316 REV. 8. M. ZWEMER, F.R.G.S., ON THE WAHABIS : 
among the troops. In 1814 Saood, the second of that name 
and the greatest of the dynasty, died and was succeeded by 
his son Abdullah. The power of the Wahabi state had 
already suffered serious loss during Saood’s life by the 
taking of the holy cities. After his death other losses 
followed. The Wahabi forces were utterly defeated by the 
Turks in the battle of Bessel. This battle, fought on the 
26th of Moharram, 1230 A.H. (January 7th, 1815), was the 
deciding blow. The Wahabi force numbered 25,000 men— 
camel-riders, infantry, and a few horsemen. The Turks had 
artillery and with it drove the enemy out of their mountain 
position into the open plain. ‘As soon as Mohammed saw 
the enemy running, he proclaimed among his troops that 
six dollars should be given for every Wahaby’s head. In a 
few hours five thousand were piled up before him; in one 
narrow valley fifteen hundred Wahabis had been surrounded 
and cut to pieces” (Burckhardt). Of three hundred 
prisoners taken, fifty were impaled before the gates of 
Mecca; twelve suffered a like horrible death at every one 
of the ten coffee-houses from Mecca to Jiddah; and the 
rest were impaled at Jiddah! “The Turks delighted in this 
display of disgusting cruelty, but all their Bedouin allies 
expressed aloud their utmost indignation” (Burckhardt). 
Mohammed Ali Pasha returned to Egypt; Toussoun Pasha, 
left to complete the war, concluded a peace with the 
Wahabis, but the treaty was disavowed both at Cairo and 
Constantinople. Ibrahim Pasha landed at Yenbo in 1816, 
and commenced the final campaign. He subdued the entire 
province of Kasim, entered Nejd, and in April, 1818, appeared 
before the walls of the Wahabi capital, Deraiah. The city 
was taken and razed to the ground; Abdullah was carried 
off to Constantinople and publicly executed in front of 
St. Sophia. The Egyptian occupation of the Wahabi 
provinces was rather for vengeance and destruction than 
for the purpose of government. Executions, massacres, and 
ruined villages marked the progress of Ibrahim Pasha 
through Nejd. It was no wonder -that on the departure of 
the commander revolt broke out against his garrisons. 
Harik and Hassa were the first to rebel. Riadh became the 
centre of the movement, and Turki, a younger son of 
Abdullah, became the new sultan ef the Wahabi state. 
Feysul bin Turki succeeded to power when his father fell 
by the hand of an assassin, and was as able as he was 
popular and powerful. For his character and method of 
