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this hut village. In Yemen, in 1909, a considerable amount of sur- vey work was done by M. A. Beneyton, a French engineer, for a proposed railway from Hodeida to San'a and 'Amran (see below) and, as a result, much unexplored territory was mapped on a scale of 1:250,000. G. Wyman Bury went from Hodeida to San'a in 1912, and made a long stay at Menakha in the same year. He has thrown more light than perhaps any recent traveller on the topography and economic conditions of Yemen. A. J. Wavell visited San'a in 1911 and gave the best description of the city since Manzoni, 1884. He found the population reduced to 18,000 as compared with Harris's computation of 50,000 in 1891. The decline in population and the commercial depression prevalent in Yemen may be attrib- uted largely to the lawlessness of the intractable Zaranik and Qah- tan tribes who occupy the country between the highlands and Hodeida.

Aden Protectorate and Hadhramaut. There is little new infor- mation regarding these districts. Bury, in 1911, described his penetration of the Kaur watershed (alt. 7-9,000 ft.), N. of the Ya- fa' Fadhli country. He visited Yeshbum (pop. 4,000), the capital of the Upper 'Aulaqi, situated in a plain producing cotton and indigo and carrying on an industry in cotton fabrics, and got as far as Beihan, no m. inland of Shughra and almost in touch with Mareb.

The Red Sea Coast. The naval patrol during the World War added much to knowledge of the very intricate coastline from Akaba to Aden. The triple coral reef fringing it had kept this coast almost inviolate, but the very numerous openings through the reefs are now known and have been charted.

Political History. Before the World War, the Porte claimed control of Arabia in its entirety as rightfully part of the Ottoman Empire in virtue of the Sultan's authority as caliph. In actual fact, most of the peninsula was under a number of independent native rulers, only some of whom acknowledged Ottoman in- fluence, and that to a limited degree, while others were under British protection. Effectual Turkish jurisdiction was confined, in the Hejaz, to the two Holy Cities, their ports, and the line of railway; in Asir, to one or two small ports and the inland districts of Ibha and Muhail; and, in Yemen, to certain garrisoned towns in the interior and to the ports of Hodeida and Mocha and connecting roads. The Hejaz railway, built nominally for the benefit of pilgrims to Mecca but in reality to increase the Otto- man hold on Arabia, did not fulfil political hopes, partly because it served not more than a third of the territory that the Turks claimed and partly because of the immense difficulties of its maintenance and working; and it brought about little or no economic development in the peninsula.

The World War marked the passing of Turkish control from the whole of Arabia and, at the opening of 1921, there existed the following principal autonomous elements: the kingdom of Hejaz; the emirate of Nejd and El Hasa; the emirate of Jebel Shammar; the principality of Sabia in Asir; the imamate of Yemen; the sheikhdoms of Kuwait, of Bahrien Is., and of El Qatar; the Trucial Oman; the sultanate of Muscat in Oman; the Ka'aiti and Kathiri sultanates of Hadhramaut ; and the autono- mous tribes under treaty with Aden. But this list does not exhaust the autonomies, for there are many tribal communities settled, half-settled and nomadic which owe allegiance to none but their own local chiefs, such as certain sections of the Anaza and Muntefiq in the N. and the Zaranik and Yam in the S. The parcelling of the peninsula among so many separate communities is largely the result of peculiar geographical conditions which hardly admit of homogeneous settled life except in certain fa- voured districts, or in oases or wadis; and it is only by virtue of some peculiar source of wealth, some common spiritual ideal or some external support that larger territorial dominions have been established.

The Hejaz. War with Turkey entailed on Great Britain and her Allies certain dangers in Arabia owing to the efforts made by the Central Powers, through the Porte, to arouse Moslems to a. jihad or Holy War. Whether this result followed or not, there was every likelihood that the Turks would try to hinder the free use of the sea route to the East and, if left in control in western Arabia, that Aden and the possessions of the Allies in East Africa and the Farther East would be dangerously accessible to the enemy. Great Britain therefore turned to the sherif of Mecca (Husein Ibn 'Ali), believing that the metro- politan position of the Holy Cities of Islam and the venerated lineage of the sherif would make very effective his refusal to

countenance a jihad, while if he declared against the Turks, the geographical position of the Hejaz would make the ma- terialization of the other dangers improbable. Sherif Husein was. known to desire the emancipation of the Meccan emirate.

Under the Ottoman regime, the Hejaz was a vilayet, with a oali resident at Mecca. Nominally, it included all the area S. of Ma'an to Lith, and was subject to taxation; but the cities of Mecca and Medina were not only tax free but were in receipt of subsidies from the Ottoman treasury, as were also certain Harb sheikhs who were able to interfere with the passage of pilgrims or with the railway track. The whole vilayet was exempt from service in the Turkish army and successfully resisted an attempt to impose conscription in 1914. The Porte maintained forces in the Hejaz, the normal garrison being about 7,000.

Side by side with this foreign government, existed the author- ity of the sherif or emir of Mecca, enjoying extra-territorial independence at Mecca and Taif with the right to keep official representatives to watch over his interests at Medina, Jidda and elsewhere. The emir was able, at need, to call out considerable levies of Hejazi and other Bedouins and, by so doing, under semblance of helping tTie Turks, successive emirs not only made interest with the Porte but inspired it with a wholesome respect and, at the same time, kept in touch with a fighting force which could be used some day for their own ends.

Sherif Husein was nominated to the emirate in 1908, as a man of pacific character, likely to serve the Forte's purpose. In 1910 he took up arms for the Turks against the Asiri revolt under Idrisi. In the same year he extended his influence over a part of the territory of the emir of Nejd in central Arabia. But in 1913 he began to pursue an active anti-Ottoman policy, ostensibly opposing the extension to Mecca of the Hejaz railway and supporting the Harb tribesmen in their resistance to this and other Turkish projects; and he organized the Hejaz tribes acknowledging his authority, with a view to insurrection. He reconciled himself with Idrisi and tried (without success) to get the support of the imam of Yemen in his anti-Ottoman aim; and, in 1915, he sent "Abdalla, his second son, to bring about a truce between the emirs of Nejd and J. Shammar.

In the summer of 1915, Sherif Husein declared his desire for a revolt to the Allies, who thereupon agreed to support him with money, munitions and supplies. A long period of inaction fol- lowed, however, and it was not until June 1916 that the revolt actually broke out. After the loss of Jidda, Mecca and Taif by the Turks, Husein proclaimed himself independent of Ottoman rule June 5 1916. To explain his attitude to the Moslem world, he issued a proclamation (Aug. 1916) setting out a number of indictments against the Committee of Union and Progress; and, finding that the Ottoman Government was unable to spare any large force to oppose his aims, he was formally proclaimed " Sultan of the Arabs " in Oct., a large number of chiefs assem- bling in Mecca to support him. He relinquished this title for that of " King of the Hejaz " in Dec., and was so recognized by the Governments of Great Britain, France and Italy. In 1917, Wejh and Akaba being lost by the Turks, the newly established kingdom was able to maintain its separate existence, and the year 1918 witnessed further satisfactory developments. In spite of the Armistice, the Turks refused to surrender Medina until Jan. 1919. The Hejaz was represented at the Peace Conference by the Emir Faisal, King Husein's third son, and the state was admitted a member of the League of Nations in 1920. By the treaty of peace with Turkey, that country renounced all rights and titles to the Arabian peninsula and the King of the Hejaz undertook to ensure free and easy access of all Moslems to the holy places of Mecca and Medina. The treaty had not, however, been ratified by the Hejaz at the beginning of 1921.

King Husein maintained friendly, but formal, relations with the emir of Nejd during the World War; but, in 1919 and the early part of 1920, there was frequent friction between them over the debatable border at Khurma in the neighbourhood of Taif. A battle at Turaba, near Taif, in May 1919, resulted in a loss of 4,500 men to the Hejaz army; but the emir of Nejd did not fol- low up his advantage. In June 1920, relations between the dis-