A Woman in Arabia (25 page)

The scientifically correct name of these people is the Mandæans. The word Mandæan in their own language means “disciple” and they refer to themselves as the “Disciples of John.” Their language is Mandaitic, which belongs to the Semitic group of languages, and is a first cousin of Syriac. No printed literature exists, although a few of their manuscripts are in the hands of European scholars. The foremost Mandaitic scholar was Peterman, a German Orientalist, who about 60 years ago spent two years among the Sabeans at Suq-al-Shuyukh. They, of course, also speak Arabic, though never to my knowledge have they attended any Arabic Schools.

In the 17th century they numbered about 20,000 families, but at the present day their total does not exceed 3,000 souls. They exist only in Mesopotamia, a few living in Baghdad, and by far the great majority around Suq-al-Shuyukh. They are never to be found at a distance from running water inasmuch as the tenets
of their religion demand their proximity to living water. The great decrease in population is due first of all to the persecution from the Mohammedan and then to internal strife; further many of their women have in late years been married to Mohammedans and thus the race is fast disappearing. They have three chief occupations, that of silver-smiths, canoe building and dairying. Their peculiar canoe is called the Mashhuf. Their silver work is justly famous for exquisite workmanship. It consists of black and silver wrought in cunning designs. The composition of this black substance, supposed to be antimony, is a secret of the trade with them. Of late years Arabs have been more tolerant towards them because of their ability as smiths and boat-builders, in neither of which occupations the Arab has any skill.

Their religion is a curious mixture of old Babylonian Paganism, of the Jewish Cult, of Christianity and Mohammedanism. From the Jewish religion they have borrowed sacrifices and purifications; from the Christian religion they have borrowed the observance of the first day of the week, Baptism, the Lord's Supper and the reverence for John the Baptist and from the Mohammedan religion they have borrowed polygamy.

Their great book, called the Sidra Rabba, contains their doctrines in rather fragmentary form, and gives evidence of a variety of authors, and a great number of contradictions. Even a glimpse of this book is very difficult to obtain, although many efforts have been made to secure a copy. Some years ago some travellers succeeded in stealing a copy, but representations were made to the Consul and the book was returned to the owners. I understand that a copy exists in the British Museum, together with a poor Latin translation which has never been completed. In 1904, through the friendship of their Chief Priest, I was allowed to purchase a copy for the sum of twelve pounds (Turkish), but on the condition that I should never sell the same. Even then, the next day there was a great demonstration by all the Sabeans and earnest endeavours were made by them to compel me to return the book. The copy in question is now being translated in America. A curious feature of this book is that half of each page is reversed to allow of the book's being placed over a
narrow channel of running water and read by a Priest sitting on either side.

Another of their books is the “Book of Souls,” two-thirds of which consist of prayers for the living and one-third of prayers for the dead. This book also contains a history of the death of Adam, who to them is one of the greatest Prophets.

A third book contains Liturgy for the Priests, and others contain marriage ceremonial, the life of John the Baptist, a treatise on astrology and various formulas for incantation and sorcery.

Their belief is that the world originated from what is called a “First Fruit,” something like the Orphean theory of the world egg, and that the Great Lord brought forth life from this great egg, from which life again emanated another life who was Jesus Christ, but that the latter endeavoured to usurp the power of the former, and was therefore placed among the Planets as Mercury. They believe that the Heavens consist of the purest water, so hard that not a diamond can cut it, in which flow all the heavenly bodies as well as this earth. They also believe that the earth is surrounded on three sides by seas, but on the fourth there is a turquoise mountain, the reflection from which gives the blue colour to the sky. They further believe that the Queen of Darkness married Fire, and brought forth 24 sons, of whom 7 were the Planets including the Sun, 12 were the signs of the Zodiac and the remaining 5 are not known. These Planets are sources of evil to mankind. The Pole Star is situated at the very dome of Heaven and therefore they pray toward it, and for this reason they are called the “Star worshippers.”

They practice Baptism, which by the pious among them is received every Sunday; they also observe a sort of Supper which apparently is an imitation of the Christian Communion.

They have places of Worship which, however, are only large enough to contain two or three Priests, and through these places of Worship run tiny streams of water over which prayers are said. There is no furniture in their Churches, save a shelf on which books and other articles are kept. Their priesthood is open to both men and women. The first grade is that of the novitiate, after which is the grade of Priest, thereafter a Bishop, and the highest official of the Church is the Chief Priest. The present
Chief Priest is named Shaikh Mahi and resides at Suq-al-Shuyukh. No priest may have the slightest blemish in his body and the consequence is that the Chief Priest is one of the most striking figures I have ever seen anywhere. A woman may attain to the rank of priesthood, but only on the condition that she marry a priest. It is against their religion for them to wear dark clothes, and for their women to wear anything blue.

One wonders how this curious growth will fare in the new soil of British administration. They are unquestionably pro-British, for the reason that they have always been anti-Turkish.

They never cut their hair, and both men and women may be called decidedly handsome, in fact so handsome that a Sabean can be at once recognised.

They were taken into the Army by the Turks, but were again excused because of the utter impossibility of meeting their religious demand to be always near running water.

Gertrude, left idle in Basra while the army advanced north, suffered from lack of action and having no duties to carry out. She telegraphed Sir Percy Cox, asking when she might join him, and meantime cleared her desk and visited wounded Turkish soldiers. As the temperature rose to eighty degrees, she wrote to her stepmother and sisters to send her cotton and tussore dresses.

Basra, March 10, 1917

We are now hourly awaiting the news of our entrance into Bagdad. I had a letter from Sir Percy to-day, from the Front, full of exultation and confidence. I do hope I may be called up there before very long. It's a wonderful thing to be at the top of the war after all these months of marking time, and say what you will, it's the first big success of the war, and I think it is going to have varied and remarkable consequences.

We shall, I trust, make it a great centre of Arab civilisation, a prosperity; that will be my job partly, I hope, and I never lose sight of it.

In early April, she sent a two-word telegram to her parents, saying simply:

“Address Bagdad.” She took a troop ship up the Tigris to Baghdad, a nine-day trip.

April 10, 1917

It's one of the new ships with electric light and fans and very comfortable, but I shall be glad to get to Baghdad where so many interesting things are happening. . . .

April 15, 1917

I'm free to admit that coming up this river gives one a wholesome respect for our lines of communication. . . . We passed Kut before sunrise but I got up to see it, poor tragic little place, with its shelled walls and shattered palm trees catching the first flush of day. It's quite empty still but we are going to clean it out and build it up as soon as possible. . . .

We anchored last night just above Ctesiphon. And today I know the river banks well for I've ridden up them more than once. Our big camps are the only unfamiliar objects. It's exactly 3 years today since I last set out from Baghdad across the Syrian desert on my way home from Arabia.

Baghdad, April 20, 1917

Such an arrival! Sir Percy made me most welcome and said a house had been allotted to me. I went off to see it and found a tiny stifling box of a place in a dirty little bazaar. It was absolutely empty—what furniture I had was with my heavy luggage and not yet landed and I hadn't even a boy as I had left my servant to look after the heavy luggage. Fortunately, like a good traveller, I had not parted from my bed and bath. These I proceeded to set up and further unpacked one of my boxes which had been dropped into the Tigris and hung out all the things to dry on the railing of the court. It was breathlessly hot. I hadn't so much as a chair to put anything onto and when I wanted water for washing I had to open my front door and call in the help of the bazaar. . . .

I dined with Sir Percy, armed myself with a loaf of bread for breakfast and returned to my empty house to sleep. By good luck my servant turned up late. . . . I confess however that after having done my hair and breakfasted on the floor I felt a little discouraged.

She set off in search of a better house by the river.

The first thing I stumbled onto was a rose garden with 3 summer houses in it, quite close to the Political Office and belonging foreby, to an old friend of mine, Musa Chalabi. I decided at once that this was the thing. But a kitchen had to built, a bathroom, sun blinds to be put up—a thousand things. I got Musa Chalabi to help me, and summoned in an old man . . . and after five days' work I'm in. . . . And my roses, I must tell you, are glorious. . . .

I'm going to have an exciting summer. . . . The rest for another time—I'm so busy.

Baghdad, May 11, 1917

This is how I pass my days: I'm out riding before 6, . . . a gallop in the desert and home through the bazaars. Occasionally I inspect an ancient monument on the way back. . . . A bath and breakfast and so to the office before 9. I'm there till after 7. . . . There's always just a little too much to do. I come back to dinner in my garden at 8 and I generally go to bed at 9.30.

May 17, 1917

Oh my dearest ones, it's so wonderful here—I can't tell you how much I'm loving it . . . I wonder what inheritance from Cumbrian farmers can have developed unexpectedly into so compelling an at-home-ness with the East?

May 17, 1917, Letter to Sir William Willcocks

I have grown to love this land, its sights and its sounds. I never weary of the East, just as I never feel it to be alien. I cannot feel exiled here; it is a second native country.

May 18, 1917

Nowhere in the war-shattered universe can we begin more speedily to make good the immense losses sustained by humanity. . . . It's an immense opportunity, just at this time when the atmosphere is so emotional; one catches hold of people as one will never do again, and establishes relations which won't dissolve. It is not for my own sake, but because it greases the wheels of administration—it really does, and I want to watch it all very carefully almost from day to day, so as to be able to take what I hope may be . . . a decisive hand in [the] final disposition. I shall be able to do that, I shall indeed, with the knowledge I'm gaining. It's so intimate. They are beyond words outgoing to me. What does anything else matter when the job is such a big one? There never was anything quite like this before. . . . It's the making of a new world.

The difficulties faced by the administration were formidable. Arabs spoke a common language but were not one people. Mesopotamia was not a country but a province of a derelict empire, not formally recognized as Iraq until full independence was gained in 1932. As the Turks had withdrawn northward, they had followed a scorched earth policy, smashing dams and destroying agriculture. Disease was spreading, and the one hospital in Baghdad was discovered to be in an indescribable condition. In spite of these and other massive problems, there was a noble determination on the part of Sir Percy Cox and his staff to do well for the people of the Basra and
Baghdad vilayets. It was this ambition above all that inspired Gertrude.

Self-determination remained a vague concept. To the Shia mujtahids, the religious representatives, it meant a theocratic state under Sharia law; to the Sunnis and freethinkers of Baghdad, it meant an independent Arab state under an emir; to the desert and mountain tribes, it meant no government at all.

The first overtures of the sheikhs and notables to the administration were made in the spirit of insurance, in the hope that the British would stay. Who was there, other than Gertrude, who would recognize and be recognized by so many of them, who could extend the traditional courtesies and interview them in their own language or dialect, who knew the differences between mujtahid, Sunni cleric, mufti, mukhtar, or mutawalli? As they were welcomed and reassured, enormous numbers descended on the secretariat. Gertrude, greeted as “Khatun” (“queen” in Persian and “noble lady” in Arabic) or “Umm al-Muminin” (Mother of the Faithful) would welcome them and usher them into the waiting room for Sir Percy, with a note explaining who they were, where they came from, and what they wanted.

Gertrude's most important political paper, the book-length
Review of the Civil Administration of Mesopotamia,
was written at the request of the India Office. It took nine months of her spare time and was a magnificent summary of the concerns that made this work the most important of her life. Giving a detailed insight into the work of the administration in establishing a functioning and prosperous land, it was received with great appreciation in London, particularly in Parliament where it was applauded by the House of Commons.

January 17, 1921

I've just got Mother's letter saying there's a fandango about my report. The general line taken by the press seems to be that it's most remarkable that a dog should be able to stand up on its hind legs—i.e. a female write a white paper. I hope they'll drop
that source of wonder and pay attention to the report itself. . . . By the way, Mother need not think it was A.T. who asked me to write it—it was the India Office, and I insisted, very much against his will, on doing it my own way.

FROM
REVIEW OF THE CIVIL ADMINISTRATION OF MESOPOTAMIA

Any administration . . . must bring to the task . . . singular integrity and diligence, combined with a just comprehension of the conflicting claims of different classes of the population. It must also command the confidence of the people so as to secure the co-operation of public opinion, without which so complex a tangle could not be unraveled.

Reconstruction

A profound impression was produced among the tribes by the rebuilding of Kut. This work, . . . an act of piety in memory of those who had given their life in the defence of the town, Arab as well as British, was undertaken immediately after the occupation. . . . Houses were cleaned out as fast as possible and disinfected, rubbish was carted away . . . the battlefields were searched and the dead buried or re-buried. . . . The crowning glory of the new Kut was an arcaded bazaar along the river front. . . . Thus before the oncoming of winter the refugees were lodged, and the town had become a more flourishing market than it had been before its destruction.

Revenue

It was necessary to set up temporarily some sort of revenue and fiscal administration. To this end it was decided to keep intact the Turkish system, to which the people were accustomed, but to free it from corruption and abuses and increase its efficiency.
The number of alien officials introduced was deliberately kept low. All other appointments were filled by the more honest of the ex-official people of the country, the large majority being Mussalmans. This would have been in any case inevitable, as the records of the departments were all in Turkish; the language of vernacular records and receipts, together with all other official business, was, however, changed to Arabic, a measure which satisfied local sentiment.

The initial difficulties in setting up civil administration in the occupied territories were greatly enhanced by the fact that, except for a few Arab subordinates, all the former Turkish officials had fled, taking with them the most recent documents and registers. . . . The British military authorities had at first no leisure to make any arrangements with regard to fiscal and revenue matters except in respect of customs, but towards the middle of January a Revenue Commissioner, Mr. Henry Dobbs, I.C.S., arrived in Basrah from India, and such records as had been left by the Turks were overhauled. They were mostly out of date and were lying mixed with masses of lumber on the floors of the Turkish offices. . . . The administration was confronted with the task of setting the whole of a strange and complicated system on its legs as quickly as possible. . . . Moreover, the exactions of the Turks before leaving, the confusion into which the administration had for some months been thrown, and the dislocation of trade by the stoppage of commerce with Baghdad on the one side and with India and Europe on the other, coupled with an unusually bad date season, had temporarily deprived the population of cash and credit.

Public Health

The sanitary condition of the towns made a notable advance during 1916. Latrines and incinerators were everywhere in use, butcheries and markets inspected, a successful campaign was carried on against flies and rats, and infectious diseases checked. In the villages of Qurnah, Qal 'at Salih and 'Ali Gharbi hospitals and dispensaries were served by the medical military officer
of the station, usually with an Indian Sub-Assistant Surgeon, but at Suq, owing to the extreme shortage of medical staff, it was impossible to start regular medical work till 1917, and the absence of a dispensary was regarded by the inhabitants as a grievance, though no such institution would have been dreamed of in Turkish times. The readiness to submit to treatment in hospitals was very remarkable. The fame of the British doctors spread through the districts and patients came in from afar, willing to accept operation and even loss of limb when they were told that it was necessary. Among their other uses, hospitals and dispensaries provided a more convincing form of propaganda than any which could have been invented by the most eloquent preacher or the most skilful pamphleteer.

The people accepted inoculation and other precautions against plague, and were eager for vaccination.

Education

In the Baghdad Wilayat the Turkish educational programme was more comprehensive than at Basrah. It comprised a school of law, a secondary school, a normal school, a technical school, and 71 primary schools. The scheme, as set forth in the official Turkish Education Year Book, full of maps and statistics, might have roused the envy and despair of the British authorities of the Occupied Territories but for the knowledge that, provided a school were shown correctly as a dot on a map, the Turk cared not to enquire whether the pupils enrolled ever attended, or whether the system of education pursued in it was that of Arnold of Rugby or of Mr. Wopsle's great aunt. . . .