Page:The Northern Ḥeǧâz (1926).djvu/100

 us a hearty welcome. Accompanied by Ismaʻîn, I proceeded to the ḳâjmaḳâm. The Government building—a low, dirty hut with two rooms and a single window—is situated north of the village. We did not find the ḳâjmaḳâm there, as he was paying a visit to the hut of the Military Commander farther to the north. In front of the latter’s hut the soldiers had planted several ratam bushes, which had grown abundantly as a result of careful watering.

The ḳâjmaḳâm, a man of about thirty-five, with an intelligent expression, was lying on a carpet and reading a Turkish newspaper. He spoke Arabic quite fluently, and this I immediately remarked as unusual among the younger Turkish officials, especially since the change of Government. I first handed him a recommendation and a letter from his father-in-law at Damascus, and then a recommendation from Constantinople. He heartily bade me welcome and questioned me particularly about events in Constantinople and Syria. He informed me that he had reached al-ʻAḳaba from al-Medîna by way of Maʻân only a few days before and that he proposed to subject the region entirely to the Turkish Government from Moṛâjer Šuʻejb in the south to the well ʻAjn Ṛarandal in the north, from ʻAjn Ṭâba in the west to the mighty ridge of aẓ-Ẓahr in the east. He was to be supported by one hundred and fifty foot soldiers and twenty-six men mounted on camels. The ḳâjmaḳâm complained that one hundred and thirty of his men were lying ill, suffering from fever and malaria and that his mounted men had only two camels, which were deteriorating from day to day as a result of insufficient food. The camel riders all came from al-Ḳaṣîm, thus being ʻAḳejl, whom the ḳâjmaḳâm had hired in al-Medîna. The Government had appointed him the first ḳâjmaḳâm in al-ʻAḳaba but had not supplied him with money, food, or even ammunition. In al-ʻAḳaba there were no medicines and no doctor. The soldiers who were seriously ill were transported on camels to Maʻân and thence by railway to Damascus, a journey which required eight days, so that few of those who were dangerously ill reached Damascus alive. The garrison was relieved every six months. In 1909 many of the soldiers and the native inhabitants had died of cholera brought by pilgrims returning by way of al-ʻAḳaba to Egypt and thence to northern Africa.