Evening star., 1924-02-25
BAN ON FOREIGNERS
IN ARABIA IS RIGID
Exclusion Law, Most, Effective
Known, Enforced by Sword
in Expert Hands.
MISSIONARIES ARE BARRED
Death of Sultan of Nejd Brings
Customs to Light.

Report OF the death Of the Sultan
Of Nejd. emir of all central Arabia.
turns the news spotlight to a place
where 1t seldom rests. and where it
is all but lost in vast desert wastes.
| ARABIA has been figuring in world
affairs since the curtain rose on the
first act In history" says a bulletin
from the headquarters Of the Nation
,, al Geographic Society. dealing with
the Nejd. and yet 1t has large areas
about which we know practically
nothing.
Because of the huge bulk of Asia,
! it's numerous peninsulas are some
what dwarfed. and one may fall into
| the error of classing. Arabia with
peninsulas nearer home, such as
| Florida. But sixty Floridas would
be lost in this great Asian projec-
| tfon: it is. in fact. third as large
as the entire United States.
Exclusion Laws Rigid.
| Tremendous desert wastes arc not
| alone responsible for the fact that the
outside world is ignorant of the Nejd
| in tho heart of Arabia. That country
If the area over which the Eejdian
nomads roam may be called u country
has one of the most effective eXclu-
| sion laws known: the exclusion law
OF the sword.
These people no not care TO go into
the outside world, and they want no
visits from western traders, diplomats,
! military experts. or missionaries-espe-
ctally missionaries. They are blood
thirsty fanatics on the subject Of re-
ligious simplicity. AS Wahabis they
| are perhaps better known 10 the world
than as Nejdians, for the former name
they owe to their religious associations.
Blue laws have never taken on so
deep tinge of blue as in the land of
the WahabiS To drink or even smoke
tobacco is not merely a dereliction IN
their strict code: 1t is a capital offense.
1t is equally an ofrense. according to
| their views. to use rich rugs and fine
vessels in mosques, and they have made
| more than one effort to invade Mecca
itself to reduce the holy Places there TO
Wahabis simplicity They even look
upon other MohammedanS not of their
sect as unbe'ievers unworthy of life.
The capital of the Nejd, Riad, IS
more truly d forbidden city than Is
Lhasa. The only westerner known TO
have visited it In recent years was
an American physician, smuggled in
that he might save the life of j chief
tain, and it Is believed that even this
errand of mercy would not have saved
him from summary execution save
for brief time stretched their
standards.
There has been sultan and an
acting sultan Of Nejd In recent years,
the first an aged patriarch and the
second his energetic heir. not Yet forty
years of age. Reports Of the death Of
the sultan do not make il clear which
Of these leaders has passed away, The
youEg ruler has stuck Closely to the
in junction Of the prophet to limit his
wives TO four-at one time. He adopt
ed the plan of having one chief per
manent' wife, and of changing the
other three every ninety days. After
serving as temporary sultanaS the
|n,nety-day wives were bestowed on
some favored underling. Two Ar
menian girls were recent members Of
his family circle.
Great Britain has been paying the
ruler of tho Nejd huge subsidy
100000 q year, an 'honorarium' four
times as great as the salary and al
lowance of the President of United
States. The young sultan has taken
the cash and has let his followers
go about their forays pretty much
as they wished. Great Britain, has
had TO spend much more than the
subsidy. it is said, defending the kings
OF Hedjaz, TransjorGania and Iraq
against Wahabi incursions."