PRESENTS FOR SHEIKHS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVIII, Issue 81914, 8 January 1907, Page 4

PRESENTS FOR SHEIKHS.

SULTAN INCREASES HIS GIFTS. | Coustantinop.e, November 10. The sacred caravan left last weekly special steamer for Beirut, en route 'or the holy cities of Islam, by way of Damascus. It is reported that the gifts which ire lieing conveyed to the Sherccf of Mecca and other notables are of spe-i-iai value this year, as the Sultan iias wished to testify Ins gratitude in this manner for his recovery from sickness in the summer. The monetary contributions to the Bedouin sheikhs along the line route have also been increased, and in some cases doubled, from the same cause. The annual cost of the sacred caravan, as entered on the Budget ot the Empire, is ,£49,200. All the Bedouin chiefs do not receive presents in cash. Some or the most important are presented with swords or mantles of honor, while the petty chiefs are gratified with ordinary articles of Arab dress. One sheikh was contented with the gift of a boot one year and the promise of its fellow the .next. -.p 3 .* j «iiS)M This year the pilgrims will be abie to cover one-third of their journey to Mecca by rail, as the Hedjaz line was completed this autumn as far as Tebuk. ;« ■'■ At v the rale of advance which has been maintained during the last five years, the railway should reach Medina on December 31, 1910, and Mecca three years later.