jaz.

At the present moment Sultan Abd el Hamid's position in the country is
this. His troops occupy Jeddah and Yembo, the two seaports, and the
towns of Medina and Taif in the interior. He is acknowledged by the
Sherifs as sovereign, except in Mecca; and he appoints to all the
principal offices of State, including the supreme office of the Grand
Sherifate itself. He is represented by a Pasha who resides alternately
at Jeddah and Taif according to the season, but who has not the right of
entering Mecca without the Grand Sherif's leave, or of sending troops
there. The total garrison of the Turks in Hejaz last winter was from
8000 to 10,000 men, of whom 4000 only were regulars (Nizams), and
efficient. While I was at Jeddah, the Medina garrison of 2000 regulars,
having been long unpaid and unrationed, was said to be living on public
charity. On the other hand the Hejazi Bedouins do not acknowledge any
sovereignty but that of the Sherif, nor could the Sultan pretend to keep
order outside the towns except through the Sherif's interposition. The
Sultan levies no tax in the interior or impost of any kind, and the sole
revenue he receives in Hejaz comes from Customs duties of Jeddah and
Yembo, which may amount to L40,000.

In return for this he also is bound to transmit every year at the time
of the pilgrimage sums of money collected by him from the revenues of
the Wakaf within his dominions, lands settled by pious persons on the
Sherifal family. These are said to amount to nearly half a million
sterling, and are distributed amongst all the principal personages of
Hejaz. The transmission of the Wakaf income, in which the Sultan
constitutes himself, so to say, the Sherif's agent, is in fact the real
bond which unites Hejaz with the Caliphate, and its distribution gives
the Sultan patronage, and with it power in the country. The bond,
however, is one of interest only. The Sherifs, proud of their sacred
ancestry, look upon the Turkish Caliphs as barbarians and impostors,
while the Sultans find the Hejaz a heavy charge upon their revenue.
Either hates and despises the other, the patron and the patronized; and,
save that their union is a necessity, it would long ago have, by mutual
consent, been dissolved. The Sherif depends upon the Sultan because he
needs a protector, and needs his Wakaf. The Sultan depends upon the
Sherif, because recognition by Hejaz as the protector is a chief title
to his Caliphate. Mecca, in fact, is a neces