went out to meet him
accompanied by Hamud, son of Obed, and a small following. Warned by a
hurried sign by Hamud that his life was in danger, Mahommed at once
attacked Bandar, stabbed him and took possession of the citadel; a
general massacre of all members of the house of Ibn Rashid followed, and
next day Mahommed appeared with his cousin Hamud in the market-place of
Hail, and announced his assumption of the amirship. A strong and capable
ruler, he soon established his authority over all northern and western
Nejd, and in 1872 the opportunity arrived for his intervention in the
east. In that year Abdallah, who had succeeded Fesal in Riad in 1867,
was deposed, but with the assistance of Mahommed was reinstated; two
years later, however, he was again deposed and forced to seek refuge at
Hail, from which place he appealed for assistance to the Turkish
authorities at Bagdad. Midhat Pasha, then governor-general, seized the
occasion of asserting Turkish dominion on the Persian Gulf coast, and in
1875, in spite of British protests, occupied El Hasa and established a
new province under the title of Nejd, with its headquarters at Hofuf, of
which Abdallah was appointed governor. This was an event of some
importance, as it constituted the first Turkish claim to the sovereignty
over Nejd abandoned by Egypt thirty-three years earlier. The Turks did
not support their client by advancing into Nejd itself, and he and his
rivals were left to fight out their battles among themselves. Turkey was
indeed too much occupied by the war with Russia to pay much attention to
Arab affairs, though a few years later she attempted to occupy Bahrein
by a _coup de main_, which was only frustrated by the action of a
British gunboat.

Owing to the dissensions among the ruling family of Riad, the towns of
eastern Nejd gradually reverted to their former condition of
independence, but menaced in turn by the growing power of Hail, they
formed a coalition under the leadership of Zamil, sheik of Aneza, and in
the spring of 1891, Aneza, Bureda, Shakra, Ras and Riad assembled their
contingents to contest with Ibn Rashid the supremacy in Nejd. The latter
had besides 20,000 of his own south Shammar tribesmen, the whole
strength of the Harb Bedouins, some 10,000 men, and an additional
support of 1000 mounted men from his kinsmen, the northern Shammar from
the Euphrates, while the Muter and Ateba tribes took part with the
allies. The total strength of each side amo