most ,sunnites and is moderately understood in ,somaliland1 ,east ,africa1 ,java and the ,malay peninsula as the language of the ,koran2 in fact1 it is the only written language in ,somaliland1 and ,turkey uses the script though not the tongue4 ,the daily observances of prayer1 with their simple but obligatory ceremonial1 and the yearly fast for the month of ,ramadhan unite ,moslems with the common ties of duty and hardship1 as in the comradeship which sailors and soldiers have for each other throughout the world4 ,then1 again1 there is no colour-line in ,islam2 a negro may rise to place and power 7he often does71 and usually enjoys the intimate confidence of his master as not readily amenable to local intrigue4 ,difference of nationality is not stressed except by the ,young ,turks1 who have slighted ,semitic ,moslems to their own undoing4 ,contrast this attitude with our ,church and estimate the precise amount of ,christian brotherhood between an ,orthodox ,greek1 a ,welsh ,wesleyan1 an ,ethiopian priest1 a ,scotch ,presbyterian1 and an ,anglican bishop 7since the ,kikuyu heresy74 ,even within the narrow limits of one sect there is nothing like the fellowship one finds in secular societies4 ,which is the stronger appeal1 ,anglican communicant or ,freemason8 ,is a cross or the quadrant and compasses the more potent charm8 ,arabs credit us ,christians with a much stronger bond of sympathy between co-religionists than is actually the case4 ,it is true that those who come into any sort of contact with us realise that there is a distinct difference in form of worship and sentiment between ,catholics 7whom they call ,christyan7 and ,protestants 7or ,nasara71 but ,i shall not readily forget the extraordinary conduct of a ,hejazi who boarded us off ,jeddah with some of the effects belonging to the murdered ,germans mentioned in the previous chapter4 ,he must have had the firm conviction that we ,christians would avenge the killing of other ,christians by ,moslems1 for he merely told me that he had in his possession certain property of the ,allemani1 and ,i told him that he would be suitably rewarded on producing it2 ,i found out later that he had boasted to our ship's interpreter 7a ,mussulman7 that he was one of the slayers1 and it occurred to me that if that were the case he might be able to give me further information1 or perhaps produce papers of theirs which might appear valueless to him but would be of interest to us4 ,i interviewed him on deck and suggested this1 reminding him of what he had told the interpreter1 but laying no stress on the deed he had confessed1 for it was outside our jurisdiction and no concern of mine4 ,papers8 he said4 ,by all means1 ,i will go and fetch them1 and breaking from my light hold of his sleeve he flickered over the rail and dropped into the sea some thirty feet below4 ,two armed marines stepped to the rail with a clatter of breech-bolts and looked inquiringly at me4 ,meanwhile my bold murderer was calling on his ,god1 for he wore a full bandoleer1 which was weighing him down4 ,out darted a fishing-canoe from under our quarter and made for him1 but its occupants took the hint ,i conveyed through a megaphone and confined their efforts to saving him for the duty-cutter to pick up4 ,he was brought before me dripping wet1 with the fear of death in his eyes4 ,i thought this was due to the foolish risk he had taken1 and spoke in gentle reproof of his conduct1 pointing out that if any boat had been alongside where he leaped he would have met with a bad accident4 ,to my surprise he fell at my feet and scrabbled at my clean white shoes1 imploring me to spare his life4 ,i put him down as somewhat mad1 and asked ,number ,one to put a sentry over him to see that he did not repeat his attempt to avoid our acquaintance4 ,he clung to me like a limpet and had to be removed by force1 with despairing entreaties for mercy1 disregarding my still puzzled assurances as to his personal safety4 ,i learned afterwards his true reason for alarm2 he thought that after leaving my presence he would be quietly made away with in traditional ,eastern style4 ,another very strong feature of pan-,islam is the consistency of the creed from which it grows4 ,i do not necessarily imply that ,islam itself is benefited thereby1 for consistency sometimes means narrowness1 and we are not considering creeds2 but there is no doubt about the dynamic force of a movement based on a religion which is sure of itself4 ,a ,moslem has one authorised version of the ,koran1 and only one2 his simple creed is contained in its first chapter and is as short as the ,lord's ,prayer1 which it somewhat resembles in style4 ,praising ,god as the ,lord of the worlds 7not only of this world of ours71 it attributes to ,him mercy and clemency with supreme power over the ,day of ,judgment and is an avowal of worship and service4 ,its only petition is to be led in the way of the righteous1 avoiding errors that incur ,his wrath4 ,contrast this with the many confusing aspects of ,christianity4 ,perhaps diverse opinions tend to purify and invigorate a creed1 but they certainly do not strengthen the cohesion of any secular movement based on it4 ,then1 again1 the ,moslem conception of ,god and the hereafter stiffens the backbone of pan-,islam in adversity4 ,they are taught to believe that ,he is really omnipotent and that ,his actions are beyond criticism--welfare and affliction being alike acceptable as ,his will4 ,we1 on the other hand1 seem to be developing the theory of a finite ,god warring against1 and occasionally overcome by1 evil1 which includes 7in this new thesis7 human suffering and sorrow as well as sin4 ,there is a growing idea1 pioneered partly by ,mr4 ,h4 ,g4 ,wells and apparently supported by many of the clergy1 that the acts of ,god must square with human ideals of mercy or justice1 and as many occurrences do not1 the inference is that evil gets the best of it sometimes4 ,now the ,moslem slogan is ,allah ,akbar 7,god is ,greatest71 and that seems to me a better battle-cry than1 for example1 ,gott mit uns1 as ,god will still be great and invincible to ,moslems in their victory or defeat2 but the finite idea presumes1 in disaster1 that you and your ,god have been defeated together4 ,it is not my business to criticise either conception from a religious point of view1 but in mundane affairs it is the former that will make for fighting force1 especially as we still insist that our ,god is a jealous ,god1 visiting the sins of the fathers1 etc43 surely this is not a human ideal of justice2 the obvious deduction is that our modern ,deity is stronger to punish than protect--hardly an encouraging attribute4 ,whether a religion is the better for an organised priesthood or not is irrelevant to our subject1 but the absence of it in ,islam certainly strengthens the pan-,islamic movement1 as each ,moslem may consider himself a standard-bearer of his faith1 while we are apt to leave too much to our priests1 thus engendering slackness on our part and meticulous dogma on theirs2 both undermine ,christian brotherhood4 ,the fact that priestly stipends seem to the ordinary layman as in inverse ratio to the duties performed also widens the breach between clergy and laity1 besides sapping clerical moral4 ,this is not the particular feature of any one sect--the reader can supply cases within his own experience1 but here is one that is probably outside it and showing how widespread the system is4 ,the rank and file of the ,greek ,orthodox clergy are notoriously ill-paid4 ,yet their monastery at ,jerusalem costs ,,le4#ae1jjj per annum to maintain and pays ,,le4#dj1jjj annually in clerical salaries to archbishops and clergy who control the spiritual affairs of less than fifteen thousand people4 ,it derives ,,le4#cj1jjj from its property in ,russia1 ,,le4#be1jjj from the property of the ,holy ,sepulchre1 and as much again from visitors and other sources2 and this in a region where the ,founder of our faith was content to wander with less certainty of shelter than the wild creatures of the countryside4 ,incidentally1 the monastery seems to have been unable to curtail its expenditure during the ,war1 for it has accumulated debts to the amount of ,,le4#fjj1jjj1 most of its sources of income having ceased for the time4 ,i quote from current newspapers4 ,blame does not necessarily attach to the monastery or its administrators1 who may have done their best to fulfill their obligations under adverse circumstances2 ,i would merely draw attention to the incongruity of the whole system as regards a universal brotherhood based on ,christian teaching4 ,there are no such exotic growths to impede the march of pan-,islam4 ,so much for the strength of the pan-,islamic movement4 ,now let us consider its weak points4 ,to begin with1 the gross abuse of pan-,islam by interested parties for non-spiritual ends during the ,war has done the genuine movement harm4 ,that lying1 political appeal to jihad has made thinking ,moslems mistrust the infallibility of organised pan-,islam1 of which the culminating expression is ,holy ,war1 one of the most sacred ,mussulman duties if justly invoked4 ,we ,christians do not make such mistakes4 ,when ,italy was fighting the ,turks in ,tripoli the ,pope himself warned ,christian soldiers against regarding the campaign as a ,crusade1 and when we took ,jerusalem we took it side by side with our ,mussulman allies and forthwith placed an orthodox ,moslem guard on ,omar's mosque4 ,in this connection it may be of interest to note that the officer commanding a mixed ,christian guard at the ,holy ,sepulchre was a ,jew4 ,another source of weakness1 so far as a united ,moslem world is concerned1 may be found in the antagonistic points of view between civilised and uncivilised ,moslems 7,i use the attribute in its modern sense74 ,uncivilised ,moslems view with suspicion and1 in fact1 derision the dress and customs of their civilised co-religionists1 insisting that ,european coats and trousers display the figure indecently and that their ,frankish luxuries and amusements are snares of ,eblis4 ,the enlightened ,moslem1 on the other hand1 regards the tribesman as a jungliwala1 or wild man of the woods1 derides his illiteracy1 and is revolted by the harsh severity of the old ,islamic penal code as practised still in semi-barbaric ,moslem ,states4 ,now we ,christians are fairly lenient as regards each other's customs1 and still more so with regard to dress 7judging by the garb we tolerate71 while we have quite outgrown our old playful habits of boiling1 burning1 or torturing our fellow-men except on the battle-fields of civilised warfare4 ,civilisation 7as we understand it7 is a two-edged weapon and tool smiting or serving pan-,islam and ,christendom1 but on the whole it serves the latter rather than the former1 as the superior resources of ,christendom can take fuller advantage of it as a tool or a weapon1 though both turn to scourges when used against each other in battle4 ,also its handmaid1 ,education1 though in itself a foe to no religion1 does tend to tone down dogma and engender tolerance1 thus minimising the dynamic force of bigotry in pan-,islam1 though consolidating the real stability of religion on its own base4 ,moreover1 some gifts of civilisation can do a lot of harm if wrongly used2 ,i refer more especially to drink1 drugs1 and dress4 ,just as hereditary exposure to the infection of certain diseases is said to confer1 by survival of the fittest1 a certain immunity therefrom--for example1 consumption among us ,europeans and typhoid among ,asiatics--so moral ills seem to affect humanity to a greater or less extent in inverse proportion to the temptation in that particular respect which the individual and his forebears have successfully resisted4 ,the average ,european and his ancestors have been accustomed to drink fermented liquor for many centuries1 and in moderation as judged by the standard of his time1 but he has always been taught to avoid opium and has not known the drug for long4 ,the oriental ,moslem1 on the other hand1 has used opium as a remedy and prophylactic against malaria for generations1 but is strictly ordered by his creed to consider the consumption1 production1 gift or sale of alcohol a deadly sin4 ,in consequence1 the ,european can usually take alcohol in moderation1 but almost invariably slips into a pit of his own digging when he tries to do the same with opium1 while the oriental ,moslem can use opium in moderation 7provided that he confines himself to swallowing it and does not smoke it71 but when he drinks1 usually drinks to excess because he has not learned to do otherwise4 ,it is a melancholy fact that hitherto in countries opened up by our ,western civilisation drink has got in long before education1 unless extraordinary precautions have been taken to prevent it2 that is one reason why ,moslem ,states are so wary of civilised encroachment4 ,as for drugs other than opium 7and far more dangerous71 civilised ,moslems1 especially in ,egypt1 are alarmed at the spread of hashish-smoking among their co-religionists1 while the cultured classes1 including women-folk1 are taking to cocaine3 the material for both vices is supplied from ,european sources1 mostly ,greek4 ,dress1 compared with the other two demons1 is merely a fantastic though mischievous sprite and can be quite attractive1 but it breaks up many a ,moslem home when carried to excess in the harem1 as it frequently is in civilised circles1 while the younger men vie with each other in the more flagrant extravagances of occidental garb3 prayers and ablutions do not harmonise with well-creased trousers and stylish boots any more than a veil does with a divided skirt4 ,the native ,press is always attacking the above abuses1 but they are firmly rooted4 ,all three undermine the pan-,islamic structure by causing cleavage in public opinion4 ,european dress has already been mentioned as widening the gap between civilised and uncivilised ,moslems1 but it also tends to disintegrate cultured ,moslem communities1 for the older men are apt to regard it with suspicion or downright condemnation4 ,i once asked an eminent and learned ,moslem whether he thought modern ,european dress impeded regular observance of prayers and ablutions4 ,he replied1 ,perhaps so1 but those ,moslems who wear such clothes indicate by so doing that the observances of ,islam have little hold upon them4 ,all these defects1 however1 are mere cracks in the inner walls of the pan-,islamic structure and can be repaired from within1 but the ,turkish ,government1 which represented the ,caliphate1 and should have considered the integrity of ,islam as a sacred trust1 has managed to split the outer wall and divide the house against itself1 just as the unity of ,christendom 7such as it was7 has been rent asunder by one of its most prominent exponents4 ,pan-,islam has received the more serious damage because the wreckers still hold the ,caliphate and the prestige attached thereto2 it is for ,moslems 7and ,moslems only7 to decide what action to take2 but in any case1 the breach is a serious one and has been much widened by the action of ,turkish troops at the ,holy ,places4 ,they actually shelled the ,caaba at ,mecca 7luckily without doing material damage71 and their action in storing high explosives close to the ,prophet's tomb at ,medina may have saved them bombardment1 but has certainly not improved their reputation as ,moslems4 ,even before the ,war ,i often heard ,yamen ,arabs talking of ,turks and ,moslems--a distinctly damning discrimination--and the situation has not been improved by ,ottoman slackness in religious observances and their inconsistent national movement4 ,at the same time1 their rule in ,arabia will be awkward to replace at first4 ,i described the ,turks in the final chapter of a book,b published early in the ,war as pre-eminently fitted to govern ,moslems by birthright1 creed1 and temperament1 summing them up as individually gifted but collectively hopeless as administrators because they lacked a stable and consistent central ,government4 ,they have proved the indictment up to the hilt1 but that does not dower any of us ,christians with their inherent qualifications as rulers in ,islam4 ,if any of us are called upon to face fresh responsibilities in this direction1 it would take us all our time to make up for these qualities by tact1 sound administration1 and strict observance of local religious prejudice4 ,even then there is a ,mussulman proverb to this effect3 ,a ,moslem ruler though he oppress me and not a kafir though he work me weal--it explains much apparent ingratitude for benefits conferred4 ,the lesson we have to learn from pan-,islamic activities of the last decade or two is that countries which are mainly ,moslem should have ,moslem rulers1 and that ,christian rule1 however enlightened and benevolent1 is only permissible where ,islam is outnumbered by other creeds4 ,at the same time1 in countries where ,christian methods of civilisation and ,european capital have been invited we have a right to control and advise the ,moslem ruler sufficiently to ensure the fair treatment of our nationals and their interests4 ,but with purely ,moslem countries which have expressed no readiness to assimilate the methods of modern civilisation or to invite outside capital we have no right to interfere beyond the following limit3 if the local authorities allow foreign traders to operate at their ports their interests should be safeguarded1 if important enough1 by consular representation on the spot1 or1 if not1 by occasional visits of a man-of-war to keep nationals in touch with their own ,government1 presuming that the place is too small to justify any mail-carrying vessel calling there except at very long intervals4 ,there should always be a definite understanding as to foreigners proceeding or residing up-country for any purpose4 ,if the local ruler discourages but permits such procedure1 all we should expect him to do in case of untoward incidents is to take reasonable action to investigate and punish1 but if he has guaranteed the security of foreign nationals concerned1 he must redeem his pledge in an adequate manner or take the consequences4 ,there should seldom be occasion for an inland punitive expedition2 in these days1 when many articles of seaborne trade have become1 from mere luxuries1 almost indispensable adjuncts of native life in the remotest regions1 a maritime blockade strictly enforced should soon exact the necessary satisfaction4 ,such rulers should bear in mind that if they accept an enterprise of foreign capital they must protect its legitimate operations1 just as a school which has accepted a ,government grant has to conform to stipulated conditions4 ,where no such penetration has occurred1 all we should concern ourselves with is that internal trouble in such regions shall not slop over into territory protected or occupied by us1 and this is where our most serious difficulties will occur in erstwhile ,turkish ,arabia4 ,the ,turk1 with all his faults1 could grapple with a difficult situation in native affairs by drastic methods which might be indefensible in themselves1 but were calculated to obtain definite results4 ,at any rate1 we had a responsible central ,government to deal with and one that we could get at4 ,now we shall have to handle such situations ourselves or rely on the local authorities doing so4 ,the former method is costly and dangerous1 yielding the minimum of result to the maximum of effort and expense1 while involving possibilities of trouble which might compromise our democratic yearnings considerably3 the latter alternative presupposes that we have succeeded in evolving out of the present imbroglio responsible rulers who are well-disposed to us and prepared to take adequate action on our representations4 ,in ,syria and ,mesopotamia1 where communications are good and ,european penetration an established fact1 there should not be much difficulty1 but in ,arabia proper the problem is a very prickly one4 ,beginning with ,arabia ,felix1 which includes ,yamen1 the ,aden protectorate1 and the vague1 sprawling province of ,hadhramaut1 we may be permitted to hope that nothing worse can happen in the ,aden protectorate than has happened already2 the remoter ,hadhramaut has always looked after its own affairs and can continue to do so2 but ,yamen bristles with political problems which will have to be solved1 and solved correctly1 if she is going to be a safe neighbour or a reliable customer to have business dealings with4 ,hitherto none of her local rulers have inspired any confidence in their capacity for initiative or independent action4 ,during the ,war the ,idrisi1 who had long been in revolt against the ,turks in northern ,yamen1 kept making half-hearted and abortive dabs at ,loheia--like a nervous child playing snapdragon--but his only success 7and temporary at that7 was when he occupied the town after the ,red ,sea ,patrol had shelled the ,turks out of it4 ,as for the ,imam1 he has been sitting on a very thorny fence ever since the ,turks came into the ,war4 ,we have been in touch with him for a long time1 but all he has done up to date is to wobble on a precarious tripod supported by the opposing strains of ,turks1 tribesmen1 and ,british4 ,now one leg of the tripod has been knocked away he has yet to show if he can maintain stability on his own base1 and1 if so1 over what area4 ,the undeniable fighting qualities of the ,yamen ,arab1 which might be a useful factor in a stable government1 will merely prove a nuisance and a menace under a weak regime1 and tribal trouble will always be slopping over into our ,aden sphere of influence4 ,then the question will arise1 ,what are we going to do about it8 ,we cannot bring the ,yamenis to book by blockading their coast and cutting off caravan traffic with ,aden1 because1 in view of our trade relations with the country by sea and land1 we should only be cutting our nose off to spite our face4 ,moreover1 the punishment would fall chiefly on the respectable community1 traders1 the cultured classes1 etc41 to whom seaborne trade is essential1 while it would hardly affect the wild tribesmen1 except as regards ammunition1 and to prevent them getting what they wanted through the ,hejaz is outside the sphere of practical politics4 ,in the ,hejaz itself we can at least claim that authority is suitably represented and accessible to us4 ,before the ,war we kept a ,british consul at ,jeddah with an ,indian ,moslem vice-consul who went up to ,mecca in the pilgrim season4 ,a responsible consular agent 7,moslem of course7 to reside at ,medina1 also another to understudy the ,jeddah vice-consul when he went to ,mecca and to look after the ,yenbo pilgrim traffic1 would safeguard the interests of our nationals1 who enormously outnumber the pilgrims of any other nation4 ,further interference with the ,hejaz1 unless invited1 would be unjustifiable4 ,trouble for us does not lie in the ,hejaz itself1 but in its possible expansion beyond its powers of absorption1 or1 in homely metaphor1 if it bites off more than it can chew4 ,there is a certain tendency just now to overrate ,hejazi prowess in war and policy2 in fact1 ,king ,husein is often alluded to vaguely as the ,king of ,arabia1 and there is a sporadic crop of ill-informed articles on this and other ,arabian affairs in the ,english ,press4 ,one of the features of the ,war as regards this part of the world is the extraordinary and fungus-like growth of ,arabian experts it has produced1 most of whom have never set foot in ,arabia itself1 while the few now living who have acquired real first-hand knowledge of any part of the ,arabian peninsula before the ,war may be counted on the fingers of one hand4 ,yet the number of people who rush into print with their opinions on the most complex ,arabian affairs would astonish even the ,arabs if they permitted themselves to show surprise at anything4 ,these opinions differ widely1 but have one attribute in common--their emphatic cock-sureness4 ,each one presents the one and only solution of the whole ,arabian problem according to the facet which the writer has seen1 and there are many facets4 ,they are amusing and even instructive occasionally1 but there is a serious side to them--their crass empiricism4 ,each writer presents 7quite honestly1 perhaps7 his point of view of one or two facets in the rough-cut1 many-sided and clouded crystal of ,arabian politics without considering its possible bearing on other parts of the peninsula or even other factors in the district he knows or has read about4 ,the net result is an appallingly crude patchwork1 no one piece harmonising with another1 and1 in view of the habit ,government has formed in these cases of accepting empirical opinions if they are shouted loud enough or at close range1 there is more than a possibility that our ,arabian policy may resemble such a crazy quilt4 ,if it does1 we shall have to harvest a thistle-crop of tribal and intertribal trouble throughout the ,arabian peninsula1 and the seed-down of unrest will blow all over ,syria and ,mesopotamia just at the most awkward time when reconstruction and sound administration are struggling to establish themselves4 ,weeds grow quicker and stronger than useful plants in any garden4 ,empirical statements sound well and look well in print1 but they are no use whatever as sailing directions in the uncharted waters of ,arabian politics4 ,putting them aside1 the following facts are worth bearing in mind when the future of ,arabia is discussed4 ,the ,hejazi troops were ably led by the ,sharifian ,emirs and ,syrian officers of note1 and had the co-operation of the ,red ,sea flotilla on the coast and ,british officers of various corps inland to cut off ,medina1 the last place of importance held by the ,turks after the summer of #aiaf4 ,yet the town held out until long after the armistice1 and its surrender had eventually to be brought about by putting pressure on the ,turkish ,government at ,stamboul4 ,on the other hand1 the two great provinces which impinge upon the ,hejaz1 namely1 ,nejd and ,yamen1 have given ample proof that they can hammer the ,turks without outside assistance4 ,the ,nejdis not only cleared their own country of ,ottoman rule1 but drove the ,turks out of ,hasa a year or two before the ,war1 while the ,yamenis have more than once hurled the ,turks back on to the coast1 and the rebels of northern ,yamen successfully withstood a ,hejazi and ,turkish column from the north and another ,turkish column from the south4 ,the inference is that if the limits of ,hejazi rule are to be much extended there had better be a clear understanding with their neighbours and also some definite idea of the extent to which we are likely to be involved in support of our protege4 ,i know that many otherwise intelligent people have been hypnotised by the prophecy in ,the ,white ,prophet3 ,the time is near when the long drama that has been played between ,arabs and ,turks will end in the establishment of a vast ,arabic empire1 extending from the ,tigris and the ,euphrates valley to the ,mediterranean and from the ,indian ,ocean to ,jerusalem1 with ,cairo as its ,capital1 the ,khedive as its ,caliph1 and ,england as its lord and protector4 ,while refraining from obvious and belated criticism of a prophecy which the march of events has trodden out of shape1 and which could never have been intended as a serious contribution to our knowledge of ,arabs and their politics1 we must admit that the basic idea of centralising ,arabian authority has taken strong hold of avowed statecraft in ,england4 ,it would1 of course1 simplify our relations with ,arabia and the collateral regions of ,mesopotamia and ,syria if such authority could establish itself and be accepted by the other ,arabian provinces to the extent of enforcing its enactments as regards their foreign affairs1 i4e41 relations with subjects 7national or protected7 of ,european ,states4 ,if such authority could be maintained without assistance from us other than a subsidy and the occasional supply1 to responsible parties1 of arms and ammunition1 it would satisfy all reasonable requirements1 but if we had to intervene with direct force we should find ourselves defending an unpopular protege against the united resentment of ,arabia4 ,i believe there is no one ruler or ruling clique in ,arabia that could wield such authority1 and my reason for saying so is that the experiment has been tried repeatedly on a small scale during the twenty years or so that ,i have been connected with the country and has failed every time4 ,toward the close of last century a sultan of ,lahej who had always claimed suzerainty over his turbulent neighbours1 the ,subaihi1 had to enter that vagabond tribeship to enforce one of his decrees1 and got held up with his army until extricated by ,aden diplomacy at the price of his suzerain sway4 ,his successor still claimed a hold over an adjacent clan of the ,subaihi known as the ,rigai1 but when one of our most promising political officers was murdered there1 and the murderer sheltered by the clan1 he was unable to obtain redress or even assist us adequately in attempting to do so4 ,early in this century ,aden was involved in a little expedition against ,turks and ,arabs because one of her protected sultans 7equipped with explosive and ammunition7 could not deal with a small ,arab fort himself4 ,this is the same sultanate which let the ,turks through against us in the summer of #aiae and whose ruler was prominent in the sacking of ,lahej4 ,i have already alluded1 in ,chapter ,,ii1 to the inadequacy of the ,lahej sultan on that occasion1 yet ,aden had bolstered up his authority in every possible way and had relied on him and his predecessor for years to act as semi-official suzerain and go-between for other tribes--a withered stick which snapped the first time it was leant upon4 ,i could also point to the ,imam of ,yamen1 strong in opposition to the ,turks as a rallying point of tribal revolt1 but weak and vacillating on the side of law and order4 ,i might go on giving instances ad nauseam1 but here is one more to clinch the argument1 and it is typical of ,arab politics4 ,aden had just cause of offence against a certain reigning sultan of the ,abd-ul-,wahid in her eastern sphere of influence4 ,he had intrigued with foreign ,states1 oppressed his subjects1 persecuted native trade and played the dickens generally4 ,therefore ,aden rebuked him 7by letter7 and appointed a relative of his to be sultan and receive his subsidy4 ,the erring but impenitent potentate reduced his relative to such submission that he would sign monthly receipts for the subsidy and meekly hand over the cash3 these were his only official acts1 as he retired into private life in favour of ,aden's bete noir1 who flourished exceedingly until he blackmailed caravans too freely and got the local tribesmen on his track4 ,when we also consider how early in ,islamic history the ,caliphate split as a temporal power1 and the difficulty which even the early ,caliphs 7with all their prestige7 had to keep order in ,arabia1 it should engender caution in experiments toward even partial centralisation of control3 apart from the fact that they might develop along lines diverging from the recognised principles of self-determination in small ,states1 they could land us into a humiliating impasse or an armed expedition4 ,we parried the ,turco-,german efforts to turn pan-,islam against us1 thanks to our circumspect attitude with regard to ,moslems1 but a genuine movement based on any apparent aggression of ours in ,arabia proper might be a more serious matter4 ,,footnotes3 ,footnote ,b3 ,arabia ,infelix1 ,macmillan4 ,,chapter ,,iv ,,moslem ,,and ,,missionary ,having weighed the influence which pan-,islam can wield as a popular movement1 we will now consider the human factors which have built it up4 ,just as we used ,christendom as a test-gauge of pan-,islam1 so now we will compare the activities of ,moslems 7who do their own proselytising7 with those of ,christian missionaries1 grouping with them our laity so far as their example may be placed in the scales for or against the influence of ,christendom4 ,to do this with the breadth of view which the question demands we will examine these human factors throughout the world wherever they are involved in opposition to each other4 ,we shall thus avoid the confined outlook which teaches ,europeans in ,asia ,minor to look on ,turks as typical ,moslems to the exclusion of all others1 or makes ,anglo-,egyptians talk of country-folk in ,egypt as ,arabs and their language as the standard of ,arabic1 or engenders the ,anglo-,indian tendency of regarding a scantily-dressed paramount chief from the ,aden hinterland as an obscure jungliwala because1 in civilised ,india1 an eminent ,moslem dresses in accordance with our conception of the part4 ,we can leave the western hemisphere out of this inquiry1 for though the greatest missionary effort against ,islam is engendered in the ,united ,states1 it manifests itself in the eastern hemisphere1 and the ,moslem population in both the ,americas is too small and quiescent to be considered a factor4 ,we will begin with ,england and work eastward to the edge of the ,moslem world4 ,at first glance the idea of ,england as an arena where two great religious forces meet seems rather far-fetched1 but there is more ,moslem activity in some of our ,english towns than people imagine4 ,turning over some files of the ,kibla 7a ,meccan newspaper71 one comes across passages like the following3-- ,the honourable ,cadi ,abdulla living in ,london reports that six noted ,english men and women have embraced the ,moslem religion in the cities of ,oxford1 ,leicester1 etc4 ,the meritorious ,abdul ,hay ,arab has established a new centre in ,london for calling to ,islam1 and the ,mufti ,muhammad ,sadik has delivered a speech in ,english in the mosque on 'the object of human life which can only be attained through ,moslem guidance4' ,many ,english men and women were present and put questions which were answered in a conclusive manner4 ,at the close of the meeting a young lady of good family embraced ,islam and was named ,maimuna4 ,then we have the scholarly and temperate addresses of ,seyid ,muhammad ,rauf and others before the ,islamic ,society in ,london2 they are marked by considerable shrewdness and breadth of view1 and though their debatable points may present a few fallacies1 their effective controversion requires unusual knowledge of affairs in ,moslem countries4 ,it is not1 however1 the activities of ,moslems in ,england which damage the prestige of ,christendom2 it is the behaviour of ,english alleged ,christians themselves4 ,every missionary1 political officer1 tutor1 or even the importer of a native servant--in short1 anyone who has been responsible for an oriental in ,england--knows what ,i mean4 ,i do not say that ,london 7for example7 is any more vicious than ,delhi or ,cairo or ,cabul or ,constantinople or any other large ,moslem centre1 but vice is certainly more obvious in ,london to the casual observer1 even allowing for the fact that many comparatively harmless customs of ours 7such as women wearing low-necked dresses and dancing with men7 are apt to shock ,moslems until they learn that occidental habit has created an atmosphere of innocence in such cases which even bunny-hugging has failed to vitiate4 ,the social life of ,london in all its grades and phases operates more widely for good or ill on ,christian prestige among ,moslems than ,londoners can possibly imagine4 ,from the young princeling of some native ,state sauntering about ,clubland with his bear-leader to the lascar off a ,p4 and ,o4 boat1 among ,east ,london drabs1 or the middle-class ,mohammedan student who compares the civic achievements that surround him with the dingy dining-room of a ,bloomsbury boarding-house1 all are apostles of life in ,london as it seems to them4 ,i have had the hospitality of family hotels in the ,euston ,road portrayed to me in the crude but vivid imagery of the ,east when spooring boar in ,southern ,morocco with a native tracker who had been one of a troupe of ,soosi jugglers earning good pay at a ,west-end music-hall1 and ,i once overheard a young effendi explaining to his confreres in a ,cairo cafe exactly the sort of company that would board your hansom when leaving ,jimmy's in days of yore4 ,as for the news of ,london and its ways1 as conveyed by its daily ,press1 educated ,egyptians were better posted therein than most ,englishmen in ,cairo during the ,war1 as their clubs and private organisations subscribed largely to the ,london dailies1 which entered ,egypt free of local censorship1 while ,anglo-,egyptian newspapers were more strictly censored than their vernacular or continental contemporaries1 as they presented no linguistic difficulties1 but could be dealt with direct and not through an understrapper4 ,missionaries would have us judge ,islam by the open improprieties and abuses which occur at ,mecca1 ,kerbela1 and other great ,moslem centres4 ,how should we like ,christianity to be judged by the public behaviour of certain classes in ,london or other big towns8 ,remember1 it is always the scum which floats on top and the superficial vice or indecorum that strike a foreign observer4 ,it is not my mission to preach--,i am merely pointing out a flaw in our harness which causes a lot of administrative trouble out ,east4 ,it is difficult to check the hashish habit in ,egypt when the average educated effendi reads of drug-scandals in ,london with mischievous avidity1 and the endeavours of a well-meaning ,education ,department to implant ideals of sturdy manhood are handicapped when the students batten on the weird and unsavoury incidents which are dished up in extenso by ,london journalism from time to time4 ,such matters do no harm to a public with a sense of proportion1 but the effendi is in the position of a schoolboy who has caught his master tripping and means to make the most of it4 ,he assimilates and disseminates the idea that cocaine is as easily procurable as a cocktail in ,london clubs1 and that the ,black ,mass is at least as common as the danse de ventre in ,cairo4 ,we can leave ,england for our ,eastern tour with the conclusion that ,islam is welcome to any proselytes it makes there1 but that the gravest slur on ,christian prestige is cast by our own conduct4 ,there is only one bone of contention between ,moslems and missionaries in ,europe now that ,turkey and ,russia are knocked out of the ring of current politics4 ,is ,st4 ,sophia to remain a mosque or revert to its original purpose as a ,christian church8 ,whatever may be ,turkish opinion on the subject1 the tradition of ,islam is definite enough4 ,when the ,caliph ,omar entered ,jerusalem in triumph1 after ,khaled had defeated the hosts of ,heraclius east of ,jordan1 he withstood the importunate entreaties of his followers to pray in the ,church of the ,holy ,sepulchre1 saying that if he did so the building would de facto become a mosque1 and such a wrong to ,christianity was against the ordinance and procedure of the ,prophet4 ,it is worthy of note that ,christians were not molested at ,jerusalem until after the ,seljouk ,turks wrested the ,holy ,city from the moribund ,arabian ,caliphate in #ajgf3 their persecution and the desecration of sacred places by the ,turks brought about the first ,crusade in #ajif4 ,again it was the ,ottoman ,turks who stormed ,constantinople and turned ,st4 ,sophia into a mosque4 ,according to the orthodox tradition of ,islam1 once a church always a church4 ,when the ex-,khedive had the chance of reacquiring the site of ,all ,saints'1 ,cairo1 owing to the increasing noise of traffic in the vicinity1 he contemplated building a cinema-theatre there 7for he had a shrewd business mind71 but he was roundly told by ,moslem legalists that it was out of the question4 ,even if the ,turks urge right of conquest1 victorious ,christendom can claim that too1 and if they allege length of tenure as a mosque in support of their case they put themselves out of court1 as ,st4 ,sophia has been a church for more than nine centuries and a mosque for less than five4 ,if ,turkey is allowed to remain in ,europe at all it will be on sufferance4 ,even in ,asia ,minor signs are not wanting that ,turkish rule will be pruned1 clipped and trained considerably1 as humanity will stand its rampant luxuriance of blood and barbarity no longer4 ,the ,young ,turks were given every chance to consolidate their national aspirations and have achieved national suicide4 ,one may feel sorry for the patient1 sturdy peasantry and the non-political cultured classes who have been coerced or cajoled into fighting desperately in a cause that meant calamity for them whether they won or lost2 but a nation gets the rulers it deserves and must answer for their acts4 ,asia ,minor will probably be more accessible as a mission-field in due course4 ,the ,moslem ,turk is not amenable to conversion2 in fact1 during a quarter of a century's wandering in the ,east ,i have never met a ,turkish convert4 ,the ,american ,protestant ,mission will probably be well to the fore in this area in view of its excellent work on behalf of the ,armenians and other distressed ,christians during the ,war4 ,just as it has concentrated its principal energies on the ,copts in ,egypt1 so it may with advantage devote itself to the education and uplift of the ,armenians1 and if its activities are as successful as with the ,copts1 even the ,armenians cannot but approve1 for the more enlightened individuals of that harassed and harassing little nation admit that the ,armenian character could be considerably improved1 and that1 though their hideous persecution is indefensibly damnable1 their covetous instincts and parasitic activities are an incentive to maltreatment4 ,one of the most difficult minor problems of reconstruction in ,eastern ,europe and ,asia ,minor will be how to safeguard the interests and modify the provocative activities of such subject-races as the ,jews and the ,armenians where established among ill-controlled nations and numerically inferior1 though intellectually superior1 to them4 ,with their natural gift for intrigue and finance1 they repay public persecution and oppression by undermining the administration and battening on the resources of their unwilling foster-country until active dislike becomes actual violence and outbursts of brutish rage yield ghastly results4 ,deportation is not only tyrannically harsh but impracticable1 for unless they were dumped to die in the waste places of the earth1 which is unthinkable1 some other nation must receive them1 and even the most philanthropic ,government would hesitate to upset its economic conditions by admitting unproductive hordes of sweated labour and skilled exploiters4 ,there are only two logical alternatives to such an impasse4 ,one is to treat such subject-races so well that they may be trusted not to use their peculiar abilities against the interests of their adoptive country1 which would then be their interests too1 and the other is to exterminate them1 which is inhuman4 ,there is no middle course4 ,it is a salutary but humiliating fact that we incur the worst human ills by our lack of human charity4 ,we starved and over-crowded our poor till they bred consumption1 and we enslaved negroes till they degenerated our ,anglo-,saxon sturdiness of character1 then plunged a great nation into civil war1 and have finally become one of its most serious social problems4 ,so the ,jews were debarred from liberal pursuits and privileges until they concentrated on finance and commerce1 being also persecuted until they perfected their defensive organisation4 ,the consequence is that they are individually formidable in those activities and collectively invincible4 ,similarly the ,turks harried the ,armenians to their own undoing with even less excuse1 for those ill-used people were certainly not interlopers1 and so far from ameliorating their condition in the course of time1 as we have done with the ,jews1 the ,turks went from bad to worse till they culminated in atrocities which no provocation can palliate or humanity condone4 ,but to return to ,asia ,minor2 there the ,armenians were first on the ground1 and yet the ,moslems of ,armenia outnumber them by three to one4 ,any sound form of government would have to give equal rights1 but it would have to be strong and farseeing to prevent the greedy exploitation and savage reprisals which such conditions would otherwise evolve4 ,on entering ,asia we shall find a somewhat similar problem confronting the administration in ,syria and ,palestine4 ,here we have several mixed races and at least three distinct creeds--,christianity1 ,islam1 and ,judaism4 ,the ,zionist movement looks promising1 everyone concerned seems to be in accord1 and a ,jew millennium looms large in the offing1 but----4 ,in ,palestine there are normally about #gjj1jjj ,moslems and ,christians 7the latter a very small minority7 to #aej1jjj ,jews4 ,the lure of the ,promised ,land will presumably increase the ,jewish population enormously1 but they will still be very much in the minority unless the country is over-populated4 ,the ,zionist organisation will naturally try to select for emigration agriculturists1 mechanics1 and craftsmen generally to develop the resources of the country1 but that is easier said than done4 ,if ,palestine1 in addition to the sentimental aspect1 is to be a refuge and asylum for the downtrodden and persecuted ,jews of ,eastern ,europe1 there would be very few farmers among that lot--except tax-farmers4 ,even in ,england1 where he labours under no landowning disability1 the ,jew thinks that farming for a living is a mug's game and confines his agricultural activities to week-ends in the autumn with a hammerless ejector and a knickerbocker suit4 ,as for mechanics and skilled labour generally1 such ,jews as take to it usually excel in such work and do very well where they are4 ,the bulk of the immigrant population--unless ,palestine is going to be artificially colonised without regard for the necessitous claims of the very people who should be drawn off there--will be indigent artisans1 small shopkeepers1 shop assistants1 weedy unemployables1 and a sprinkling of shrewd operators on the look-out for prey4 ,if the scheme is going to be run entirely on philanthropic lines 7and there are ample resources and charity at the back of it to do so7 the ,zionists will be all right1 and will1 perhaps1 improve immensely in the next generation under the influence of an open-air life--if they adopt it2 but the resident majority of ,moslems and ,christians will not take too kindly to their new compatriots1 while the ,palestine ,jews are already carping at the idea of so many trade rivals and accusing them of not being orthodox4 ,none of this ill-feeling need matter in the long run with a firm but benevolent government1 but the authorities will have to evolve some legislation to check profiteering and over-exploitation1 or there will be trouble4 ,it is not only the new-comers who will want curbing1 but the present population4 ,during the ,war the flagrant profiteering of ,jew and ,christian operators in ,palestine and ,syria did much to accentuate the appalling distress and was the more disgraceful compared with the magnificent efforts of the ,american and ,anglican ,churches to relieve the situation4 ,the ,jews nearly incurred a pogrom by their operations1 which were only checked by a wealthy ,syrian in ,egypt starting a co-operative venture of low-priced foodstuffs and necessities with the support of the ,british authorities4 ,as for the local ,syrians1 some of them were even worse4 ,french and ,british officers speak of wealthy ,syrians 7presumably ,christian1 certainly not ,moslem7 giving many and sumptuous balls at ,beyrout1 at which they lapped ,austrian champagne while their wives1 blazing in diamonds1 whirled with ,hunnish officers in the high-pressure1 double-action ,german waltz4 ,and this with thousands of their compatriots starving in the streets and little naked children banding together to drive pariah dogs with stones from the street offal they were worrying1 if perchance it might yield a meal4 ,meanwhile decent ,anglo-,saxon ,christendom was battling in that very town under adverse conditions to succour human destitution which had been largely caused by the callous operations of these soulless parasites4 ,the ,christians of ,syria have no monopoly of such scandals4 ,yet there are otherwise intelligent people who speak of modern ,christianity as an automatic promoter of ethics1 and have the effrontery to try to thrust it on the ,east as a moral panacea4 ,it is human ideals which make or mar a soul when once the seed of any sound religion has been sown1 and they depend upon environment and climate more than our spiritual pastors admit2 otherwise1 why this missionary activity among oriental ,christians8 ,if you try to grow garden flowers in the rich1 rank irrigation soil of the ,nile valley they flourish luxuriantly1 but soon develop a marked tendency to revert to their wild type1 and it is permissible to suppose that human character is even more sensitive to its mental and physical surroundings4 ,any observant teacher of oriental youth will tell you that the promise of their precocious ability is seldom fulfilled by their maturity4 ,even the country-born children of ,british parents are considered precocious at their preparatory school in ,england1 and1 if not sent home to be educated1 are apt to fall short of their parents' intellectual and moral standard in later years4 ,the ,mamelukes knew what they were about when they kidnapped hardy ,albanian youths to carry on their rule in ,egypt and passed over their own progeny4 ,kingsley has shown us in ,hypatia what the ,nile valley did for the ,christian ,church4 ,it is not a question of ,jew1 ,christian1 or ,moslem that the administrative authorities in ,syria and ,palestine will have to consider beyond ensuring that each shall follow his religion unmolested4 ,they will have to defend the many from the machinations of the few and the few from the violent reprisals of the many4 ,it is statecraft that is wanted1 not politics or religious dogma4 ,in ,mesopotamia there has not been much missionary effort hitherto1 and there is not a good case for exploiting it as a missionary field beyond certain limits4 ,the riparian townsfolk are respectable people of some education and grasp of their own affairs1 and the country-folk are a harum-scarum set of scallywags who used to attack ,turks or ,british indifferently1 whichever happened to be in difficulties for the moment4 ,they are best left to the secular arm for some time to come4 ,medical missions1 staffed by both sexes1 could do good work at urban centres1 and a few river steamers1 or even launches1 would extend their efforts considerably4 ,we now come to ,arabia itself1 the ,peninsula of the ,arabs1 where orthodox ,islam has its strongholds and missionary enterprise is not encouraged4 ,geographers differ somewhat as to what constitutes ,arabia proper1 but for the purposes of modern practical politics it may be considered as all the peninsula south of a line from the head of the ,gulf of ,akaba to the head of the ,persian ,gulf1 and consisting of ,nejd1 the ,hejaz1,c ,asir1 ,yamen1 ,aden protectorate1 ,hadhramaut and ,oman4 ,each of these divisions should be dealt with separately in considering ,arabian politics nowadays1 and it will be well for the mandatories concerned if further sub-divisions do not complicate matters2 ,i omit the sub-province of ,hasa 7once a dependency of the ,turkish pashalik at ,bussora7 because1 since the ,nejdi coup d'etat in #aiab1 the ,emir ibn ,saoud will probably control its policy vis-a-vis of missionaries and ,europeans generally1 though the ,sheikh of ,koweit may expect to be consulted4 ,nejd comes first as we move southward3 impinging as it does on ,syria1 ,mesopotamia1 and the ,hejaz1 its politics are involved in theirs to a certain extent and its affairs require careful handling4 ,it is certainly no field for unrestrained missionary effort1 but there is no reason why a medical mission should not be posted at ,riadh if the ,emir is willing4 ,there are two rival houses in ,nejd--the ibn ,saoud and ibn ,rashid1 the former pro-,british and the latter 7hitherto7 pro-,turk2 ,emir ,saoud held ascendancy before the ,war and should be able to maintain it now that ,turco-,german influence is a thing of the past4 ,he is an enlightened1 energetic man and was a close friend of our gallant political1 the late ,captain ,shakespeare1 who was killed there early in the ,war during an engagement between the two rival houses4 ,the question of missionary enterprise in ,nejd could well be put before the ,emir for consideration on its merits4 ,such procedure may seem weak to an out-and-out missionary1 but even he would hesitate to keep poultry in another man's garden1 even for economic purposes1 without consulting him4 ,fowls and missionaries are useful and even desirable in a suitable environment1 otherwise they can be a nuisance4 ,next in order as we travel is the ,hejaz1 where ,islam started on its mission to harry exotic creeds and nations1 until its conquering progress was checked decisively by reinvigorated ,christendom4 ,in missionary parlance1 ,arabia generally is referred to as a ,gibraltar of fanaticism and pride which shuts out the messenger of ,christ1 and it must be admitted that the ,hejaz has hitherto justified this description to a certain extent4 ,even at ,jeddah ,christians were only just tolerated before the ,war1 and ,i found it advisable1 when exploring its tortuous bazars1 to wear a tarboosh1 which earned me the respectful salutations then accorded to a ,turk4 ,the indigenous townsfolk of ,jeddah are the meanest set of ,moslems ,i have ever met--,i use the epithet in its ,american sense1 as indicating a blend of currishness and crabbedness4 ,they cringed to the ,turk when the braver ,arabs of the south were hammering the oppressor in ,asir and ,yamen1 but1 like pariahs1 were ready to fall on them and their women and children when they had surrendered after a gallant struggle1 overwhelmed by an intensive bombardment from the sea4 ,the alien ,moslems resident in ,jeddah--especially the ,indians--are not a bad lot1 but there is an atmosphere of intolerance brooding over the whole place which even affects ,jeddah harbour4 ,i remember being shipmate in #aiac with some eight hundred pilgrims from ,aden and the southern ports of the ,red ,sea4 ,as we were discharging them off ,jeddah1 a plump and respectable ,aden merchant whom ,i knew by sight1 but who did not know me in the guise ,i then wore1 was gazing in rapt enthusiasm at sun-scorched ,jeddah1 which1 against the sterile country beyond1 looked like a stale bride-cake on a dust heap4 ,a sacred land1 he crooned4 ,a blessed land where pigs and ,christians cannot live4 ,incidentally he made a very good living out of ,christians and was actually carrying his gear in a pigskin valise4 ,at the same time1 it is absurd for missionaries to aver of ,christians at ,jeddah that even those who die in the city are buried on an island at sea4 ,the ,christian cemetery lies to the south of the town 7we had to dislodge the ,turks from it with shrapnel during the fighting71 and the only island is a small coral reef just big enough to support the ruins of a nondescript tenement once used for quarantine4 ,no one could be buried there without the aid of dynamite and a cold chisel4 ,presumably missionary report has confused ,jeddah with the smaller pilgrim-port of ,yenbo1 where there are an island and a sandy spit with a ,sheikh's tomb and a select burial-ground for certain privileged ,moslems of the holy man's family4 ,the worst indictment of ,jeddah 7and ,mecca too1 for that matter7 is made by the pilgrims themselves1 though some of it may be exaggerated by men smarting under the extortions of pilgrim-brokers4 ,a pious ,moslem once averred in my presence that the pilgrim-brokers of ,jeddah were1 in themselves1 enough to bring a judgment on the place1 and that trenchant opinion is not without foundation4 ,even to the unprejudiced eye of a travelled ,european they present themselves as a class of blatant bounders battening on the earnest fervour of their co-religionists and squandering the proceeds on dissipation4 ,i have more than once been shipmate with a gang of them1 and it is at sea that they cast off such restraint as the critical gaze of other ,moslems might impose4 ,as sumptuous first-class passengers they lounge about the deck in robes of tussore1 rich silks and fancy waistcoats1 though out of deference to their religious prejudice and ,christian table-manners they usually mess by themselves4 ,after dinner they play vociferous poker in the saloon for cut-throat stakes1 evading the captain's veto by using tastefully designed little fish in translucent colours to represent heavy cash1 and these they invoke from time to time for luck4 ,as it is usually sweltering weather1 the occidental whiskey-and-soda and the aromatic mastic of the ,levant are much in evidence1 and thus three of ,islam's gravest injunctions are set at naught4 ,their chief fault1 to a broad-minded sportsman1 is that they lack self-control1 whatever their luck may be4 ,i have heard an ill-starred gambler bemoaning his losses with the cries of a stricken animal1 and they are still more offensive as winners4 ,in ,mecca such open breaches of the ,islamic code are not tolerated1 but there are other lapses which neither ,moslem nor ,christian can condone4 ,it is unfair and out of date to quote ,burton's indictment of ,meccan morals1 nor have we any right to judge the city by its behaviour soon after its freedom from the ,turkish yoke1 when it may have been suffering from reaction after nervous tension2 but1 unless the bulk of respectable ,moslem opinion is at fault1 there is still much in the administration of ,mecca which cries for reform4 ,harsh measures may have been necessary at first1 but to maintain a private prison like the ,kabu in the state it is can redound to no ruler's credit1 and for prominent officials to cultivate an alluring walk and even practise it in the tawaf or circumambulation of the holy ,caaba is beyond comment4 ,also the mental standard of officialdom is low1 since ,syrians of education and training do not seem to be attracted by the ,hejaz service for long1 and local men of position and ability are said to have been passed over as likely to be formidable as intriguers4 ,it may be reasonably urged that it is difficult to improvise a ,civil ,service on the spur of the moment1 and it is permissible to anticipate a better state of affairs now that war conditions are being superseded4 ,at the same time it is no use blinking the fact that reform is indicated at ,mecca if that sacred city is to harmonise with its high mission as the religious centre of the ,islamic world1 and this affects our numerous ,moslem fellow-countrymen2 otherwise the domestic affairs of the ,hejaz are not our concern4 ,the ,hejaz has been very much to the fore lately1 and ill-informed or biassed opinion has developed a tendency to credit it with a greater part in ,arabian and ,syrian affairs than it has played1 can play1 or should be encouraged to play4 ,its intolerant tone has1 presumably1 been modified by co-operation with the civilised forces of militant ,christendom1 but the new kingdom has got to regenerate itself a good deal before it can cope with wider responsibilities4 ,emir ,feisal is1 no doubt1 an enlightened prince1 but one swallow does not make a summer1 and ,hejazi troops have not yet evolved enough moral to dominate and control a more formidable breed or be trusted with the peace and welfare of a more civilised population1 especially where there are large non-,moslem communities4 ,there has been a great deal of nonsense talked and written about their invincible fighting prowess4 ,they accompanied the ,egyptian ,expeditionary ,force in much the same way as the jackal is said to accompany the lion1 with a reversionary interest in his kill1 and their faint-hearted fumbling with the ,turkish defences outside ,jeddah was obvious to any observer4 ,they are what they have been since the fiery self-sacrificing enthusiasm of early ,islam died down and left them with the half-warm embers of their racial greed to become hereditary spoilers of the weak1 instinctively shunning a doubtful fight4 ,in guerilla warfare1 leavened by ,british officers1 they have shown an aptitude for taking advantage of a situation1 but they cannot stand punishment and will not face the prospect of it if they can help it4 ,their own leaders knew that well enough when they refrained from taking ,medina by assault1 bombardment being out of the question1 as buildings of the utmost sanctity would have been inevitably damaged or destroyed4 ,prince ,feisal has1 in a published interview with a representative of the ,press1 disclaimed all imperialistic ambitions for the ,hejaz1 but merely demanded ,arab independence in what was once the ,ottoman ,empire4 ,that being assured1 the new kingdom will be able to devote its energies to internal affairs1 and the excellent impression made by the ,hejazi prince in ,europe should be a favourable augury of the future4 ,the missionary question should be left to the reigning house for decision2 it is not fair to hamper the ,hejaz with unnecessary complications1 and to allow active missionary propaganda at a pilgrim-port like ,jeddah is asking for trouble1 apart from the flagrant violation of religious sentiment4 ,imagine ,catholic feeling if an enterprising ,moslem mission were established at ,lourdes4 ,tact and expediency are just as necessary in religious as in secular affairs--at least so ,st4 ,paul has taught us2 but the modern missionary is too apt to regard these qualities in ,christianity as insincerity and the lack of them in ,islam as fanaticism4 ,south of the ,hejaz lies that rather vague area known as ,asir4 ,for geographical purposes we may consider it as the country between two parallels of latitude drawn through the coastal towns of ,lith and ,loheia1 with the ,red ,sea on the west and an ill-defined inland border merging eastward into the desert plateau of ,southern ,nejd4 ,politically1 it is that territory of ,western ,arabia between the ,hejaz and ,yamen in which the ,idrisi has more control than anyone since his successful revolt against the ,turks a year or two before the ,war4 ,in all probability its northern districts with ,lith will go to the ,hejaz1 and the southern ones with ,loheia to the ,idrisi2 but ,western diplomacy will be well advised to leave those two rulers to settle it between themselves and the local population1 especially inland1 as tribal boundaries between semi-nomadic and pastoral people are not for intelligent amateurs to trifle with4 ,nor should the missionary be encouraged2 ,asir is not a suitable field for his activities1 and the trouble he would probably cause is out of all proportion to the good he could possibly do4 ,the ,asiri is a frizzy-haired fanatic with a short temper and a serious disposition1 addicted to sword-play and the indiscriminate use of firearms4 ,i doubt if he would see the humour of missionary logic4 ,as for the ,idrisi himself1 he is a tall1 well set up man of negroid aspect 7being of ,moorish and ,soudani descent71 and has shown shrewdness as an administrator1 though his operations in the ,war have lacked punch4 ,he is very orthodox1 and from what ,i know of him ,i should not say that religious tolerance was his strong point4 ,his capital is at ,sabbia1 in the maritime foot-hills1 with a very trying climate4 ,asir might suit the naturalist or explorer who could adapt himself to his environment and respect local prejudice4 ,no one has yet entered the country in either capacity1 but1 from what has been told me before the ,war by intelligent ,turkish officers who campaigned there1 ,i think that the birds and smaller mammals would repay research1 while the great ,dawasir valley and other geographical problems inland might be investigated with advantage under the aegis of local chiefs4 ,all that is required1 besides the necessary scientific knowledge and ,arabic1 is a certain amount of perseverance and resolution blended with a reasonable regard for other people's convictions4 ,most ,arabian expeditions fail through lack of time spent in preliminary steps4 ,i have tripped up in that way myself1 but it was owing to the restrictions of a paternal ,government1 and not through lack of patience4 ,before ,i started serious exploration in the ,aden hinterland ,i spent a year on the littoral plain getting in touch with the people and mastering the dialect4 ,any success ,i may have had up-country was due to the foundation ,i laid in those early days1 and it was not until the ,aden authorities closed their sphere of influence against exploration in general and myself in particular that my expeditions began to miss fire1 as ,i had to land at remote places along the coast and hasten up-country before their fostering care could set the tribes on me4 ,he who would explore ,asir should take a ,khedivial mail steamer from ,suez to ,jeddah1 and there show his credentials and explain his purpose to his consul and the local authorities4 ,the ,idrisi has an agent there1 and it should not be difficult to pick up an ,asiri dhow returning down the coast to ,gizan1 which is the port for ,sabbia4 ,he would have to stay there until he got the ,idrisi's permit and an escort1 without which he would be held up to a certainty4 ,in any case1 no such enterprise need be contemplated until ,asiri affairs have settled down a good deal4 ,in ,yamen proper it should be feasible to travel again within certain limits as soon as the ,imam can come to an understanding with the tribal chiefs4 ,there is not much left for the explorer or naturalist to do1 unless he goes very far inland toward the great central desert1 which project is not likely to be encouraged by the local authorities4 ,there is1 however1 a possible field for the mineralogist and prospector east and south-east of ,sanaa1 which area also contains ,sabaean ruins and inscriptions of interest to the archaeologist4 ,the northern boundary of ,yamen may be said nowadays to trend north-east from ,loheia inland through highland country to the desert borders of ,nejran 7once a ,christian diocese74 ,its eastern border is very vague1 but may be said to coincide approximately with the #deth parallel of longitude4 ,southward the limit has been clearly defined by the ,anglo-,turkish ,boundary ,commission of #aijb-e inland from the ,bana valley1 about a hundred map-miles north of ,aden1 to the straits of ,bab-el-,mandeb4 ,within these limits the two great divisions of ,islam are represented in force--the orthodox ,sunnis on the littoral plain and far inland along the upland deserts1 while the highlanders among the lofty fertile ranges separating these two areas and forming the backbone of the country follow the ,shiah schism1 being ,zeidis1 which of all the schismatic sects approaches most nearly to orthodox ,islam and regards ,mecca as its pilgrim-centre4 ,the feeling between these two religious divisions may be compared with that existing between ,anglicans and ,catholics4 ,they will occasionally use each other's places of worship--more especially the upper or governing classes--and seldom come to open loggerheads2 when they do1 it is usually about politics1 and not religion4 ,at the same time1 if you1 as a ,christian traveller among both parties1 want a scathing opinion of a ,zeidi1 you will get it from an orthodox lowlander1 and the men of the mountains reciprocate with point and weight1 for the balance of religious culture and position is with them among the big hill-centres2 including ,sanaa1 the political capital where the ,imam holds1 or should hold1 his court as hereditary ruler spiritual and temporal4 ,this ecclesiastical potentate has backed the ,turk in a non-committal but flamboyant manner during the ,war up to the turning of the tide against them1 when he sat on the fence until his ,turkish subsidy ceased4 ,he now looks to ,western diplomacy in general and the ,british ,government in particular not only to continue but to enhance this subsidy1 in order that he may really govern in ,yamen4 ,his attitude throughout is natural and1 indeed1 justifiable in the interests of himself and his dynasty2 at least occidental politicians cannot cavil at his motives2 but what they ought to ascertain is how far he can fill the bill as a ruler in ,yamen and the extent to which he should be backed4 ,without a considerable subsidy his administrative powers 7not hitherto very marked7 will not carry far even in the highlands4 ,missionaries were allowed to enter ,yamen before the ,war1 but did not establish themselves1 even on the coast4 ,some of them went up-country and stayed there some time without being molested4 ,the average ,yameni is not fanatical by temperament2 there is more bigotry among the urban ,jew colonies than in the whole ,moslem countryside4 ,in the ,aden protectorate there has been long established the ,falconer ,medical ,mission1 which1 though actually at ,sheikh ,othman1 just inside the ,british border1 has done splendid work among natives of the hinterland1 who visit it from all parts4 ,its relations with the ,arabs have always been excellent1 though the local ruffians looted the ,mission when the ,turks held ,sheikh ,othman temporarily4 ,the province of ,hadhramaut1 politically1 includes not only the vast valley of that name with its tributaries1 but the whole of the western part of ,southern ,arabia outside the ,aden protectorate from the ,yamen border to the confines of ,oman near longitude #ee4 ,mokalla is the capital and principal port4 ,missionaries have been well received there by the enlightened ruler--a member of the ,kaaiti house with the local title of ,jemadar1 inherited from an ancestor who soldiered in the ,arab bodyguard of a former ,nizam at ,haiderabad4 ,the interior is not suited to missionary enterprise4 ,muscat1 the capital of ,oman1 has already been occupied by missionaries4 ,the ,sultan 7at whose court there is a ,british ,resident7 is well-disposed1 but has lost most of his influence inland4 ,further up the ,persian ,gulf missionaries have long been established on the islands of ,bahrein1 which are under ,british protection4 ,continuing our journey eastward1 we can dismiss the ,shiahs of ,persia as outside our pan-,islamic calculations1 for their pilgrim-centre is at ,kerbela1 some twenty odd miles west of the ,euphrates and the site of ancient ,babylon4 ,this centre has been visited by missionaries4 ,afghanistan and ,beluchistan both bar missionaries1 but there are ,c4,m4,s4 frontier posts from ,quetta1 in ,british ,beluchistan1 to ,peshawar1 near the ,afghan border4 ,they do good hospital work1 otherwise their evangelising activities over the border are confined to native colporteurs and the circulation of vernacular ,scriptures4 ,there is a fierce and barbarous ,turcoman spirit in both countries which their respective rulers 7the ,khan of ,kelat and the ,emir at ,cabul7 do their best to keep within bounds1 aided by ,british ,residents4 ,missionaries seem to think this spirit can be exorcised by their entrance into the arena4 ,you might as well throw squibs into a cage full of tigers4 ,on entering ,india 7that vast hunting-ground of many sects and creeds71 ,moslem and missionary are almost swamped in the flood of ,hinduism4 ,there is no restriction on the activities of either within the four corners of the ,king-,emperor's peace1 and there is very little antagonism between the two in so big a field1 where both are doing good work4 ,although the ,moslems outnumber the ,christians by seven to one1 the honours of war go to the missionaries4 ,their highly-organised medical and educational missions do excellent work--the ,zenana ,mission is1 in itself1 a justification of ,christian mission work in ,india to any humanitarian with some knowledge of zenana conditions4 ,the ,moslems1 on the other hand1 in spite of their high standard of education1 in ,india show a tendency among their less educated classes toward the caste prejudices of ,hinduism1 which are dead against the teaching of ,islam and a handicap to any social organisation4 ,few people realise what a huge proposition the ,indian ,empire is to solve in its entirety1 with its population of #cae millions1 of whom over #ij per cent4 are illiterate4 ,of the more or less educated residuum1 not quite #ij per cent4 are ,brahmins having little in common with the huge uneducated bulk of the population1 which is chiefly agricultural and1 by its patient toil1 supplies most of the wealth of ,india4 ,yet it is the cultured but unproductive ,brahmin 7organised by a brainy old lady7 who wants to control the native affairs of ,india--and probably will4 ,in ,farther ,india the ,brahmin is at a discount and the ,buddhist is to the fore1 while ,moslem and missionary are far too busy among the heathen to bother about each other2 as also in ,malay1 where there is field enough and to spare for both of them4 ,the only other debatable field in ,asia is that vast area which we call ,china1 comprising ,china proper1 ,manchuria1 ,mongolia1 ,tibet and ,eastern ,turkestan4 ,moslem and missionary can hardly be said to meet face to face1 as missionary enterprise is chiefly in ,china itself1 where the great waterways have been of much assistance to ,christian activities1 while ,moslem efforts are concentrated on ,chinese ,turkestan4 ,here there are two ,christian missions1 at ,yarkand and ,kashgar1 under the protection 7as elsewhere in ,china7 of the ,chinese ,government4 ,moslem propaganda is spread by traders and others working from centres of ,islamic learning outside ,chinese territory1 such as ,bokhara and ,samarkand in ,russian ,turkestan1 and ,cabul1 the ,afghan capital4 ,in addition1 there is a wave of ,chinese secular culture lapping in from the ,east1 and missionaries ask that existing missions be reinforced with funds to take a more effective part in this battle for souls 7as they express it74 ,they complain bitterly that the upper classes will send their sons away to places like ,bokhara to be educated1 and that they come back ,moslems4 ,they also call for ample funds to attack ,islam on its own ground in ,russian ,turkestan1 as it is permeating ,christian ,russia4 ,this missionary point of view is natural enough2 how far it is justifiable is for the contributing public to decide4 ,to the ordinary mind ,christian villages which can become ,moslem by the leavening influence of a few inhabitants who have been to work in ,moslem centres convey one of two impressions1 or both3 either ,christianity is not adapted to their requirements so much as ,islam1 or they are too weak-kneed to be a credit to any faith1 and the one with the most virile methods may take them and make men of them if it can4 ,moslem and missionary activities in ,chinese ,asia remind one of cheese-mites gnawing away on opposite sides of a ,double ,gloucester4 ,they are very active1 and if they keep at it may get through some day2 but meanwhile the cheese seems much the same as ever1 apart from its own internal changes which the mites cannot control or affect4 ,we will now turn to ,africa1 the main theatre of war between ,moslem and missionary1 who battle with each other for pagan souls and each other's proselytes4 ,we will first visit ,morocco1 the most westerly of ,moslem countries4 ,here there is not much missionary activity1 either ,protestant or ,catholic1 but the ,french have been doing some excellent secular work there1 and under their tutelage the country is developing on lines of moderate progress4 ,there is little antipathy shown to missionaries here1 at any rate on the coast1 and medical missionaries have been welcomed inland4 ,education does not flourish1 but the country might be described by an unbiassed observer as enlightened at least as far south as a line joining ,mogador and ,morocco ,city 7,marrakesh74 ,in this northern area you will find an industrious agricultural population of small farmers scattered about the countryside1 which consists of wide1 open tracts of arable land under millet1 maize1 and other cereals1 dotted here and there with groves of olive and orange and interspersed with large forests of argan and other small trees4 ,desert country encroaches more and more toward the south1 and in spite of several large streams draining into the ,atlantic from the snowcapped ,atlas range1 the country becomes very wild and sterile the farther south you go from ,mogador until it merges in the ,sahara1 across which lies the great1 bone-whitened highway that leads to ,timbuctoo4 ,whatever the indigenous ,berber of the ,atlas may be1 the northern ,moor has never been a mere barbarian1 and ,spain owes much to his culture and industry4 ,he certainly used to have a bizarre conception of international amenities1 and got himself very much disliked in the ,mediterranean and even northern waters in consequence4 ,that phase1 however1 has long since passed2 the last corsair has rotted at its moorings in ,sallee harbour1 and ,i am told that to put a wealthy ,jew in a thing like a giant trouser-press and extort money under pressure is considered now an anachronism4 ,when ,i first knew the country1 a quarter of a century ago1 it was just emerging from a revolutionary war1 and local relations with foreigners or even neighbours were capricious4 ,they murdered a ,german bagman up the coast in an argan forest1 and the ,gefion landed a flag-flaunting armed party to impress ,mogador1 which dropped water-pitchers on them from upper windows and wondered what on earth the fuss was about4 ,on the other hand1 ,i was well received by one of the revolted tribes1 which had chased its lawful ,kaid into ,mogador until checked by old scrap-iron and bits of bottle-glass from the ancient cannon mounted over the northern gate of the town4 ,i was treated with far more hospitality than my absurd and rather rash enterprise deserved4 ,imagine a callow youth just out of his teens dropping in haphazard on a rebel tribe accompanied by a mission-taught ,moor and a large liver-coloured pointer who had far more sense than his master4 ,my tame ,moor was an excellent fellow1 who1 beside keeping my tent tidy and cooking1 helped me to grapple with the derived forms of the ,arabic verb and the subtleties of ,moorish etiquette4 ,i learnt to drink green tea1 syrup-sweet and flavoured with mint1 out of ornate little tumblers of a size and shape usually associated with champagne1 and1 after assiduous practice1 ,i could tackle a dish of boiled millet1 meat1 and olives with the fingers of my right hand without mishap4 ,beyond occasional brushes with adjacent sections of the neighbouring tribe which had declared for the ,fez central ,government1 ,i had very little trouble1 except that a peaceful boar-hunt would occasionally degenerate into an intertribal skirmish if ,i and my party got too near the loyalist border4 ,as all concerned had1 thanks to ,western enterprise1 discarded their picturesque flint-locks in favour of ,winchester or ,marlin repeaters1 the proceedings required wary handling if we were to extricate ourselves successfully1 but my long-range sporting ,martini usually gave me the weather-gauge4 ,i dressed as a ,moor1 and looked the part1 but made no attempt to pass for anything but a ,christian1 nor did any unpopularity attach thereto2 ,i was merely expected--as a natural corollary--to have a little medical knowledge 7and it was a little74 ,i found the attitude of ,moors generally towards ,christians curiously inconsistent4 ,in the towns there was a certain amount of formal fanaticism which found vent in donkey-drivers addressing their beasts as ,nasara to the accompaniment of whacks and yells1 but public behaviour was tolerant enough1 and the attitude of ,moorish officialdom was almost courtly4 ,jews had rather a bad time1 if local subjects1 as their black slippers and furtive bearing outside their own quarter made them a mark for naughty little boys1 who flung their canary-coloured slippers at them with curses and imprecations deserving a more direct and personal application of their footgear4 ,most of the wealthier ,jews had acquired ,european or ,american protection1 and were safe enough4 ,they lived in the ,frankish quarter and dressed in ultra-,european style4 ,they made rather a depressing spectacle on ,saturdays1 when1 garbed in black broadcloth1 with bowler hats1 they drifted through the sunlit streets on their ,sabbath constitutional from one town gate to the next and back4 ,they were keen trade competitors1 and gained or lost fortunes by gambling in the almond export-market or catching a grain-famine at the psychological moment4 ,one of them had retired to a leisured affluence on the proceeds that a big cargo of almonds had yielded him at a startling turn in the market4 ,he was a hospitable soul who met me once entering the landward gate in a travel-stained burnoose and insisted on dragging me into his gorgeously-carpeted house to drink aquardiente and look at his curios4 ,these consisted chiefly of modern firearms1 some of first-class ,london make1 which hung on his walls as ornaments1 having been bought haphazard without ammunition or sporting intent4 ,i nearly had a fit when he showed me a double 4#egg ,express hopelessly rusted by the damp sea-air and offered to lend it me if ,i could find shots for it4 ,the reverse of the shield was illustrated by another acquaintance of mine who had made a large fortune by importing ,russian wheat to ,morocco in famine time and had lost it in a short but striking career in ,england1 during which he was said to have entertained ,royalty1 astonished the racing world and married a well-known actress in light comedy4 ,he1 too1 was of hospitable intent1 but had generally left his purse at home when the reckoning came4 ,on the other hand1 he always carried the stub of the cheque-book which had seen him to the apogee of his meteoric career1 and a glance at its counterfoils 7by his express invitation7 was well worth the price of a drink or two4 ,the local ,islamic attitude toward ,moorish ,jews was one of contemptuous tolerance4 ,they could certainly travel1 in native dress1 where no ,christian could4 ,once1 in the patio or go-down of a ,european merchant1 ,i met a greasy1 unkempt ,jew in a tattered gaberdine watching my commercial friend as he weighed what ,i took to be a double handful of crude brass curtain rings such as traders used to sell by the gross along the ,west ,african coast4 ,they were solid gold and represented the venture of a ,jewish syndicate which had collected it in pinches of gold-dust from the river beds of southern ,soos and hit on this form of transport4 ,a troop of horse could never have brought it1 as gold1 a day's journey through the lawless tribes of the south1 but that tatterdemalion ,jew had done it at the price of a few contemptuous buffets4 ,he had1 indeed1 offered one truculent gang of highwaymen a few of the tawdry-looking rings to let him pass1 but they had waved such obvious trash aside in their eager search for actual cash1 which they had taken to the last rial4 ,the only other occasion on which ,i have known a ,moor to be hoisted with the petard of his own contemptuous fanaticism was an experience of my own4 ,i was moving quietly through a belt of timber just before dawn in the hopes of getting a shot at a boar who was in the habit of feeding till daybreak among some barley that grew near a caravan route4 ,before the light was quite strong enough to shoot by ,i was more than a little annoyed and astonished to hear cocks crowing all over the place2 presuming an early caravan with poultry for market1 ,i pushed on to the track1 meaning to pass the time of day and ask if they had glimpsed my quarry or heard him4 ,i almost ran into a town-bred ,moor who was trying to round up some scattered poultry in the gloom and cursing volubly4 ,he explained that he was riding his donkey along the track perched between two light reed cages containing fowls when the donkey baulked as a boar snorted in the thickets just off the road4 ,he whacked the donkey and cursed the boar as a pig and a ,christian4 ,thereupon came a rush like cavalry1 the donkey was knocked from under him and he was lying amid the wreckage of his flimsy crates with his poultry scattered abroad4 ,the boar1 already angry and suspicious1 as anyone but a townsman would have known by the noise he made1 had charged like a thunderbolt at the sound of a human voice so close to him and galloped off with all the honours of war4 ,the donkey was badly hurt and the man only escaped because he was sitting high and just above the point of impact4 ,i helped him secure his poultry and started back to my village to send him another donkey4 ,he thanked me in brotherly style as one ,moor to another4 ,i'm a ,christian myself1 ,i remarked at parting1 and added in my best beginner's ,arabic as ,i turned to go1 ,it is incumbent on me to assist you after the aggression of my co-religionist4 ,this conventional attitude of arrogance toward ,christendom is perhaps traceable to ,moorish predominance in the ,middle ,ages and the importation of ,christian slaves by the pirates of the ,barbary coast4 ,in any case1 it has been much toned down of late years owing to contact with capable and well-intentioned ,franks as administrators and technical experts4 ,morocco should never become a forcing-bed of religious or racial antipathy1 and will not so long as ,france continues to develop the country by methods which the natives can assimilate1 and is not lured into over-exploitation of her mineral resources or unwarrantable interference with her spiritual affairs4 ,a perfectly justifiable missionary policy would be the inauguration of industrial schools on the coast and at one or two big inland centres1 also medical missions 7with consent of the local authorities7 wherever feasible4 ,moorish craftsmanship is worth stimulating1 and doctors are welcomed for their science4 ,both schemes would redound to the credit of ,christendom and be in accordance with the best traditions of the ,early ,church4 ,in the other ,barbary states 7,algeria1 ,tunis and ,tripoli7 a few ,catholic missions have been established1 and the ,north ,african ,protestant ,mission has an advanced post at ,kairwan in ,tunis4 ,here many routes converge1 for ,kairwan is a great centre of pilgrimage and taps the religious thought of all the ,saharan tribes4 ,under such conditions1 ,islam gets ahead every time1 as every caravan traveller is a potential missionary1 while ,christian missions are anchored to the spot or have to rely on native colporteurs1 who labour under the initial disadvantage of being proselytes and seldom have the combination of tact and staunchness which evangelists require4 ,it is in ,egypt that we first find ,moslem and missionary at close grips arrayed against each other4 ,cairo is a perfect cockpit of creeds4 ,christianity is represented by ,catholics1 ,copts1 ,orthodox ,greeks and ,protestants1 these last being subdivided into ,anglicans1 ,presbyterians1 ,wesleyans and ,american ,presbyterians and ,congregationalists4 ,the main body of ,islam--some of my more fervent missionary friends allude to it as the hosts of ,midian--presents a fairly solid front of orthodoxy1 the bulk being ,hanifis1 ,shafeis1 ,maliki or ,hanbalis 7chiefly the two former72 but the irregular forces of ,shiah are well represented among non-indigenous ,moslems from ,yamen1 ,persia and ,india1 while scattered groups of ,wahabi ascetics1 ,sufi mystics and esoterics of ,bahaism skirmish on debatable ground between the opposing lines1 where range such free-lance companies as ,theosophists1 ,christian ,scientists1 ,salvationists1 etc41 all with local headquarters in ,cairo and propaganda of their own4 ,it must not be supposed that all this warlike metaphor indicates actual strife or even severe friction1 any more than the hosts of ,midian represents the attitude of missionaries to ,moslems here4 ,on the contrary1 relations are for the most part excellent1 and the prevailing animosity is political1 not religious1 being directed against us ,british much as normal schoolboys dislike their form-master until they get a harsher one4 ,the ,catholic ,church confines most of her energies to teaching her own people1 who are very numerous and well looked after2 she does not do much alien mission work in this part of the world4 ,the most formidable band of gladiators in the ,christian ranks is the ,american ,protestant ,mission1 and next to them the ,anglican ,c4,m4,s4 7chiefly distinguished in ,egypt for its medical work1 which is excellent and has an extraordinarily wide range74 ,the ,americans are great on education and have done more for the ,english language in ,cairo than any ,government institution4 ,i use the term gladiators advisedly1 for their most trenchant work is done on their own side--they concentrate their chief efforts on the ,copts1 and make a fairly good bag of proselytes from them1 apart from the great number to whom they teach sound ideals of duty as well as ,english and the three ,r's4 ,one of their leading missionaries has left it on record that no one stands more in need of salvation than the ,copts1 and as there is a ,coptic ,reform ,society the ,copts must think there is room for improvement too4 ,it has been found in practice that to convert a bona-fide ,moslem involves segregating him1 and that means finding him a living in a new environment1 otherwise he is almost bound to revert under local pressure4 ,apart from the strain on mission resources which such procedure would cause if extensively followed1 most missionaries rightly condemn such a system as encouraging conversion for material motives4 ,therefore they adopt a policy of peaceful penetration against ,islam1 encouraging young men to come to them unostentatiously 7,i call them the ,nicodemus-squad7 in order to discuss religious questions1 which is usually done in a temperate and intelligent manner on both sides4 ,even if they get no forrader1 it tends to toleration and a better knowledge of each other's language and ideals4 ,a good deal of teaching is done too with no expectation of making proselytes1 and solid friendships are formed4 ,i have myself known a convalescing lady missionary of the ,c4,m4,s4 to receive repeated calls of friendly inquiry from former pupils2 when ,i first saw two veiled young girls swing past with a palpably ,british terrier and the crisp1 vigorous step of occidental emancipation1 it puzzled my ethnological faculties until ,i was told the object of their visit4 ,all this is to the good1 and it would be very good indeed if they let well alone4 ,unfortunately1 there is another cogent factor in the mission field1 and that is the sinews of war in hard cash4 ,most people1 even those who support missions to ,moslem countries1 are human enough to like a fight put up for their money4 ,it is not enough for them that a great deal of quiet1 patient work is being done by missionaries among ,moslems in the name of ,christianity and the service of mankind4 ,they want to hear about storming citadels of sin and campaigning against the devil in the dark places of the earth2 especially is this so in ,america1 where ,moslem prejudice does not have to be considered and religious organisation1 like most other concerns1 is on a big scale4 ,as a natural consequence1 missionaries have to play up to this combatant instinct1 and so we read in their books and reports remarks calculated to engender religious intolerance on both sides1 and which do not conform with the shrewd and kindly work in the field of those devoted and often scholarly men4 ,i shall have occasion to allude to some of these statements as we proceed1 so think it only fair to mention their justification here4 ,cairo is described as a strategic centre in mission parlance1 and so it is1 being situated on a great waterway with rail connection far south into the heart of ,africa and converging caravan routes from every quarter4 ,along these arteries of traffic many tons of tracts and propaganda are hurled annually by train1 felucca and colporteur4 ,those who cannot read accept such matter gladly to wrap things up in and to show to their literate friends1 who read what resembles a bit of the ,koran and find it carries a sting in its tail1 like a scorpion1 aimed at ,islam4 ,a great deal of this literature consists of the ,psalms of ,david1 the ,talmud or the ,gospel1 all reverenced by ,moslems if dished up without trimmings4 ,not wishing to impose on that hard-worked word camouflage1 ,i would merely ask1 as a naturalist1 if such protective mimicry is worth the irritation it causes4 ,in any case1 the system reminds me of an old ,highlander's opening comment on a sword dance by a rock scorpion in a ,tangier saloon4 ,there is a sairtain elegance aboot yourr grace-steps1 but get in between the swords4 ,no vicarious efforts by propaganda will ever take the place of personal precept and example4 ,in hunting proselytes among the followers of ,islam it is not advisable to rely too much on the ,scriptures1 as ,moslems doubt the authenticity of our version and point to our own divergent copies in proof thereof4 ,nor is it any use asking them to believe as an act of faith2 if they did they would need no proselytising3 an appeal must be made to their reason1 and there is no better appeal than the life1 works1 and conduct of one who professes and practises ,christianity4 ,even if he makes no single convert he has leavened the population around him with the dignity and prestige of his creed which has produced such a type4 ,unfortunately such results cannot be scheduled in mission reports1 though they are real enough and well worth living for1 whether a man be a missionary or not2 only they cannot be produced by brilliant wide-sweeping feats of organisation and enterprise1 but by persevering1 consistent lives1 which are not easy or spectacular4 ,egypt should be a great field of religious warfare by personal influence1 as ,christians and ,moslems live side by side in daily contact and reasonable accord1 yet few of us take advantage of the fact to uphold the prestige of our creed or even of our race4 ,we ,europeans are busy with our multifarious interests and duties1 while ,egyptian ,moslems are either entangled in the web of their environment1 as are the fellahin1 or eager snatchers at the gifts of civilisation1 as are the more or less cultured effendis1 or mere hair-splitters in futile religious controversy1 as are too many of the ulema or sages at the great collegiate mosque of al-,azhar4 ,in each case1 spiritual matters are apt to get crowded out4 ,the fault lies chiefly with our cosmopolitan ingredients1 which engender feverish living1 if not actual vice1 and the over-strained effort on the one side to impart and on the other side to assimilate a ,western system of education which has induced intellectual dyspepsia4 ,so we hear of students mugging parrot-like to pass half-yearly examinations1 in the hopes of getting ,government appointments for which there are far too many applicants2 these young men besiege the ,press with complaints of unfair treatment if they fail1 or even go to the length of attempting suicide with carbolic acid 7fortunately with sufficient caution to ensure it usually being but an attempt72 this latter petulant protest at the temporary thwarting of their material hopes is dead against all the teaching and tradition of ,islam1 but it has become so frequent that a leading educational authority suggests that no student who attempts suicide shall be allowed to sit again for a ,government examination4 ,among their seniors up at al-,azhar are men of real learning and remarkably persevering scholarship 7their theological course makes the average brain reel to contemplate71 but some sheikh started a controversy as to whether ,adam was a prophet or not1 which fell among those sages with the disrupting force of a grenade1 causing much litigation in the ,islamic courts and culminating in the divorce of the originator by his wife for kufr1 or heresy as ordained by ,moslem law4 ,beneath these troubled waters the fellah's life flows placidly1 bounded on the one hand by his crops and on the other by the market2 his spiritual stimulus being supplied by an occasional religious fair or a visit to the shrine of some local saint4 ,he toils as patiently as his water-wheel buffalo1 and on that toil depends the wealth of ,egypt which supports saints and sinners1 schools and shops1 with all our ,european schemes and enterprises thrown in4 ,as for us ,british1 if our object is to enhance the prestige of our race or creed1 we fall very short of achievement4 ,we have not even that reputation for integrity which usually attaches to us in other parts of the ,moslem world4 ,this may be partly due to our anomalous position in the country1 which was thrust upon us1 but the pleasure-seeking tourist of pre-,war days has a lot to answer for4 ,some of them seemed to think that so far from home their conduct was of no account 7at least1 that is the only charitable explanation71 and ,british personal prestige suffered in consequence4 ,anglo-,egyptian officials1 especially the subordinate grades1 which come into more direct contact with the people1 tried to counteract this by increased dignity of demeanour1 but the natives now knew them en deshabille1 or thought they did1 and declined to keep them on their pedestals4 ,the result is1 familiarity without intimacy and detachment without dignity1 while the pre-,war official habit of going ,home every year for some months has prevented even subordinates from studying their district or department consecutively4 ,hence it is that a widespread ,nationalist movement gathered force and perfected its plans for a detailed campaign which blended peaceful demonstration with sabotage1 murder and violence1 and took the ,anglo-,egyptian ,government completely by surprise1 paralysing communications and intimidating the general public until the weight of ,imperial troops1 luckily still quartered in the country1 was allowed to make itself felt and restored order4 ,this is not the time or the place to discuss these affairs1 which are still sub judice1 but one salient feature of the movement is pertinent to our subject1 and that is the marked rapprochement between ,moslems and ,copts1 who fraternised in each other's mosques and churches1 carried flags bearing the device of ,cross and ,crescent and used ,american mission buildings to further their new-found brotherhood4 ,these relations were somewhat marred by the wholesale devastation of ,coptic property up-country1 but the ,copts took it very well and paraded the streets with their ,moslem friends1 if they could not hide away from them4 ,the local ,jew came in too1 and the climax of this religious entente was reached when an ,egyptian ,jewess preached in the mosque of al-,azhar on the ancient relations between ,jews and ,arabs4 ,but we must not merely consider ,egypt as a sort of religious and racial clearing house2 it is also the main gate of ,africa4 ,southward1 up the ,nile valley and across grim deserts1 lies ,khartoum1 the capital of the ,anglo-,egyptian ,sudan1 only four days from ,cairo by rail4 ,this is a very tempting theatre for missionary enterprise1 which is1 however1 held in check by the authorities1 who decline to have their ,sudan spiritually exploited and materially disturbed by futile efforts to evangelise the country4 ,missionaries say that this part of the ,sudan1 as well as ,egypt1 was once ,christian2 that discrimination is being shown in favour of ,islam even to the extent of making pagans become ,moslem on joining the ,egyptian ,army2 that ,gordon ,college is being run on non-,christian lines and that ,islam is getting ahead of them in the race to convert pagans in this part of the world4 ,the case against them is that the fact of these regions being once ,christian and now ,moslem shows1 if anything1 that the latter religion is more suited to local requirements and conditions2 ,islam is naturally favoured in a ,moslem country1 though many ,christian missions have been given facilities too1 and have mostly failed owing to climatic conditions3 the ,egyptian ,army is ,moslem and under a ,moslem ,government2 the conversion of pagan recruits to ,islam is encouraged for the sake of discipline and soldierly conduct2 missionaries themselves admit that even in civil life a ,christian convert from ,islam must be segregated or he will lapse under surrounding pressure--perhaps they will explain how that is to be done in a barrack-room or native infantry lines1 or would they prefer such recruits to remain pagan8 ,presumably they would1 as one of their complaints is that it is a thousand times harder to convert a ,moslem to ,christianity than a pagan4 ,comment is superfluous2 nothing could portray their attitude more clearly4 ,as for ,islam getting ahead of them in the race for pagan souls1 it is so and will be so always among the black races unless ,christian missions are bolstered up by all the resources of local authority2 the reason is that ,islam offers equal privileges and no colour-line1 imposes easy spiritual obligations and is propagated fervently by its followers without the encumbrance of an organised priesthood4 ,just as commercial travellers consider a district neglected where a rival firm has got ahead of them1 so missionaries are piqued at conditions in the ,sudan2 but even that does not excuse such statements as that women in the ,sudan are free and not badly treated as pagans1 but slaves and oppressed under ,islam4 ,every student of the ,islamic code knows that the status of women has been enormously improved thereby as compared with any pagan system4 ,missionaries must know this1 for they are much better educated about ,islam than they were a quarter of a century ago1 yet they do not scruple to raise the partisan cry of a debased womanhood under ,islam wherever local conditions involve domestic hardship4 ,such tactics are unworthy of them2 an intellectual ,moslem does not reproach ,christianity because he has visited districts in the poorer quarters of our big towns and seen women lead lives of drudgery or being sometimes knocked about by their husbands4 ,outside the ,sudan and ,nigeria we must keep to the eastern side of ,africa in order to maintain touch with ,islam4 ,the negroid people of ,italian ,erythrea are ,moslems1 as are also the ,somalis2 but their racial cousins1 the ,abyssinians1 are ,christians of the ,ethiopian ,church1 with the ,negus as their temporal and spiritual ruler1 who claims descent from ,king ,solomon and the ,queen of ,sheba4 ,abyssinia has been ,christian ever since the fourth century1 but the missionaries are not happy about the country at all4 ,here nothing impedes the entrance of the missionary as an individual1 but the people will not have him as an evangelist at any price4 ,the fanatical and debased priests of the ,abyssinian ,church and the drastic punishments inflicted by the local authorities on those suspected of favouring other forms of ,christianity are described as grave hindrances4 ,there is a large population of black ,jews1 who will have no dealings with ,christianity in any form4 ,meanwhile ,islam gains ground steadily1 especially in the south along the trade routes4 ,a ,german missionary1 writing from ,strasburg in #aiaj1 describes the situation as alarming1 because whole tribes of ,abyssinians who still bear ,christian names have become ,muhammedans in the last twenty years4 ,there is one ,protestant mission up at ,addis ,abeba1 but it confines its attentions to the semi-pagan ,gallas1 having given up ,christian ,abyssinia as a bad job4 ,somaliland is a poor field for missionary enterprise1 owing to the sparse1 semi-nomadic population and the difficulties of getting about4 ,in the ,french sphere there is connection by rail between ,jibuti on the coast and ,dera ,dowa near the ,abyssinian border2 travelling musicians of the cafe chantant type used to use it a good deal before the ,war1 but there was not much doing in the missionary line4 ,italian ,somaliland1 east of the ,british sphere to ,cape ,guardafui1 is left to look after itself1 except for the occasional visit of an ,italian man-of-war2 but south of that great headland there are ,italian settlements4 ,in ,british ,somaliland missionary enterprise has hitherto been ,catholic1 and even that ceased some years before the ,war when the authorities had to tell the mission that it must leave1 as they could no longer protect it from the ,mullah's people4 ,it was a pity1 as the mission was doing good work and was much respected in the country4 ,there was a ,brotherhood which taught and doctored1 and a teaching ,sisterhood4 ,they were ,franciscans and had their local headquarters and a tastefully designed little chapel in the native town of ,berbera1 but the ,brothers had also an agricultural settlement up-country1 where they tilled the soil and did their best to teach the natives to do so too4 ,the ,somali is much easier to convert than the ,arab1 as his versatile and superficial temperament induces him to imitate1 if not to assimilate1 alien forms and ceremonies from the correct procedure at the ,angelus to the singing1 with appropriate gestures1 of a bicycle made for two4 ,unfortunately1 it is almost impossible to teach him to think1 or to do a day's honest work2 he will pull a punkah while you are awake to keep him at it1 or row a boat if allowed to sing1 and sometimes he will fish if hungry and quite near the sea2 but agriculture involves the hard work of digging1 and that is too much for him4 ,the object of the mission was to give ,somali boys and girls the rudiments of ,catholic ,christianity and habits of industry4 ,the boys were well grounded in ,english and the three ,r's in their simplest form1 while the girls were taught chiefly sewing and cooking4 ,the idea was for boys and girls to marry each other in the fulness of time and beget ,christian children1 but1 as one of the good ,fathers used regretfully to say1 it did not work out in practice4 ,the boys learnt enough to become interpreters or obtain small clerkships in the post and telegraph offices of ,aden and adjacent ports1 whereupon they felt marriage with a black woman to be derogatory1 and looked higher1 to the less swarthy charms of some half-caste maiden met at ,mass 7for they usually remained ,catholic1 at least in outward form74 ,the girls1 on the other hand1 with all their domestic training1 were much sought after by local chiefs1 who were prepared to give them a good allowance in beads1 bangles and cloth1 plenty of food and a fairly easy life4 ,in such surroundings they naturally readopted ,islam4 ,somaliland is not as barren as most people suppose4 ,of course the littoral plain is comparatively sterile1 as is the case on the ,arabian side1 owing to the scanty rainfall1 and the maritime scarp of the hills that back it is not much better1 but the country improves as you go inland2 there is good grazing on the intra-montane plateau1 and the watersheds of such massifs as ,wagr1 ,sheikh and ,golis 7#g1jjj ft4 or so7 are thickly wooded1 chiefly with the gigantic cactus tree1 which averages forty feet2 timber trees are scarce1 being mostly tall ,coniferae in sheltered glens at the higher altitudes4 ,inland of these ranges the ground slopes gradually toward the almost waterless ,haud--a vast plateau sparsely covered with tall mimosa bush or actual trees attaining some thirty feet in height and striking deep to subterranean moisture1 which keeps them remarkably fresh and green4 ,giraffe feed eagerly on the tender upper foliage and herds of camel graze there too1 going six months without water1 for there is no known supply locally except in the occasional mud-pans or ballis after a rainburst1 which may happen once a year4 ,these camels are kept for meat and milk only1 and are no use for transport1 as they are too soft to carry a sack of flour4 ,they are rounded up and brought in to wells twice a year1 where they water for a week or so4 ,herdsmen moving with them live on their milk1 which is most sustaining4 ,they must be watered after a maximum interval of half a year1 or they get poor and will not put on flesh4 ,needless to say1 no transport camel could be treated like that4 ,a caravan camel can go five days without water1 but that is about his limit while working1 and he should be allowed to rest and graze for some days afterwards if he is to regain working condition4 ,the giraffe1 as also antelope of various kinds1 can support life without water at all1 though they trek greedily to the ballis after rain4 ,here lion lie in wait for them occasionally1 and it is a frequent subject of discussion among naturalists and sportsmen how such heavy1 thirsty animals can subsist in the ,haud4 ,the most probable supposition is that they only enter this region with the rains and trek from one balli to another4 ,i have met a lioness a long way out of lion country presumably trekking from one water-hole to the next4 ,what is still more remarkable is that heavy game sometimes will do so too4 ,heavy firing was once heard far south of ,burao1 and a mounted force pushed out thinking it was the ,mullah's people going for our friendlies out grazing4 ,a rhinoceros on trek for water and nearly mad with thirst had winded the waterskins in a ,somali grazing camp and charged through the zareba to get at them4 ,he was mobbed to death by the herdsmen with the rifles which a benevolent ,government had given them for protection against the dervishes4 ,to do them justice1 the ,somalis fear their fauna very little and have more than once1 when in attendance on a ,european sportsman1 driven off a lion with spears and a resolute front after the white man had failed to stop the beast with both barrels4 ,even a woman will face a leopard with a torch of dry grass to contest the ownership of a fat-tailed sheep which he has tried to filch from the zareba by night1 fearing his snarling menace far less than the wrath of her lord and master if the marauder secures his prey4 ,as for the ,midgan1 that born hunter and nomadic outcast whom other ,somalis look down upon1 but who has more woodcraft in his touzled head than any of them1 he will deliberately hunt the king of beasts1 using some decrepit and almost valueless camel as a stalking-horse4 ,he is armed with a bow having about as much apparent give in it as the bottom joint of a fishing rod1 yet able to propel with surprising force a stumpy arrow cunningly poisoned with a wizard brew of viper venom and the root of the tall box tree4 ,his procedure is to drive his camel slowly grazing toward some island of bush in which he has marked down a lion1 he himself being perched a-straddle behind the hump and directing the animal's movements with kicks from one or other of his bare heels4 ,from his lofty observation point he at once spots the crouching approach of the lion and slips off over the camel's rump to cover1 whence he speeds one of his venomous little shafts at close range4 ,the outraged monarch attacks the camel and the hunter keeps well aloof from the subsequent confusion until the poison works and the lion is seized with muscular convulsions1 like those of tetanus1 when he may safely approach to gloat over his quarry4 ,what is really remarkable is that the camel is not invariably killed4 ,i once met a ,midgan on trek who showed me the unmistakable claw-marks of a lion on his camel's neck and shoulders and said he had used the animal on three such occasions2 compared with these desperate encounters the exploits of our white shikaris armed with powerful modern rifles are insignificant4 ,one beast of prey1 however1 is feared and hated by every ,somali man1 woman or child--hunter1 shepherd or townsman--and that is the great1 spotted hyaena which slinks up by night to snap at face or breast of sleeping folk and bolts into the gloom at the agonised shriek of his mangled victim4 ,the brute is cowardly enough to refuse encounter with an able-bodied man awake and on the alert unless rendered desperate by hunger1 but his jaws are as strong as a lion's1 and one snapping bite does the mischief4 ,i once helped the ,p4,m4,o4 at ,berbera to tend some half-dozen poor wretches who had been frightfully mauled during the night on the outskirts of the town itself and probably by the same hyaena4 ,the hot weather had induced many folk to sleep outside their stifling huts and they will not take the trouble to collect and build up a few thorny bushes to keep the brutes off4 ,the ,somali is about as incapable of hard work as his fat camel1 and the only time he may be seen digging is among the convict gangs who till1 or used to till1 the ,government garden out at ,dubar on the inland edge of the littoral plain1 where the ,berbera water supply bubbles out hot from under the low maritime hills and trickles through ten miles of surface pipe-line to supply the ,fort1 which is supposed to protect the ,british cantonment straggling some distance outside ,berbera town4 ,he feels such work dreadfully1 not only as an injury to his self-respect 7and he has all the puerile pride of the negroid races71 but as an irksome tax on his physical powers1 which are quite unaccustomed to sustained and strenuous exertion4 ,on the other hand1 he will make long journeys on short commons and keep well and happy if allowed to punctuate his hardships at long intervals with debauches on meat and milk and fat4 ,he excuses himself from tilling the ground on the plea that others might harvest the fruit of his labours1 as there is no individual land-tenure or any definite divisions of land indicating ownership1 but only tribal grazing rights over ill-defined areas and the parcel of land enclosed by his zareba fence1 of which he is but the tenant1 as it is free to anybody as soon as he leaves it to trek to other pastures4 ,therefore1 vegetables are unattainable by him1 and his cereals 7rice1 millet and coarse flour7 reach him by sea and caravan or he does without4 ,he appears immune from scurvy and is seldom sick or sorry unless he over-eats himself4 ,he loves ghi 7or clarified butter7 and animal fat1 which he swallows in large gulps when he can get it1 also rubbing it in his frizzy hair and using it to sleek his black1 spindly shanks and smear his spear-blades--on shikar he will gorm it all over your spare gun if you do not watch him4 ,his favourite beverage is strong tea with lots of sugar in it 7when procurable7 otherwise he will not touch it1 and he will drink water which a thirsty camel would sniff at suspiciously before imbibing4 ,he dresses in a white sheet worn toga-wise and not without a certain dignity1 and his head is usually bare except in towns or the partially civilised entourage of a white man1 where he will wear anything on his head from a tarboosh to a topi as a mark of distinction1 but seems to avoid a turban1 which he has not the knack of tying properly4 ,to meet him and his family on trek is to glimpse an epitome of his life4 ,first comes the able-bodied though elderly sire carrying a few light throwing-spears and a knobkerry or a gim-crack stabbing-spear1 and close behind him are the adult males of his house similarly armed or with a rifle or two supplied by a benevolent ,government for protection against the ,mullah1 to whom these children of nature frequently offer them for sale at very reasonable prices4 ,after these come the women-folk in order of precedence1 carrying loads in inverse ratio thereto4 ,the young1 favourite wife walks first1 carrying her latest addition to the family in a cotton shawl at her hip2 she is followed by other wives of less social standing1 carrying household utensils1 with the smaller children at foot1 and at the tail of the procession stagger the old crones under heavy burdens of pots1 pans1 pitchers and unsavoury goat-hair rugs4 ,a camel or two bring up the rear with the conglomeration of sticks and hides and matting which makes the home and looks like an untidy bird's nest4 ,on the flanks and in the rear skirmish the elder children1 girls and boys1 with flocks and herds which graze as they go4 ,the big piebald sheep with their black heads and indecently fat tails are not allowed to range far afield1 where lynx or leopard might stalk them under covert1 as they are valuable1 succulent and very foolish4 ,they carry no wool--their coat feels just like a fox-terrier's--but they have more meat on them than three average goats1 and the huge pendulous flap of fat which does duty as a tail is a delicacy to make a ,somali mouth water or a ,european gorge rise4 ,the only serious occupation a buck ,somali will permit himself is to sit under a tree and watch his grazing flocks4 ,he is fond of conversation1 chiefly of a recriminative character1 and gives vent to his joie de vivre by prancing and singing on two or three simple notes to the accompaniment of his clapping hands and the thud of his horny heels4 ,his chief woe is drought and lack of grazing1 because he then has to get up off his butt-end and take long treks to pastures new4 ,his ideas of earthly ,paradise centre round the cafes of ,aden1 where his countrymen are numerous and where wages are so high that six grown ,somalis can batten in well-fed ease on the earnings of a seventh1 who keeps on till he wants a holiday and then goes sick and sends another of the syndicate to replace him4 ,qualifications do not matter1 as they all have sufficient to fumble through their jobs and no more4 ,if he lacks the capital to start cab-driving and finds boat-rowing or punkah-pulling too strenuous for him1 he sets himself to learn a little ,english and gets a job as servant with some new-fledged ,british subaltern at a minimum rate of ,l#b a month1 which is fixed by his union1 for that is one civilised device he really can handle4 ,he is the slackest oarsman1 the laziest punkawala and the worst whip east of ,suez4 ,his idea of driving is to sit with knees drawn up toward his chin while he lugs at the reins as if they were a punkah-cord1 urging his staunch little screw along with ineffectual flaps of his whip and noises like the paroxysms of sea sickness4 ,he will ruin any saddle-camel for fast work if allowed to ride one regularly1 such animals not being raised in his country1 but he breeds a small1 hardy type of pony which he loves to gallop in wild dashes1 with flapping legs and sawing hands1 reining the poor little beast up short on a bit like a rat-trap to witch beholders with his horsemanship4 ,as a combatant you never know how to take him4 ,he may put up a hefty fight or he may outrun the antelope in his precipitate retreat4 ,i was much impressed by the defences in barbed wire and thorn trees considered necessary to ward off the onslaught of dervishes by men who knew them better than ,i did4 ,he is a cheery1 irresponsible soul and has been called the ,irishman of the ,east4 ,missionaries rather like him1 because he is very teachable up to a certain point1 fond of learning new tricks if not too difficult1 and without that habit of logical and consecutive thought which makes the real ,arab so difficult to tackle in argument4 ,no remarks on ,somaliland would be complete without some mention of the ,mullah4 ,that astute personage has often been alluded to as ,mad1 but has proved himself far saner than the ,government he was up against4 ,in the early 'nineties he kept the ,arabi ,pasha coffee-house opposite the cab-stand in the native town at ,aden1 where he dispensed tea and husk-coffee in little bowls of green-glazed earthenware1 also raspberryade and other bright-coloured minerals in bottles1 with a small lump of ice thrown in4 ,his establishment was patronised almost entirely by ,somalis and largely by the ghari-walas themselves4 ,at the same time1 he was obliging enough to spare the servant of a neighbouring sahib like myself a pound or two of ice from his cold box on occasional application to meet an emergency4 ,he had a good deal of property in flocks and herds over in ,british ,somaliland1 which he visited from time to time4 ,in the late 'nineties he got involved in some suit or other and the local authorities mulcted him of many camels4 ,he very much resented this decision and raised some friends and sympathisers to resist its execution by the police4 ,an inadequate force was sent and sustained a reverse1 after which his following grew enormously4 ,early in this century1 when ,i again had news of him1 he had craftily cut in between the ,italian1 ,abyssinian and ,british converging columns and annihilated ,colonel ,plunkett's gallant little band at ,gumburu1 but sustained a severe defeat at ,jidballi1 where his red flannel dressing-gown was sighted in early and headlong retirement as his dervishes recoiled from the embattled square4 ,all the same1 he was still going strong long after the ,south ,african ,war was over1 and we had more leisure to attend to him4 ,when the ,british frontier was drawn in to enable the statement to be made in ,parliament that the ,mullah's troops were no longer within protectorate limits1 he took advantage of it to deal ruthlessly with those tribes which had refused to join him on the solemn and definite promise that ,government would protect them from his vengeance4 ,the unhappy ,dolbahuntas were almost wiped out as a tribal unit2 their zarebas and flimsy villages were surrounded by the ,mullah's men and fired1 leaving the occupants--men1 women and children--the choice of a dreadful end among blazing thorns or red death on the spears of their fellow-countrymen and co-religionists4 ,a prominent ,nationalist has alluded to the ,mullah and his dervishes as brave men striving to be free4 ,in #aiaj ,british prestige had shed its last rag in ,somaliland3 we had withdrawn to the coast and the ,mullah's horsemen actually rode through ,berbera bazar on one of their raids and withdrew unscathed4 ,in #aiab it was found necessary to form a company of ,somali police on camels to keep the peace between friendlies who1 to allay a certain amount of indignation at home1 had been armed with rifles to protect themselves against the ,mullah's people1 but were using these weapons1 in their light-hearted way1 to argue questions of grazing as they arose4 ,early in #aiac a small dervish outpost was reported to be preventing our friendlies from grazing in the ,ain valley south of ,burao at a time when no other pasturage was locally available1 and the ,somali camel-corps1 about a hundred strong with three white officers1 was sent to occupy ,burao as its base and from there to afford moral and material support enabling the friendlies to graze unmolested in the threatened area4 ,this cheery opportunism was the ,government's wobbling attempt at equilibrium between the barefaced desertion of our protected tribes and its avowed policy of non-intervention unless on the cheap4 ,it was done too much on the cheap2 that little force was attacked by an overwhelming force of dervishes while out on the grazing grounds affording moral and material support4 ,the ,maxim was put out of action by an unlucky bullet1 and the friendlies skedaddled with their ,government rifles at the first shot1 but returned later to loot the dead4 ,the half-trained ,somali camelry suffered severely and were most unsteady1 but the two white officers surviving managed to extricate the remnant with difficulty1 the gallant commandant having died for his trust early in the fight4 ,he was blamed posthumously for having exceeded his orders2 whether he ought to have exercised his moral and material support at a safe distance from the place where it was needed or have led his command in headlong flight was not made clear1 and they were the only two military alternatives to the action he did take4 ,at all events the incident shamed the ,government into taking more adequate measures to protect its friendlies in spite of bitter ,nationalist opposition4 ,missionaries point to our long and fruitless struggle in ,somaliland as an illustration of the force of fanaticism4 ,it is nothing of the sort2 the ,mullah was a man with a grievance who was driven into outlawry by the sequence of events1 and the movement was entirely political4 ,having once tasted the sweets of temporal power1 he wanted to expand it1 and used his spiritual and material influence to that end1 not hesitating to order the wholesale massacre of other equally orthodox ,moslems when it seemed to him politically expedient4 ,he owed his success to his ruthless treatment of his compatriots1 the difficult and scantily watered terrain1 our lack of co-ordination with the ,italians and ,abyssinians1 but above all to our parsimonious method of cadging and scraping a little money together for an expedition and stopping when the funds gave out1 like a small boy with fireworks4 ,somaliland1 with its insignificant caravan trade1 its wide1 waterless tracts and its sparse population of shiftless1 unproductive semi-nomads1 is a bad business proposition1 and no ,government can be blamed for hesitating to spend money on it2 but if half the expenditure had been concentrated on one scheme at one time instead of being frittered away on several divergent schemes over a lengthy period the ,mullah would have been brought to book and the resources of the country developed considerably4 ,south of ,somaliland in ,british1 and what was once ,german1 ,east ,africa the missionary has comparative freedom of movement1 whereas in ,somaliland no white man has ever been allowed to travel without the sanction of the local authorities4 ,he1 however1 complains that he is not encouraged by the ,administration in either colony1 and certainly makes no headway against ,islam1 which has a very strong hold1 especially in ,british ,east ,africa1 with the ,swahilis4 ,still1 he can point to the inland kingdom of ,uganda as one of his successes1 and it would be more so if the various ,christian sects would refrain from wrangling among themselves4 ,we have now reached the southern limit of ,moslem activity in ,africa1 for we are getting among native races who do not take kindly to asceticism in any form1 and beyond them are the sturdy white ,christians of ,south ,africa4 ,curiously enough1 there is a flourishing little colony of ,moslems at ,salt ,river1 the railway suburb of ,cape ,town1 where imported ,east ,indian and ,arab mechanics have settled4 ,they muster about #g1jjj souls and have founded a school to educate their children4 ,an unbiassed ,english resident states that they are far better citizens than native ,christians of the same class1 owing to their temperate habits4 ,drink is the undoubted curse of the non-,moslem ,african4 ,in ,south ,africa no native in white employ can get alcoholic drink without the written authority of his employer1 but there are many illicit sources of supply4 ,south ,african colonists insist that the native ,christians are the worst--this should not be set down to ,christianity1 but to the civilisation which goes with it1 and1 in place of ,kaffir beer and such like home-fermented brews of comparatively mild exhilarant character1 introduces the undisciplined native mind to the furious joys of trade fire-water4 ,africa is the main battle-ground between ,moslem and missionary1 for it is in that continent that the forces of ,islam and ,christianity are most nearly balanced4 ,the ,american ,protestant ,mission1 which is1 as we have seen1 one of the principal belligerents1 complains loudly on behalf of ,christendom that in ,africa especially our colonial administrations do not give the support to ,christian missions that ,christian ,governments should4 ,apart from the fact that we administer these countries in trust for their indigenous population and have no right to thrust our own creed upon them to the exclusion of any other with a sound system of ethics1 it can most cogently be urged that ,islam is the only religion which insists on total abstinence1 and that seems to be the only way in which the native ,african can avoid alcoholic excess4 ,i have in front of me a letter written by an ,american of ,boston1 ,mass41 to the ,spectator of ,february #aeth1 #aiai4 ,in it he alludes to a report of the ,committee for preventing the demoralisation of native races by the liquor traffic which is said to be making ,africa a cesspool of alcohol1 and statistics show that in this devil's work ,holland with her gin and1 ,i regret to say1 the ,united ,states with its trade rum have been the conspicuously worst offenders4 ,the writer goes on to say that the native races are morally and intellectually children1 and that has been recognised in the ,states where it is a penal offence to introduce alcoholic drink within the ,indian reservations4 ,this being so1 the attitude of ,american ,protestants in attacking the only teetotal creed which is working among natives in a continent where total abstinence is unanimously declared to be essential to native welfare indicates loose thinking4 ,it is still more extraordinary when we remember that the teetotal party in the ,united ,states have moved heaven and earth and every device1 legitimate or otherwise1 to secure national prohibition1 about which1 to put it mildly1 there appear to be two opinions among ,american citizens4 ,we are told that the ,south adopted prohibition as a measure of protection against the negro4 ,apart from the safety of white colonists in ,africa1 is the welfare of ,african negroes beneath the consideration of a free-born ,american8 ,if so1 why does he 7or she7 subscribe so liberally to support missions in ,africa8 ,such an attitude is incongruous1 even if we adopt the preposterous view that ,christianity alone can make a sober man of a negro4 ,imagine a municipality which allowed a gang of hooligans to scatter incendiary bombs broadcast and encouraged its inadequate fire brigade to fight a rival organisation tooth and nail4 ,its avowed intention of prohibiting the use of matches on its own premises would not be considered a satisfactory amende4 ,i lay no more stress on ,american ,protestant activities against ,islam than is their due4 ,there may be some opinions among ,europeans that their evangelising fervour might find a mission field nearer home in ,south ,america or even in ,mexico4 ,such a criticism is not only ungrateful but unreasonable4 ,american missions have done much for humanity in the ,east1 while as regards their own sub-continent the ,catholic ,church has held that field for centuries1 and no reasonable being wants to see the two great divisions of ,christianity sparring with each other about the spiritual education of greasers4 ,the ,monroe ,doctrine does not apply to missionaries1 but ,i would point out to them that in wrestling against ,islam they are fanning the fires of fanaticism and causing much material trouble1 and the net spiritual result is to lessen their own power for good and embitter ,islam for ill while widening the breach between ,christian and ,moslem4 ,this chapter is an attempt to give an impartial glimpse at the relations between ,moslem and missionary throughout the ,eastern ,hemisphere4 ,with regard to their activities1 it is neither a detailed account nor an apology4 ,no sincere religious effort requires an apology1 and if it is not sincere no apology suffices4 ,,footnotes3 ,footnote ,c3 ,the definite article precedes most ,arabic place-names1 but is only retained in ordinary local speech as above1 presumably to denote respect4 ,i hold to native pronunciation1 except in cases of long-established custom1 and consider the ,yamen as clumsy as the ,egypt--both take the definite article in ,arabian script4 ,,chapter ,v ,a ,,plea ,,for ,,tolerance ,the world just now appears to be awaiting a millennium resulting from a concourse of more or less brilliant and assertive folk with divergent views4 ,presuming that the necessary change in human nature will be wrought by enactment1 we have still to acquire more religious tolerance if we are to live together in unity with our ,moslem fellow-subjects and neighbours4 ,what is the use of talking about a ,league of ,nations and the self-decision of small ,states if we still seek to impose our religious views on people who do not want them and encroach on the borders of other creeds8 ,are other people's spiritual affairs of no account1 or do we arrogate to ourselves a monopoly of such matters8 ,both positions are untenable4 ,the justification of missionary enterprise is based on ,christ's last charge to ,his disciples3 ,go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature4 ,he clearly defined that gospel as the tidings of the kingdom1 and what that kingdom was ,he has repeatedly told us in the ,sermon on the ,mount1 frequent conversations with ,his disciples and others and the example of ,his daily life4 ,he never sought to change a man's religious belief 7such as it was7 or his method of livelihood 7however questionable it might be71 but to reform him within the limits of his convictions and his duties4 ,he has also left on record an indictment of proselytisers that will endure for all time4 ,of course1 if the ,gospel narrative is unreliable throughout 7as the reverend and scholarly compiler of the ,encyclopedia ,biblica would appear to imply7 then these arguments fall to the ground1 but so does any possible justification of missionary enterprise4 ,on the other hand1 ,moslems do believe and reverence the ,engil or ,gospel1 though they follow the doctrine and dogma of a later revelation4 ,the logical deduction from these facts is that moral training1 education and charitable works among ,moslems are permissible and justifiable features of missionary endeavour1 if not forced upon an unwilling population1 but attacks on ,islam itself are not only unmerited but unauthorised and impertinent4 ,many missionaries of undoubted scholarship and breadth of view see this and model their field work accordingly1 with good results2 in fact1 most real success in the mission field has been achieved by practical1 ,christian work on the above lines1 and not by religious propaganda2 but the flag which missionary societies flaunt before a subscribing ,christian public is quite a different banner1 as can be easily ascertained from their own published literature1 which is very prolific and accessible to all4 ,in writing about ,islam the authors or compilers of these works too frequently allow their zeal to involve them in a web of inconsistency and misstatement1 or else they let their religious terminology take liberties with their intellect and that of the public4 ,we will glance briefly at their indictment of ,islam as presented in their quasi-geographical works1 disregarding their public utterances and tracts as privileged1 like the platform-speeches and vote-catching pamphlets of a ,general ,election2 also we will keep to their own terminology and expressions as far as possible4 ,first and foremost1 especially in the ,united ,states1 where knowledge of non-,christian creeds is not so general as with us1 the literature of foreign missions insists on grouping together all regions as yet unexploited by them 7whether populated by heathen1 ,moslems1 ,buddhists or any other non-,christian race7 and describing them indiscriminately as ,gibraltars of ,satan's power1 a challenge to ,christendom and a reproach to ,zion 7whatever that may mean74 ,yet the four great ,christian ,churches--,greek1 ,russian1 ,catholic and ,protestant--seem powerless to check the reign of hell in ,bolshevist ,europe1 where the liberty of man is demonstrated by murder1 rapine1 torture and every fiendish orgy or bestial lust which mortal mind can conceive4 ,the people among whom these devilries are being enacted are ,christians ruled by ,christians1 and have been ,christian for centuries4 ,they are still ,christian so far as a blood-besotted clique will let them be anything4 ,and in the face of such facts there are missionaries who enunciate in cold print that without ,christianity there could be no charitable or humane organisation of any sort1 or good government1 or security of property1 and--clinching argument--trade would suffer4 ,could there be any more glaring example of the cart before the horse8 ,does a dog wag his tail or the tail wag the dog8 ,is ,japan hopelessly benighted and devoid of the activities described as the monopoly of ,christianity8 ,moreover3 ,can ,christian teaching or preaching pacify the embittered struggle between labour and capital which threatens yet to wreck civilisation8 ,does it even try8 ,there is no more ridiculous or extravagant boast among a certain class of self-appointed evangelists than the oft-repeated statement that all the modern blessings of ,western civilisation are the fruit of ,christianity and that the backward state of oriental ,moslems is due to the absence of ,christianity4 ,any thoughtful schoolboy knows that it was the exploitation of coal and iron which lifted us ,western nations out of the ruck1 backed by the natural hardihood due to a bracing climate1 otherwise the ,mediterranean might still be harried by corsairs4 ,steam transport by land and sea was the direct offspring of these two minerals4 ,even then ,western supremacy was gradual and only recently completed by the exploitation of petroleum1 rubber and high explosives4 ,brown ,bess1 as a shooting weapon1 was far inferior to the long-barrelled flint-lock of ,morocco1 and the ,arabian match-lock could out-range any firearm in existence till sharp cutting tools made the rifle possible4 ,what does modern surgery1 or any other science of accurate manipulation1 not owe to modern steel8 ,when we turn from metallurgy to medicine1 let us not forget that ,avicenna was writing his pharmacopoeia when ,christian apothecaries were selling potions and philtres under the sign of a stuffed crocodile4 ,some exponents of ,christianity would go further and arrogate to her the inception of all arts and handicrafts4 ,damascus blades1 ,cordovan leather1 ,moorish architecture1 ,persian carpets1 ,indian filagree1 ,chinese carvings and ,japanese paintings all give the lie to such claims4 ,if we are to measure ,christianity by the material progress of her adherents1 what conclusions are we to draw from the history of the ,roman ,empire1 the ,byzantine ,empire and the ,copts8 ,fourteen hundred years after the birth of ,christianity in ,palestine the fall of ,constantinople shattered her last vestige of sovereignty in the ,east after she had gone through centuries of decadence1 debauch and intrigue such as anyone can find recorded by ,gibbon or even in historical novels like ,hypatia4 ,islam1 to-day1 is about the same age as ,christianity was then1 and has gone through similar stages1 except that it has been spared the intrigues of an organised priesthood and its comparative frugality has protected it from oriental enervation to a certain extent4 ,compared with ,western ,christianity its present epoch coincides with the era preceding the ,reformation1 when religious teaching had become stereotyped and lacked vitality1 as is now the case with ,moslem teaching as a rule4 ,there is no reason why ,islam should not recover as ,christianity did1 and if it does not it will not be due to any intrinsic defect1 but to its oriental environment1 which has already debased and wrecked ,eastern ,christendom4 ,the respective ages of the two religions induces another comparison4 ,we are now in the fourteenth century of the ,hejira2 glance at ,european ,christendom of that period in the ,christian era1 or even much later1 and reflect on the ,sicilian ,vespers1 the ,inquisition1 the massacre of the ,huguenots1 the atrocious witchfinders who served that pedantic ,protestant prig1 ,james ,i1 and all the burnings1 hackings and slayings perpetrated in the name of ,christendom4 ,we must admit that no ,moslems anywhere1 even in the most barbarous regions1 are any worse than the ,christians of those days1 while the vast majority are infinitely better1 viewed by any general standard of humanity4 ,christendom's only possible defence is that civilisation has influenced ,christianity for good1 and not the other way about4 ,there is one other loophole which ,i1 for one1 refuse to crawl through--that ,christianity is a greater moral force than ,islam or more rapid in its action4 ,missionaries say that ,islam is incapable of high ideals owing to its impersonal and inhuman conception of the ,deity1 whom it does not limit by any human standards of justice4 ,they complain that there is no fatherhood in the ,moslem ,god2 but--pursuing their own metaphor--what would an earthly father think if his acts of correction were criticised by his children from their own point of view8 ,he might be angry1 but would probably just smile1 and ,i hope the ,almighty does the same4 ,a child thinks it most unjust to be rebuked or perhaps chastised for playing at trains with suitable noises at unsuitable seasons but it is that1 and similar parental correction1 which makes him become a decent member of society and not a self-centred nuisance4 ,moslems shrink from applying any human standards to the ,deity1 regarding ,him as the ,lord of the ,universe and not a popularly-elected premier4 ,whatever good is from ,god1 whatever ill from thyself1 is a ,koranic aphorism4 ,nor do they seek to drive bargains with ,him1 as do many pious ,christians1 and their supplications are limited 7as in our ,lord's ,prayer7 to the bare necessities of life--food and water to support existence1 and clothing to cover their nakedness4 ,the application of human ideals to the ,almighty places ,him on a level with ,kipling's wise wood-pavement gods or the ,teutonic conception of a deity who sent the ,entente bad harvests to help ,german submarine activities4 ,such absurdities incur the rebuke of the staunch old patriarch1 ,though he slay me yet will ,i trust in him2 there is no excuse for seeking to inflict them on the austerities of ,islam4 ,climate and terrain have a marked influence on the form religion takes in its human manifestation4 ,missionary literature asserts this clearly with regard to ,islam1 describing it1 aptly enough1 as a religion of desert and oasis thence deriving its austere and sensual features1 but the thesis applies with equal force to ,christianity4 ,the marked cleavage of hermit-like asceticism and gross sensuality which rock-bound deserts and the lush ,nile valley wrought in ,egyptian ,christendom has been described by every writer dealing with that subject1 and ,arabian ,christianity drooped1 and finally died1 in the arid pastoral uplands of ,jauf and ,nejran long before it succumbed in fertile1 hard-working ,yamen4 ,if the ,east became ,christian next week there would be the same rank growth and final atrophy or disintegrating schism for lack of outside opposition4 ,missionaries are quick enough to remark on this process in ,arabia where ,islam is practically unopposed1 but will not apply it to ,christianity4 ,they do not seem to realise that healthy competition maintains the vitality of religion no less than trade or any other form of human effort requiring continuous energy and application4 ,islam revivified a decadent ,christianity1 and the attacks of modern missionaries are strengthening ,islam4 ,they justify these attacks and urge further support for them on the grounds that ,islam is moribund and now is the time to give it the coup de grace1 or that ,islam is the most dangerous foe to ,christendom in the world and must be fought to a finish lest it unite three hundred million ,moslems against us4 ,i have seen both reasons given in the same missionary book2 both are absurd4 ,the latter is a mere red herring drawn across the trail of existing facts1 more so1 indeed1 than the ex-,kaiser's ,yellow ,peril1 for that at least was trailed from a vast country enclosing within a ring fence a huge population of homogeneous race and creed4 ,as for crushing ,islam by missionary enterprise1 you cannot kill a great religion with pin-pricks1 however numerous and frequent2 you can only cause superficial hurts and irritation1 as in a ,german student's duel4 ,every religion contains the germs of its own destruction within itself 7which it can resist indefinitely so long as it is healthy and vigorous71 but no outside efforts1 however overwhelming1 can do aught but stiffen its adherents4 ,the early ,christian ,church was driven off the face of the earth into catacombs1 but emerged to rule supreme in the very city which had driven her underground2 ,muhammad barely escaped from ,mecca with his life1 but returned to make it the centre of his creed1 and ,crusaders died in hopeless defeat at ,hattin cursing ,mahound with their last breath as the enemy of their faith1 yet their very presence there showed how ,islam had revived ,christianity4 ,per aspera ad astra3 there is no easy road or short cut to collective1 spiritual progress4 ,i am not arguing against possible acts of grace working on individuals1 but the uplift of a race1 a class or even a congregation cannot be done by a sort of spiritual legerdemain based on hypnotic suggestion4 ,individuals may be so swayed for the time being1 and1 in a few favourable cases1 the initial impetus will be carried on1 but most human souls are like locusts and flutter earthward when the wind drops4 ,they may have advanced more or less1 but are just as likely to be deflected or even swept back again by a change in the wind4 ,revivalist campaigns and salvation by a coup de theatre do not encourage consecutive religious thought1 which is the only stable foundation of religious belief2 second-hand convictions do not wear well in the storm and sunshine of unsheltered lives1 and a creed that has to be treated like an orchid is no use to anybody4 ,if the same amount of earnest1 consecutive effort and clear thinking had been applied to religion as has gone to build up civilisation we should all be leading harmonious spiritual lives to-day and sin and sorrow would probably have been banished from the earth1 but few people think of applying their mental faculties to religion1 and its exploitation by modern mercantile methods is not the same thing at all4 ,civilisation is an accretion of countless efforts and ceaseless striving to ameliorate existing conditions1 whereas religion started as a perfect thesis and has since got overgrown with human bigotry and fantasies while absorbing very little of the vast1 increasing store of human knowledge4 ,that is why civilisation has got so much in advance of religion that the latter cannot lead or guide the former1 but only lags behind1 like a horse hitched to a cart-tail4 ,missionary writers are rather apt to confuse the gifts of civilisation with the thing itself4 ,a savage can be taught to use a rifle or an electric switch or even a flame-projecter1 but this is no proof that he is really civilised4 ,on the other hand1 the scholarly recluse and philosopher whose works uplift and refine humanity may bungle even with the fool-proof lift which takes him up to his own eyrie in ,flat-land1 but he is none the less civilised4 ,they would have us believe that petticoats and pantaloons are the hall-mark of ,christian civilisation1 and one of their favourite sneers at ,arabia 7as a proof of its benighted condition and need of their ministrations7 is a land without manufacture where machinery is looked on as a sort of marvel4 ,as a matter of fact1 ,arabia can manufacture all she really wants1 and did so when we blockaded her coasts2 nor is machinery any more of a marvel to the average ,arabian ,arab than it is to the average ,occidental4 ,both use intelligently such machinery as they find necessary in their pursuits and occupations1 though neither can make it or repair it except superficially1 and both fumble more or less with unfamiliar mechanical appliances4 ,the young man from the country blows the gas out or tries to light his cheroot at an incandescent bulb1 and may be considered lucky if he does not get some swift1 silent form of vehicular traffic in the small of his back when he is gaping at an electric advertisement in changing-coloured lights4 ,it has been my object1 and to a certain extent my duty1 on several occasions to try to impress a party of chiefs and their retinue when visiting ,aden from the wildest parts of ,arabia ,felix 7which can be very wild indeed74 ,on the same morning ,i have taken them over a man-of-war1 on the musketry-range to see a ,maxim at practice and down into a twelve-inch casemate when the monster was about to fire4 ,they never turned a hair1 but asked many intelligent questions and a few amusing ones1 tried to cadge a rifle or two from the officer showing them the racks for small arms1 condemned the ,maxim for eating cartridges too fast and were much tickled by the gunner-officer's joke that they could have the big cannon if they would take it away with them4 ,these wild ,arabians1 when trained1 make the most reliable machine-tenders in the ,east1 as they have a penchant for mechanism of all sorts and will not neglect their charge when unsupervised4 ,we are all inclined to boast too personally of our enlightened civilisation with its marvellous mechanical appliances1 but what is it after all but the specialist training of the few serving the wants of the many8 ,if the average missionary swam ashore with an ,arab fireman from a shipwreck and landed on an uninhabited island of ordinary tropical aspect1 the ,arab would know the knack of scaling coco-nut palms 7no easy task71 the vegetation which would supply him with fibre for fishing-lines and what thorns could be used to make an effective hook1 while the missionary would probably be unable to get fire by friction with the aid of a bow-string and spindle4 ,missionary literature is very severe on ,arabia as a stiff-necked country which has hitherto discouraged evangelical activities4 ,hence the low plane of ,arabia morally4 ,slavery and concubinage and1 nearly everywhere1 polygamy and divorce are fearfully common and fatalism has paralysed enterprise4 ,this indictment is not only unjust1 but it recoils on ,western civilisation4 ,arabia is on a high enough moral plane to refuse drink1 drugs and debauchery generally1 while prostitution is unknown outside large centres overrun by foreigners1 which are more cosmopolitan than ,arab4 ,sanaa1 which is a pure ,arab city with little or no foreign element1 is much more moral than ,london or ,new ,york4 ,to adduce slavery and concubinage coupled with polygamy and divorce as further evidence against ,arabia is crass absurdity2 slaves are far better treated anywhere in ,arabia than they were in the ,states or the ,west ,indies2 concubinage and polygamy1 as practised by the patriarchs of ,holy ,writ1 are still legal in that part of the world2 there is nothing sinful about them in themselves--a ,moslem might as well rebuke ,western society for being addicted to whisky and bridge4 ,he might even remind us that divorce is easier in the ,states than in ,arabia and quote the ,prophet's words on the subject3 ,of all lawful acts divorce is the most hateful in the sight of ,god4 ,with us a woman can be convicted of adultery in the eyes of the world on evidence that would not hang a cat for stealing cream1 but in ,islam the act must be proved beyond doubt by two witnesses1 who are soundly flogged if their evidence breaks down1 and their testimony is declared invalid for the future4 ,this places the accusation under a heavy disability1 but it is better than putting a woman's most cherished attribute at the mercy of a suborned servant or two--a far greater injustice to womanhood than bearing a fair share of a naturally hard and toilsome life1 which is also a missionary complaint against ,arabia4 ,as for fatalism paralysing enterprise there1 perhaps it does to a certain extent1 but it cannot compare with our own organised strikes in that direction4 ,another charge is that ,arabia has no stable government and people go armed against each other4 ,tribal ,arabia has the only true form of democratic government1 and the ,arab tribesman goes armed to make sure that it continues democratic--as many a would-be despot knows to his cost4 ,they use these weapons to settle other disputes occasionally1 but ,christian cowboys still do so at times unless they have acquired grace and the barley-water habit4 ,these deliberate misstatements and the distortion of known facts are unworthy of the many earnest workers in recognised mission fields1 and they become really mischievous when they culminate in an appeal to the general public calling for resources and personnel to win ,mecca for ,christ1 and use it and the ,arabic language to disseminate ,christianity and so win ,arabia and1 eventually1 the ,moslem world4 ,christianity had a very good start in ,arabia long before ,muhammad's day1 and 7contrary to missionary assertion7 was in existence there for centuries after his death4 ,not long before the dawn of ,islam1 ,christian and pagan ,arabs fought side by side to overthrow a despotic ,jew king in ,yamen who was trying to proselytise them with the crude but convincing contrivance of an artificial hell which cost only the firewood and labour involved and beat modern revivalist descriptions of the place to a frazzle as a means of speedy conversion--to a ,jew or a cinder4 ,christianity lasted in ,yamen up to the tenth century ,a4,d4 ,it paid tribute as a subordinate creed1 like ,judaism1 but had far more equable charters and greater respect among ,moslems4 ,in fact1 it was never driven out1 but gradually merged into ,islam1 as is indicated by the inscriptions found on the lintel of ruined churches here and there1 ,there is but one ,god4 ,the published statement of a travelled missionary that the ,turks stabled their cavalry horses in the ruins of ,abraha's cathedral at ,sanaa is misleading4 ,the church which that ,abyssinian general built when he came over to help the ,arabs against the ,jew king of proselytising tendencies has nothing left of it above ground except a bare site surrounded by a low circular wall which would perhaps accommodate the horses of a mounted patrol in bivouac4 ,the ,turks probably used it for that purpose without inquiry4 ,what is the use of bolstering up a presumably sincere religious movement with these puerile and mischievous statements8 ,apart from the rancour they excite among educated ,moslems 7who are more familiar with this class of literature than the writers perhaps imagine7 they deceive the ,christian public and place conscientious missionaries afield in a false position1 for most practical mission workers know and admit that the wholesale conversion of ,moslems is not a feasible proposition and that sporadic proselytes are very doubtful trophies4 ,knowing this1 they concentrate their principal efforts on schools1 hospitals and charitable relief1 all based on friendly relations with the natives which have been patiently built up4 ,these relations are jeopardised by the wild-cat utterances which are published for home consumption4 ,if a ,christian public cannot support legitimate missionary enterprise without having it camouflaged by all this spiritual swashbuckling1 then it is in urgent need of evangelical ministrations itself4 ,missionaries in the field have1 of course1 a personal view which we must not overlook1 as it is entirely creditable to all parties concerned4 ,the more strenuous forms of mission work in barbarous countries demand1 and get1 the highest type of human devotion and courage4 ,it is a healthy sign that the public should support such enterprise and that men and women should be readily found to undertake it gladly4 ,there is a great gulf between such gallantry and the calculating spirit which works from a strategic centre1 to bring about a serious political situation which others have to face4 ,let us now examine the ,islamic attitude toward ,christianity4 ,the thoughtful ,moslem generally admits the excellence of occidental principles and methods in the practical affairs of life1 but insists that even earthly existence is made up of more than civilised amenities1 economics and appliances for luxury1 comfort and locomotion4 ,it is when he comes to examine our social life that he finds us falling very short of our ,christian ideals1 and he argues to himself that if that is all ,christianity can do for us it is not likely to do more for him1 but rather less4 ,he admits that his less civilised co-religionists in ,arabia1 ,afghanistan1 etc41 lack half-tones in their personalities1 which are black and white in streaks instead of blending in various shades of grey4 ,he considers that ,islam with its simple austerities is better suited to such characters than ,christianity with its unattainable ideals4 ,he himself has visited ,western cities and observed their conditions shrewdly4 ,he regards missionaries as zealous bagmen travelling with excellent samples for a chaotic firm which does not stock the goods they are trying to push4 ,the missionary may say that he has no call to reform existing conditions in his own country1 just as the bagman may disclaim responsibility for his firm's slackness2 but such excuses book no orders4 ,the travelled ,moslem will shake his head and say that he has seen the firm's showrooms1 and their principal lines appeared to be ,labour trouble1 profiteering and diluted ,bolshevism1 with a particularly tawdry fabric of party politics4 ,he respects the spiritual commercial traveller and his opinions1 if sincere 7he is a judge of sincerity1 being rather a casuist himself71 but wherever he has observed the workings of ,christianity in bulk it has not had the elevating and transcendental effect which it is said to have2 that is1 he has not found the goods up to sample and will have none of them4 ,he seldom realises 7to conclude our commercial metaphor7 that most ,christian folk in countries which export missionaries are born with life-members' tickets entitling them to sound1 durable goods which are not displayed in our spiritual shop-windows or in the missionary hand-bag3--the prayers of childhood and the mother's hymn1 the distant bells of a ,sabbath countryside1 the bird-chorus of ,spring emphasising the magic hush of ,communion on ,easter morning1 the holly-decked church ringing with the glad carols of ,christmastide and the tremendous promise which bids us hope at the graveside of our earthly love4 ,it is such memories as these1 and not the stentorian eloquence of some popular salvation-monger in an atmosphere of over-crowded humanity1 which go to make staunch ,christian souls4 ,the possible proselyte from ,islam has to rely on what the missionary has in his bag4 ,large quantities of faith are pressed upon him which do not quite meet his requirements1 as it is his reason which should be satisfied first2 no one can believe without a basis of belief4 ,there is also a great deal of slaughter-house metaphor which does not appeal to him at all1 as he looks on blood as a defilement and a sheep as the silliest animal in existence--except a lamb4 ,these metaphors were used by our ,lord in speaking to a people who readily understood them1 but for some obscure reason they have not only been retained but amplified extensively to the exclusion of much beautiful imagery which is still apposite4 ,we ,christians reverence such similes for their associations1 but a ,moslem misses the point of them1 just as we miss the stately metre of the ,koran in translation4 ,the would-be convert from ,islam must1 of course1 learn to stifle any fond memories of the virile1 vivid creed he is invited to renounce4 ,no longer must he give ear to the far-flung call proclaiming from lofty minarets the unity of ,god and the ,prophet's mission or its cheery1 swinging reiteration as the dead are carried to the magenna or gate of ,heaven4 ,certainly not2 the less he contemplates their fate the better for his peace of mind1 since 7if the effort to convert him is anything more than an outrageous piece of impudence7 their lot in the hereafter must be appalling and his own depends on the thoroughness with which he steels his heart against all he ever knew and loved before he met that pious man and his little picture pamphlets4 ,do proselytising missionaries in the ,islamic field ever sit down and think what they are really trying to do8 ,does the social ostracism of a human being1 the damnation of his folk and the salvation of none but a remnant of mankind mean anything to them8 ,if so they ought to be overcome with horror--unless it is their idea of humour1 which ,i cannot believe4 ,to pester a man into abandoning a perfectly sound and satisfying religion for one which may not suit him so well is more reprehensible than badgering a man to go to your doctor when his own physician understands his case and has studied it for a long time4 ,at least his discarded medical adviser will not make his life a burden to him--a burden which the proselytiser does not have to share4 ,on the other hand1 ,moslems are often glad enough to avail themselves of such ,christian works as mission education1 medical treatment and organised charity1 so they should tolerate the proselytising propaganda which seems inseparable from these enterprises4 ,missionaries afield are usually justified by their works2 it is the aggressive policy blazoned abroad from mission headquarters which does so much mischief4 ,islam was never intended to overthrow ,christianity1 but to bring back pagan ,arabs to the true worship of ,god4 ,mission policy clamours for attack on it as if it were an invention of the devil and then complains of ,moslem fanaticism1 forgetting that if it were an artifice of ,satan they cast doubts on the omnipotence1 omniscience or beneficence of ,god for permitting it to exist and flourish4 ,otherwise1 they infer that they are in a position to correct the ,almighty in this matter4 ,it is their complacent pedagogy which exasperates ,moslems so4 ,it is not the way to treat people who believe in the ,immaculate ,conception1 who call ,christmas ,day the ,birthday and respect us as ,people of the ,book4 ,it is time some protest was lodged against this policy if only on behalf of ,christian administrations in ,moslem countries1 which are always being attacked by it and urged to give more facilities of spiritual aggression1 especially just at present when ,turkey's power has been shattered and mission strategy thinks it sees an opening4 ,there was never a less desirable moment for unchecked religious exploitation than now1 when the war-worn nations of ,christendom are trying to reconstruct themselves1 and the world is seething with unrest and overstocked with discarded weapons of precision4 ,there is no compromise in religion1 nor should there be2 you cannot go halfway in any faith1 and no one wants a mongrel strain begotten of the two great militant creeds such as our leading exponent of paradox wittily describes as ,chrislam4 ,yet surely there is a reasonable basis for a religious entente between ,islam and ,christianity4 ,think what ,islam has done to advance the knowledge of humanity long before the dawn of modern science4 ,moslems1 too1 would do well to remember what ,christian civilisation has done for them in trade1 agriculture and industries4 ,if you accept gifts from others you should tolerate their ways2 it is but an ill-conditioned cur that bolts the food proffered and then snarls4 ,a ,moslem or a ,christian worthy of the name will remain so4 ,he may expand or 7more rarely7 contract his views1 but will still be a ,moslem or a ,christian1 as the case may be4 ,no human being has the right to say that his conception of the ,deity is correct and all others wrong1 nor is such a conclusion supported by the ,gospel or the ,koran4 ,it is the alchemy of the human soul which can transmute the dross of a sordid environment to the gold of self-sacrifice1 and the gold of inspired religion to the dross of bigotry4 ,whether we believe1 as ,christians1 that ,christ died on the ,cross and rose the third day1 or1 as ,moslems1 that ,he escaped that fate by an equally stupendous miracle1 we know that ,he faced persecution and death for mankind and ,his ideals1 and that both creeds are based on the same great doctrine--,god is a ,spirit3 and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth4 ,,finis ,,printed ,,in ,,great ,,britain ,,by ,r4 ,,clay ,,and ,,sons1 ,,ltd4 ,,brunswick ,,st41 ,,stamford ,,st41 ,,london1 ,s4,e4 #a1 ,,and ,,bungay1 ,,suffolk4