k of respectable
Moslem opinion is at fault, there is still much in the administration of
Mecca which cries for reform. Harsh measures may have been necessary at
first, but to maintain a private prison like the _Kabu_ in the state it
is can redound to no ruler's credit, and for prominent officials to
cultivate an "alluring walk" and even practise it in the _tawaf_ or
circumambulation of the holy Caaba is beyond comment.

Also the mental standard of officialdom is low, since Syrians of
education and training do not seem to be attracted by the Hejaz service
for long, and local men of position and ability are said to have been
passed over as likely to be formidable as intriguers.

It may be reasonably urged that it is difficult to improvise a Civil
Service on the spur of the moment, and it is permissible to anticipate a
better state of affairs now that war conditions are being superseded. At
the same time it is no use blinking the fact that reform is indicated at
Mecca if that sacred city is to harmonise with its high mission as the
religious centre of the Islamic world, and this affects our numerous
Moslem fellow-countrymen; otherwise the domestic affairs of the Hejaz
are not our concern.

The Hejaz has been very much to the fore lately, and ill-informed or
biassed opinion has developed a tendency to credit it with a greater
part in Arabian and Syrian affairs than it has played, can play, or
should be encouraged to play. Its intolerant tone has, presumably, been
modified by co-operation with the civilised forces of militant
Christendom, but the new kingdom has got to regenerate itself a good
deal before it can cope with wider responsibilities. Emir Feisal is, no
doubt, an enlightened prince, but one swallow does not make a summer,
and Hejazi troops have not yet evolved enough _moral_ to dominate and
control a more formidable breed or be trusted with the peace and
welfare of a more civilised population, especially where there are large
non-Moslem communities. There has been a great deal of nonsense talked
and written about their invincible fighting prowess. They accompanied
the Egyptian Expeditionary Force in much the same way as the jackal is
said to accompany the lion, with a reversionary interest in his kill,
and their faint-hearted fumbling with the Turkish defences outside
Jeddah was obvious to any observer. They are what they have been since
the fiery self-sacrificing enthusiasm of early Islam died down and left
t