Their weapons were, in fact, the gold and silver pieces with which they
subsidized the Sherifs. Sultan Selim at once, on being acknowledged,
ordered an additional annuity of 5000 ardebs to be paid to Mecca, and he
and his immediate successors carried out at their own expense such
public works as the shrines required in the way of repairs or
improvements. Subsequently the seaport of Jeddah, formerly occupied by
the Egyptians, received a Turkish contingent, but the interior of Hejaz
was never subjugated, nor was any tax at any time levied. Only once a
year an Ottoman army appeared before the walls of Medina, conducting the
pilgrims from Damascus and convoying the surrah. The state of things at
Mecca in the last century has been clearly sketched by Niebuhr. The
Sherifs were in reality independent princes, but they "gratified the
vanity of the Grand Signior" by calling him their suzerain, he on his
side occasionally exercising the right of power by deposing the reigning
Sherif and appointing another of the same family. No kind of
administration had then been attempted by the Turks in Hejaz.
Mehemet Ali's occupation of Hejaz in 1812 first brought foreign troops
inland. He established himself at Taif, the summer residence of the
Meccans; deposed the Grand Sherif Ghaleb, and appointed in his stead
another member of the Sherifal family; declaring the Sultan sovereign of
the country--acts which the Meccans acquiesced in through dread of the
Wahhabis, from whom Mehemet Ali promised to deliver them.
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