, and the Sultan's representative at
Jeddah is hardly more than servant to the Prince of Mecca. It is he who
is the descendant of their prophet, not the other, and though the
learned may make distinctions in favour of the Caliph the Haj only hears
of the Sherif. Even at Constantinople, by immemorial custom, the Sultan
rises to receive members of the sacred family; and at Mecca it is
commonly said that should a Sultan make the Haj in person he would be
received by the Grand Sherif as an inferior. The Sherifal family, then,
is surrounded with a halo of religious prestige which would make their
acquisition of the supreme temporal title appear natural to all but the
races who have been in subjection to the Ottomans; and were a man of
real ability to appear amongst them he would, in the crisis we have
foreseen, be sure to find an almost universal following.

That the Ottoman Government is perfectly aware of this is certain. Even
in the days of its greatest power it always showed its jealousy and
distrust of Mecca, and was careful when any of the Grand Sherifs
acquired what was considered dangerous influence, to supplant him by
setting up a rival. Its physical power enabled it to do this, and though
it could not abolish the office of the Grand Sherifate, it could
interfere in the order of succession. Family feuds have, therefore, been
at all times fostered by the Turks in Hejaz, and will be, as long as
their presence there is tolerated. An excellent example of their system
has recently been given in the episode of the late Grand Sherif's death,
and the story of it will serve also to show the fear entertained by the
present Sultan of this his great spiritual rival. To tell it properly I
must go back to the epoch of the Wahhabite invasion of Hejaz in 1808.

At that time, and for the latter half of the previous century, the
supreme dignity of the Sherifal House was held by a branch of it known
as the Dewy Zeyd (the word _Dewy_ is used in Hejaz, as are elsewhere
_Beni_ or _Ahl_, meaning _people_, _family_, _house_), which had
replaced in 1750 the Barakat branch, mentioned by Niebuhr as in his day
supreme. The actual holder of the title was Ghaleb ibn Mesaad, and he,
finding himself unable to contend against the Wahhabis, became himself a
Wahhabi. Consequently, when Mehemet Ali appeared at Mecca in 1812, his
first act was to depose this Ghaleb, in spite of his protest that he had
returned to orthodoxy, and to appoint another membe