206 Nejd Politks [1895 



' Today I went to Cairo and saw Lord Cromer, who told me he 

 had forwarded my letter to Kitchener and would le't me know when 

 his answer was received. He then talked of other matters and of the 

 possibility of Mohammed Abdu being named head of the Awkaf. 

 This I, of course, strongly commended. I also saw Gorst. 



" ^oth Nov. — Started with Anne for the eastern desert. On our 

 return. , 



" 3rd Dec. — Found a letter from George Wyndham with an ac- 

 count of little Percy's accident, touchingly told. 



" yth Dec. — A visit from Ibrahim ibn Abdallah Thenneyan ibn 

 Saoud el Nejdi who has just escaped from Constantinople. He gave 

 much interesting information. The Sultan is now entirely under the in- 

 fluence of Sheykh Abul Huda; and Jemal ed Din is never received at 

 the palace. Things are going as badly there as possible. He has come 

 to Cairo, hoping through the Khedive's influence to get back to Nejd. 

 His father's grandfather, Thenneyan, was for a couple of years Emir 

 of Nejd, while Feysul was in captivi'ty at Dar el Beyda. But when 

 Feysul escaped and returned to Nejd, he and his family were driven to 

 Bagdad. Speaking of the Ananzeh he assured me their migration 

 North dated from 200 or 300 years ago. The Ibn Saouds are of Ana- 

 zeh stock. 



" 12th Dec. — I have written another long letter to Cromer about the 

 return of 'the refugees to Dongola. Kitchener, in reply to my first 

 letter, declared the road to be open to them via Assouan and Berber. 

 That would give them a journey of 1,000 miles to accomplish the 100 

 miles which separate them at Sarras from their homes. He pretends, 

 too, that the Dervishes are 'threatening the frontier. Our people are 

 humbugs about this almost more than about anything else. The officers 

 when I was there were all complaining that there was nothing for them 

 to do on the frontier if the Dervishes would make no move. 



" We went to-day to look at some desert land 280 feddans out- 

 side Kafr el Shorafa, for sale by the Government at 50 piastres the 

 feddan, for first price. I would give £2. Ibrahim ibn Saoud came 

 to-day to luncheon. He had been to the palace. He asked me for a 

 letter to Lord Cromer, explaining that his business was to invite 

 English protection for Nejd. He declared 'that six months ago Fawzi 

 Pasha, Turkish Waly of El Hasa, received orders from the Ottoman 

 Government to send an expedition to take over the Government of 

 Riad and El Haryk. Fawzi was a Syrian, knew Arabic, and would 

 have been able to effect his purpose through the Arab tribes. Cor- 

 respondence had passed between the Sultan and Ibn Rashid, who had 

 consented to the aggression. Now, however, Ibrahim would wish the 

 British Government to undertake a protectorate as at Bahreyn and Mus- 

 cat — at least to forbid 'the Turkish advance inland. I gave him the 



