Intermountain Jewish news., 1925-12-10
IN THE LAND
OF THE CAAufA
The Kings Tent by the Red
Sea
By wOLFGANG Won WEIsl.

and the Sinai indescribably lovely
Hundreds Of metres below, we saw the
plains OF the Wadi Eshtar and the
Wadi iettwim, white and yellow and
green and blue. bounded by glowing
masses Of porphyr forming steep,
pointed barriers between the valley and
the still Invisible sen. And In the plain
itself-do1ens, no. hundreds OF rock Is
lands, flaming in improbable colors,
showing the raresi. most unusual forms
on the dusky blue Of the distant noun.
tains Warriors, armed with shields.
prnncing horses. eagles. gods. nearly
reaching into the sky, women In repose,
pyramids. tombstones, trophies
natures handiwork, making the handi-
work Of man seem negligible. seemed
to rise In Infinite variety from the gold.
en- sand OF the plain to the clear mid
day sky.
The road dropped by 100 metres.
Our car passed along roads revealing
new wonders At every curve. as If this
were Of ordinary occurrence. II we
had not got stuck n few times in the
kneedeep sand. II few stray Besluin
bullets had not whizzcd over our heads
occasionally. we might have forgotten
that we were travelling through en-.
chanted country. not yet dehled by tour
lists With the exception Of few Eng
lishmen. two Danes and Il German Off.
Ger Of King Husscin's Air Force. It Is
unlikely that any non-Moslems have
penetrated here since the end of the
war.
We only proceeded slowly. 1t took us
Akaba. Only late in the afternoon did
we pass the last rocky barrier. did we
see the Gulf Of Akaba. hidden by
masses of dust. the Sinai Peninsula. the
Red Sea. The evening breeze whipped
skyhigh the hot columns of sand Of
the Akaba They darkened the coast
Of the Sinai The waters of the gulf
almost lost their transparency and the
sea itself became dull.
Our chauffeur put on his best speed.
| stumbling and grOanlng we dashed
down the last few Kilometres along the
coast to the village OF Akaba. Palms.
sea, miserable clay huts and wild look
Ing Betluins few past us. We rounded
corner and stopped in front of low
| wall OF raw bricks, behind which we
saw white tents under blush green
palms Armed Negroes and Beduins
awaited us in front Of the gate. and
took us at once to the King. who wished
that we make his sufrerings known TO
the world,
Royal Tent OF the defender"
A moment later We were sitting in
the royal tent opposite the successor of
Mohammed, the Defender of the Faith
Through the open tent there shimmers
the blue sea and behind it the Sinai.
dipped in sandstorms, the graceful sill
hOuette Of the royal yacht under the
black. red, white and green pavilion of
the Hashimites. And behind 1t. steel
gray, the British cruiser. The English
fist raised above Akaba. Twice the
Chalifa will see the sun set in his own
domain. on the third day he is going
into exile. We are the last guests
whom the Defender Of the Faith re-
ceives as free man.
On the 9th of May, 1925, the British
cruiser Cornfiower appeared in the
Gulf of Akaba. The commander
stated that he wished to replensh his
stock of food and water. So King
Hussein gave him permission TO land.
The English sailors strolled through
the poor little village and entered the
old Turkish citadel closed to all stran-
gers. The British saw that Hussein
had neither arms nor soldiers. which
commander landed once more and
handed the King the following note
from the British Government. 1t read
translated from the Arabic:
1--WE learn that Sultan Ibn Saud is
preparing to attack Aknba, which is sit
uated on the rOad to Transjordania,
thus laying bare the heart of the Mid
die East Transjordania being man
dated territory, the British Govern
ment is bound to do its best to defend
its frontiers against hostile attacks. 1t
therefore requests ex-King Hussein to
put Akaba and Mann under British
Mandate, to cut 1t Off from the He'd
JAZZ; and to leave Akaba within three
weeks from the 2Sth Of May. Should
the ex-King not agree to these de-
mands, the British Government would
be regretfully compelled to take Akaba
and Maan by force. Great Britain can
not allow the ex-King to stay any long
er in Akaba because from there he sent
troops to King ALL who is fighting
against the Sultan of Nejd, our ally.