uted he related a story. "There
was once," he said, "an elephant, a great and noble beast, and to him
God sent a gnat, the smallest thing which is. It stung him on the trunk
and the elephant died. Allah Kerim: God is merciful."

El Husseyn's successor, the man for whom room was made, and who knew
beforehand that it was to be made, was none other than the aged and
twice deposed Abd el Mutalleb, the son of the Wahhabite Ghaleb, the
fiercest fanatic of the Dewy Zeyd.

I have not room here to describe in detail the effect of this coup de
Jarnac on the political aspect of Hejaz. For the moment the reactionary
party is in power at Mecca, as it is at Constantinople. Abd el Mutalleb
is supported by Turkish bayonets, and the Aoun family and the Liberals
are suffering persecution at Mecca, while the Sherifal Court, which had
hitherto been most friendly to England, has become the focus of Indian
discontent. Outside the town all is disorder. It is sufficient for the
present if I have shown that there is in Hejaz an element of spiritual
power already existing side by side with the Sultan, of which advantage
may one day be taken to provide him with a natural successor. If no new
figure should appear on the political horizon of Islam when the Ottoman
empire dies, sufficiently commanding to attract the allegiance of the
Mussulman world (and of such there is as yet no sign), it is certainly
to the Sherifal family of Mecca that the mass of Mohammedans would look
for a representative of their supreme headship, and of that Caliphate of
which they stand in need.

The transfer of the seat of spiritual power from Constantinople to Mecca
would be an easy and natural one, and would hardly disturb the existing
ideas of the vulgar, while it would harmonize with all the traditions of
the learned. Mecca or Medina would, on the extinction of Constantinople,
become almost of necessity the legal home of the Ahl el Agde, and might
easily become the acknowledged centre of spiritual power. All whom I
have spoken to on the subject agree that the solution would be an
acceptable one to every school of Ulema except the distinctly Turkish
schools. Indeed "Mecca, the seat of the Caliphate" is, as far as I have
had an opportunity of judging, the cry of the day with Mussulmans; nor
is it one likely to lose strength in the future. Like the cry of "Roma
capitale," it seems to exercise a strong influence on the imagination of
all to whom it is suggested, and when