Page:Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje - The Revolt in Arabia (1917).djvu/29

 12 Mecca control Medina at the same time, as the intervening distance was too great for the transportation facilities of the country. The alpine city Taʾif, two or three days' journey east of Mecca, where many people from Mecca resorted for the summer, and the port Jidda, one to two days' journey to the west, ordinarily fell under the Shereef. Several smaller ports were also included under his rule. The connection with the interior, mainly inhabited by nomadic tribes, varied according to the personal relations of the Shereef with the head of the Bedouin clan.

The Shereefate of Mecca differed from most of the states and principalities into which the great Islam Empire was divided, because it had not been developed gradually from a governorship to a condition of greater independence, but was born, spontaneously, during a period of confusion.