Fri. 28. [28 November 1913] Went to the bank, walking round the
mosque first. Muhammad al Na'man and Abdallah al Khalaf came to
see me. M. Says Ibn Sha'lan is not at peace with Ibn al Rashid. The
present man is Sa'ud ibn al Rashid but he says that 'Abd al 'Aziz ibn
al Sa'ud holds all Nejd [Najd] but just immediately round Hayyil
[Hail]. Then to see the Vali's wife Mme 'Arif Bey. An extremely
interesting woman, daughter of the Egyptian [space left blank] but
they are originally Turks from Kavalla. She says the evils of the Govt
weigh hardest on the Turks and there is no talk of reform for Anatolia.
Complained bitterly of the Balkan Committee. Desired an English
Inspector General for the Armenian provinces, for choice Chermside,
but anyhow someone who wd realize that the Kurds have grievances
too. The Armenian money lenders get all the land into their hands.
'Arif Bey is an Arab from Mardin; he was Vali at Basrah [Basrah, Al
(Basra)]. His wife loved the journey there and also the people "But of
course I can only study the women." Here she says the women are
like Moslem women in foreign books - they do absolutely nothing, not
even needlework. Most of them can't read. She has an English
governess, Miss Green. After lunch walked round the walls with Mrs
Brunton and drank coffee at the kahwah near Bab al Salam. Walked
round the walls in the afternoon with Mrs Brunton. At tea time came
Shukri Beg al 'Asali, and another who had been Mudir at Bab 'Abd al
Wahhab and we all talked with Ali Effendi. They talked a good deal
of tosh about Arab unity and the feeling of the big shaikhs. Nawwaf
ibn Nuri they say is very well educated and a good politician. They
also say that Mubarak is summoning Sa'ud ibn al Rashid and Abd al
Aziz ibn al Sa'ud to an Arab conference at Hasa or Kwait [Al Kuwayt
(Kuwait)]. They plead now in Arabic in the courts of law. Shukri is not
going to stand again. He says there is no freedom under the C.U.P.
Mir Tahir came in and I bamboozled him as to my plans. Dined with
the Mackinnons.