. The heart of Arabia, a record of travel and exploration . ough the walls of Taif are no more,the three gates by which admittance was gained in the paststill remain in their surviving fragments, the Bab al Sail in thenorth face leading out on to the main road, the Bab al Rion the west, from which leads the direct route to Meccathrough Jabal Kura, and finally the Bab ibn Abbas openingon the south side towards the mosque of the patron the first - named gate are the charred ruins of theSharifs residence and his Bait al Hukm or court of audience,both gutted and fired by the Turks by wa
. The heart of Arabia, a record of travel and exploration . ough the walls of Taif are no more,the three gates by which admittance was gained in the paststill remain in their surviving fragments, the Bab al Sail in thenorth face leading out on to the main road, the Bab al Rion the west, from which leads the direct route to Meccathrough Jabal Kura, and finally the Bab ibn Abbas openingon the south side towards the mosque of the patron the first - named gate are the charred ruins of theSharifs residence and his Bait al Hukm or court of audience,both gutted and fired by the Turks by way of revenge forthe Sharifs rebellion against his liege lord, the Sultanof Turkey, before they surrendered the town to SharifAbdullah. Of the Arab siege and capture of Taif Ali never weariedof talking ; was not he one of those who had staked all on ^ In all there are said to be eleven mosques in the town and one school^ According to Ibn Saud, though it seems to me that the claim restson doubtful authority and that the edifice is of much greater so a^ THE HOLY LAND 201 the Jihad, and was he not now corporal of the Taif guard ?In our wandering he explained the details of the siegewhich, carried on after the desultory manner of all Arabsieges, lasted through three months of the late summer andautumn of 1916. Mecca and Jidda had already fallen tothe Kings forces, and his son Abdullah was despatched tocrush the last remnants of the Turkish forces in the southpart of the Hijaz, or in other words to reduce Taif. TheArabs occupied Sharaqraq and the outer ranges, with for-ward gun positions on Dimma and Sakhara, while the Turksshortened their lines by devoting themselves to the defenceof Taif itself, the barracks and outposts on Umm al Sahfaand Akabir, these latter being connected with the barracksby a deep trench, along which, explained my guide, thinkingto impress me with the wonders of modern military en-gineering, the enemy could provision and communicate withtheir o
Size: 1227px × 2038px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, bookpublisherlondo, bookyear1922
