GOVERNMENT OF ARABIA. 131 



many of the Arabian chiefs and commanders to 

 his allegiance. Even the Sheriff of Mecca deli- 

 vered to him the keys of the sacred city, and openly 

 acknowledged his sovereignty. By the influence of 

 this venerated personage, many of the wandering 

 tribes of the Desert were induced voluntarily to 

 submit to his authority, and to deliver hostages for 

 their future obedience. From this circumstance 

 and from this period may be traced the duty which 

 has been annually performed by the Turkish sul- 

 tans, as Commanders of the Faithful, of conducting 

 the zealous Moslems on their pilgrimage to the 

 sacred territory, a privilege which was henceforth 

 delegated to the Pasha of Damascus, and to whom 

 it still belongs. 



The conquests of Selim left his son, Solyman I., 

 little to achieve in Asia, except to preserve and con- 

 solidate the vast empire which he had acquired. In 

 Arabia this sultan, who appears to have carried the 

 Ottoman name to the highest pitch of glory, employed 

 his arms with great success. From Suez to Aden the 

 whole coasts acknowledged his power. Penetrating 

 inland he obtained possession of Yemen, and even 

 carried his victories into some of the mountainous 

 regions beyond its northern frontier ; so that the 

 peninsula became almost entirely an appendage of 

 the Turkish empire, governed by pashas or begler- 

 begs appointed by the Porte. 



The reigns of Achmet II. and Mustapha II. 

 (A. D. 1696) were disturbed by revolts of the Arab 

 tribes, who plundered and impeded the pilgrims on 

 their route, and even made the Khan of the Tar- 

 tars himself their prisoner. The former, unable to 

 conquer, was glad to compound with the sheiks of 



