while allowing dhow-traffic with
foodstuffs consigned to Arab merchants and steamer-cargoes of food for
the alleged use of pilgrims to go through. Incidentally we had to keep
the eastern highway free of mines and transportable submarines, prevent
the passage of spies between Arabia and Egypt, and fetch and carry as
the shore-folk required.

Taking it all round, it was not an easy job, but I think the blockade
presented the most complex features. You knew where you were with
spies--anyone with the necessary experience could spot a doubtful
customer as soon as the dhow that carried him came alongside; and
irregular but frequent visits at the various ports soon put a stop to
the mine-industry and prevented any materialisation of the submarine
menace except in reports from Aden which caused me a good many
additional trips in an armed steam-cutter to "go, look, see."

But the problems presented by the blockade required some solving with
very little time for the operation, and if your solution was not
approved by the authorities on the beach they lost no time in letting
you know it--usually by wireless, which was picked up by most ships in
the patrol by the time it reached you.

The basic idea was that if in doubt it was better to let stuff through
to the Turks than pinch Hejazi bellies and get ourselves disliked. In
theory this was perfectly sound, for we wanted the Hejaz to like us well
enough to fight on our side, and only the Huns think you can get people
to love you by afflicting them. In practice, however, we soon found that
the Hejazi merchants were selling direct to the Turks and letting their
fellow-countrymen have what was left at the highest possible price. On
top of it all India started a howl that her pilgrims in the Hejaz were
starving, and we had to defer to this outcry. I have never had to
legislate for highly-civilised Moslems with a taste for agitation, but I
have always sympathised with those who have, and could quite appreciate
India's position in the matter. Still, after comparing her relief
cargoes with the number of her pilgrims in the country and finding that
each had enough to feed him for the rest of his natural life, I ventured
to ask that this wholesale charity might cease, more especially as these
big steamer-cargoes were dealt with much as the dhow-borne cereals and
chiefly benefited the Turks and local profiteers.

As regards dhows, our rule was to allow coastal traffic from Jeddah and
empt