ABSTRACT
HORSE-RACING and target-practising are the two principal sports of the Arabs of Najd. But when there is a match or a race in Ar-Riyadh it takes place early in the morning, before sunrise, and the Sultan Abd'ul-Aziz is among the first to arrive. One evening he asked me to accompany him on the following morning-early, he said, but did not state the time. Now an early January morning in a Christian country, even to a labourer, cannot possibly mean before seven-a Christian hour. I kept my watch under my pillow. But I was awakened by a knock at the door at a quarter to six. 'The Imam,' said the servant, , will be soon at the Palace gate.' Quickly, therefore, to get there ahead of him, I washed and dressed, putting on my ighal as I hurried out. But I was crestfallen when I saw him before me walking towards the gate. He had also asked Saiyed Hashem and another of the Diwan. But he did not wait.
