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Crossing of the Empty Quarter

CLOUGHLIN ASSOCIATES

Consultancy on Arab World Affairs Vicarage House

58 - 60 Kensington Church st. London W8 4DB

Lecture By Leslie Mcloughlin

Saudi Information Centre 16 April 1996

CROSSING OF THE EMPTY QUARTER

(Thomas, Philby, Thesiger)

Ladies and Gentlemen:

I am very pleased to welcome you to an evening of exploration with Mr. Leslie McLoughlin.

You will be hearing of the adventures of three great explorers who made crossings of the Rub Al-Khali (Empty Quarter during the earlier part of this century.

Te desert can be less than hospitable at the very best of times. Fortunately, these travelers often experienced the hospitality, friendship and respect of the Arab people hey met. So the inhospitable desert gave way to the kinship of host and visitor.

But the desert is a very special place. A few weeks ago your host, His Excellency Dr. Ghazi Algosaibi, held a reading of his poetry at London University, I was very moved to hear the poem Sahara in which a traveler returns to the desert-disenchanted-after roaming the world.

Ladies and Gentlemen

I am delighted to announce that His Excellency Dr. Algosaibi, will be the guest of the School of Oriental and African Studies this week.

Dr. Algosaibi will be reading a number of his poems - in both English and Arabic - at the Brunei Gallery, Russell Square, from 6.30 pm on Thursday 28th March.

You would all be most welcomed to attend this Poetry Reading Evening.

Sir Wilfred Thesiger, the great British explorer, was the guest of the Saudi Ambassador at a lecture given by leslie McLoughlin, Director of the London centre of Arab Studies. This by Sir wilfred Thesiger across the Empty Quarter and went on to deal with historic journeys made by three Englishmen across “The Sands”.

These were journeys made with Bedu companions by Thesiger (1946 - 7 and 1947 - 8) Philby (1931 - 2) and Thomas (1930 - 31).

The lecture reviewed the lives of the three men to give the background of their making their individual journeys and described their motivation.

The man who became world famous for making the first crossing was Bertram Thomas who made the journey from Salala to Doha between December 1930 and February 1931. Having begun life as a post office official 1908 - 1914 he came to know the Arab world through his Army service in Iraq from 1916 onwards, He became a member of the civil administration in Iraq, than moved to transjordan where he was an assistant to Philby who had become the Chief British Representative in the newly-formed Emirate. He was then seconded to Muscat where he was Finance Minister and later Prime Minister. While serving in Muscat he made frequent journeys on camel-back wit Bedu companions and about 1927 conceived the idea of making a journey with the Bedu from Salala northwards, through territory controlled by Ibn Saud, to emerge from the Empty Quarter at Doha. By 1930 he had completed his plans but told no one of them except the future Sultan of Oman, Sa'eed bin Taimur.

In late December 1930 he struck out into the Sands with his companions knowing that his life was at risk as a Christian and as an “illegal immigrant” i.e. he had no authorization from Ibn Saud to cross his territory. The route he took was carefully chosen to follow the line of known wells. Tomas also made elaborate calculations of food and water supplies to be carried, so that the journey was, in effect, not a dangerous one from the point of view of being able to keep body and soul together. The great danger was of discovery by the tribes, especially by what Thomas loosely called The Ikhwan. In the final stages of the journey when he was most at risk of discovery his group was helped by the fact that they were traveling in Ramadan: the Ikhwan were away from their normal territory, which lay in their path, as they were observing Ramadan elsewhere.

Thomas reached Doha with his companions in early February 1931 and his achievement immediately received world-wide acclaim. He published his work on the journey ARABIA FELIX in 1932 and although he was not able to retire happily on the proceeds, as he had hoped, he was able to give up his work in Muscat.

Thomas was again employed in government work during the Second world war when he worked as a British information officer in Bahrain and he finished life as the founder and first Director of the Middle East Centre for Arab Studies which he opened in Jerusalem in 1944, later moving it to Shemlan, Lebanon in 1948.

Philby (Harry st. John Philby who later converted to Islam and took the name Abdullah) was born in 1888 in India and came to know the area on the fringes of the Empty quarter in 1918 he conceived the idea of being the first non-Arab to cross the Sands. He was therefore bitterly disappointed when he learned in 1931 that Thomas had beaten him to it.

Ibn Saud, however, gave him permission in late 1931 to make an exploratory journey from south to north and instructed. The Governor of the Eastern Province, Abdullah bin Jiluwi to give him every support. This was naturally to include Bedu companions who would guarantee his safety. By early January all was ready and the group set out with a train of no less than 32 camels. The route taken was a meandering one as Philby was insistent on indulging his interest in the flora and fauna, in geology, archaeology, mineralogy, surveying by compass traverse and astronomic observation. The bedu did not take kindly to the delays imposed, especially as they were traveling in Ramadan. A notable feature of Philby's journey was that he was constantly at odds with his companions whereas Thomas was the soul of good cheer and clearly had the best of relations with his companions. (Indeed Thesiger in the 1940's met the Bedu companions of Thomas and was struck by how warmly they remembered him). So bad did relations with the Bedu become that Philby learned later that they planned at one stage to kill him.

The journey reached its southernmost point at the wells of Shanna where it became clear that the Bedu would not go on: the planned route south lay through the territory of tribes who were not represented in his group. Philby therefore had to adopt a route east-west and struck our across the sands in exceptional heat for the month of February. So severe were the conditions that at one point even the camels tried to take shelter in the tents. Eventually Philby was forced to turn back to the east-west starting point, Naifa, a place where the sulphurous water gave all the group severe stomach problems.

During March 1932 the group struggled across totally unexplored country keeping to a route plotted by Philby and doing a great part of their traveling in the early morning, well before dawn. Eventually, 68 days after leaving Hofuf, they reached Sulaiyil after an especially difficult crossing of the Abu Bahr sands.

Philby then completed a leisurely return to Mecca, arriving by truck, not on camel-back, and said his prayers at the Kaaba before arriving home at 9 p.m. on 5 April 1932.

During 1933 he completed the preparation of his book the Empty Quarter with the help of his son, Kim (the future Soviet spy) and thereafter was rightly celebrated as an intrepid and resourceful traveler and explorer. He was later to make many journeys on camel back at the request of Ibn Saud as the first stage in mapping and documenting the enormous unknown territories of what had become the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Sir Wilfred Thesiger came to the Arab world in a quite different way although he shared with Philby and Thomas a background of service with the British armed forces in wartime. Having been born in Addis Ababa into a family with strong Imperial connections, in Ethiopia and India principally, he developed from an early age a love of exploratory travel, especially in arduous circumstances. He. Traveled widely in Africa in mountain and desert and by the time of the Second world war was ideally equipped to be part of the Long Range Desert Group patrols which struck at Axis forces in North Africa. He then spent time on active service on secret missions in Syria where he came to know the great nomadic tribes of Badiat Ash-Shaam.

He was offered the chance to explore the Empty Quarter quite by chance in 1945 when he met a UN official engaged in research related to plotting the incidence of locust breeding grounds. This would require lengthy journeys in the unexplored regions of the Empty Quarter. Thesiger jumped at the opportunity and began a series of journeys in the Hajaz and Asir to familiarize himself before making plans to travel with Bedu companions from the area of Salala northwards.

His first great journey was made in the eastern part of the Arabian peninsula starting through the Sands of Ghanim in late 1946. With his companions from the Beit Kathis and the Rashid he made the successful crossing of the extraordinarily difficult region of the Urooq Al-Shaiba returning by a circular route via Oman to Salala.

The second crossing was made in the west via Sulaiyil, layla and the Liwa, reaching Abu Dhabi and Buraimi where he became the guest spent happily hunting. At Sulaiyil Thesiger was arrested on Ibn Saud's orders and was released only on the intervention of Philby who then set out to meet Thesiger at Layla. This incident showed the great concern which Ibn Saud had to preserve security in his domains.

As the greater part of the Empty Quarter lies in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia the lecturer devoted some time to discussion of the way in which each of the explorers was affected by the position of King Abdul-Aziz as the founder of the Kingdom. He pointed out that Thomas, as early as 1931, was fully aware as an official of a neighboring Arab country, that Ibn Saud had imposed his will on the tribes and had practically eliminated the anarchy produced by uncontrolled raiding. Philby had of course benefited from being given the full backing and protection of Ibn Saud on his journeys. Thesiger, however, had been arrested as an illegal immigrant on the orders of Ibn Saud. The king had, however, shown considerable magnanimity in ordering his release, after the intervention of Philby.

The lecture reviewed the different qualities of the books written by the three explorers and paid eloquent tribute to the last of the books, Arabian Sands by Thesiger, as being the finest book ever written on Arabian travel.

The lecture was illustrated by maps, by video presentation and by the recorded words of Sir Wilfred Thesiger. In conclusion the lecture presented to Sir wilfred a copy of the latest book published by the London Centre of Arab Studies, The FIRST PHOTOGRAPHERS IN THE EMIRATES, (1996) which contains many of the photographs taken by Thesiger during his great journeys in the Empty Quarter.

L.M.