ABSTRACT
I confess that I experienced a revulsion of feeling when I first saw Ibn Sa'oud in a fit of temper; and when he would interrupt me with, ' Hearken! I will inform thee,' I could hardly believe that I was in the presence of the same man who visited me in my tent in the Nufoud. But his anger subsides, as it blazes, quickly. No sooner does he strike the ground with his staff than he reaches for your heart and frequently overwhelms it in compensa· tion. Even when he realizes that he has been hasty in his words, he confesses it in a kind and often in an amusing manner, which is completely disarming. One of his men was brought before him to answer for an offence he had committed. The Sultan listened to his story and said : , It is my fault, because I did not warn thee. Therefore, I shall not punish thee this time.'
