A Trip to Saudi Arabia
The following excerpts are from an accountwritten by Laurence I. Hewes '98 concerningthe trip to Saudi Arabia which he made nearthe end of 1946, at the invitation of King IbnSaud, to advise on the construction of a 300-mile road from the Persian Gulf to the Arabian capital. One of the foremost living authorities on road engineering, he is westernchief of the Public Roads Administration andduring the war was one of the top men in theconstruction of the Alaskan Highway. Mr.Hewes wrote the interesting story of his Arabian trip at the request of Henry D. Crowley,1898 secretary, who included a short excerptin his November class column.
As THE KING'S plane from Cairo approached AJeddah just before Thanksgiving, I stood behind the pilot. It was a brilliant, sunny day, and the Red Sea was streaked with wavy lines of foam off the Arabian shore. On the broad sand plain ahead suddenly I saw what appeared to be a group of open-ended cartons or boxes. "What's that?" I asked. "That is Jeddah," the pilot replied. At the airport we were met by Sami, the King's messenger and interpreter, a handsome young Arab in an immaculate robe and headdress (kafeeyeh). He immediately took the passports of our party of seven and we were whisked in two new Ford cars to the guest palace nearby. This palace was a rather elegant, one-story masonrystructure enclosed by a wall. It was a mile outside the walls of Jeddah. We stayed there four days as guests of the King
Beyond the walls of Jeddah to the south, we reconnoitered the shore for a new pier to extend a mile or more into the Red Sea to permit ships of good draft to dock. Jec'.dah is an ancient port, mentioned in the Bible, but cargoes and passengers from larger craft anchored off shore are still landed by lighters. Some beached and abandoned ancient craft with their high sterns or "castles" looked like ships of the time of Magellan! Our party flew over this harbor, spotting shoals, and we also scoured the shore in a power launch, accompanied by Prime Minister Sulaiman. He was very likeable, and very much in earnest in the service of his King. One night, he gave a banquet in his palace. I sat opposite him. That day I had ridden up to within 12 miles of Mecca over the "modern" road built by Egyptian engineers. I was not (as an infidel) permitted nearer to Mecca. Sulaiman wished to know what I thought of his own plantation about 15 miles from Jeddah along the highway and did I think he should grow cotton? To his surprise, I did not. I think the guests were a little astounded that I disagreed with the thought. After dinner, however, he accepted my cigar and pressed my hand in both of his when we said goodnight! He also attempted to requisition my services to reconnoiter a highway location from Jeddah to Medina a small matter of 250 miles, more or less.
After Jeddah, came a 1200-mile flight in the King's plane to the shore of the Persian Gulf where our real work was to begin. The King has secured several C-54S from Army surplus. He hires first-class American pilots, although there are some Arab co-pilots. We flew nearly a thousand miles eastward from Jeddah over some of the toughest terrain I have ever seen —miniature Grand Canyons, broad washes that evidenced flash floods, and low, sharp barren mountains. Only here and there were small spots of cultivation. I think the engineers of our group were all equally shocked by the prospect of developing a location of a highway or a railroad in such a terrain. But, thank Heaven, when we landed at the airport outside of the capital of Riyadh, the terrain to the east changed radically.
At Riyadh, we were scheduled to pick up two Arabs at the airport, but eleven appeared demanding passage to the Persian Gulf. What to do? A messenger sped several miles into the capital to return with the word that in the King's absence Crown Prince Sand would have to pass on the dilemma. However, the Prince was now enjoying his midday siesta and could not be aroused for an hour or more. We waited. By midafternoon, we took off with the plane jammed with black veiled Arab women, some lying or squatting in the aisle. The excellent landing strip at Dhahran was built by the army during the war. We were whisked in the night 60 miles north to the refinery area of the Arabian-American Oil Company at Ras Tanura. For several days we investigated materials and prices stone, oil, timber, labor, etc. The huge well-organized area of the oil company refinery, or ARAMCO as it was called, was an inspiration welllaid-out surfaced streets plainly stop-signed in English and Arabic, a huge commissary with delicious food, recreation halls, a softball ground, tennis courts and for ranking officers individual dwellings facing the Persian gulf above a narrow beach. There are good dormitories for men, a laundry, cleaning and pressing service, refreshment counters, a small hospital, etc. You are proud of American enterprise in this far land. A Britisher, speaking at a banquet, after seeing the development at Ras Tanura, remarked that it would have taken the English a decade to accomplish the American two-year job. This area was bombed by the Italians during the war, but that is another tale
After a week of air observation, our caravan went into the desert for a two weeks' ground reconnaissance. There was a military van, an ammunition carrier, a 4-wheel drive truck with spare gasoline and a 4-wheel drive Ford in which I rode with Col. Michener, the manager of the party, and my assistant, Don Roberts. We had everything for comfort two excellent mechanic-drivers, six bunks in the van, beside electric refrigeration, a gas stove, and the world's best canned goods. We had an Arab soldier of the King as our symbol of authority and protection. He carried a very long weapon encased in leather with many straps and buckles. Lord knows what could have happened before he could have brought it into action!
The one difficult bit of location for either a highway or railroad between the Persian Gulf and Riyadh was across the river of red sand known as the Dahana. It cuts down from a little west of north, hundreds of miles and moves with the winds of the centuries. The sand is from the great sandstone area that includes the ancient city of Petra the "rose red city, half as old as time." Almost seven of the 30 miles across this red sand river is an area of high dunes, some of them 200 feet high or more. From the air they look like gigantic waves. We decided on a high location across these sands.
Another feature is the El Kharj irrigated area. Believe me, the joy of fresh vegetables after days in the hot desert cannot be imagined except by those who have experience. At El Kharj we had fresh tomatoes and iced beer! From here 60 miles up the Wadi Hanifa, which is a broad dry wash, brought us to the capital city of King Saud. We camped at the air field some miles north where work of improvement under American contractors is proceeding. Interpreter Shakeeb returned there in excitement from the walled city to announce that the King was en route by air and due in an hour. "You are," said he, "privileged to see a typical Arab festive occasion." In fact, within the open tents facing the aircraft landing area we were ac- corded places of honor in the gilt chairs adjoining the one reserved for the King. For miles from the city gates streamed lines of excited Arabs, veiled women, and ragged children. Near the tents were honored veterans of former fights and officers of the King's army. When the King's three planes had landed amid a jam of ranking Arabs, and he was seated in the royal tent, to my amazement our interpreter Shakeeb came in and standing a dozen feet from the King began an oration in Arabic from the sheaf of notes. The thing sounded all right to me but two-thirds through the manuscript the King signalled that he had had enough.
He had greeted our mission most cordially and inquired for our health and comfort. We were assigned to a lunch with Crown Prince Saud in his palace and to remain there over night, always with the greatest courtesy and salutations. It made me feel a little bit crude, even with the best bowing and scraping that I could summon
There isn't space for much more. I'd like to tell you how the Moslem Holy period of Ramadan begins with a full new moon and how the moment is spotted by a relayed cry from the arid desert hills a cry from a faithful watcher whose record observation of the new moon is 20 minutes past sunset! how a prince of Mecca sported his solid gold dagger sheath at the reception of the King a curved sheath set with two rubies as large as marbles how our interpreter Shakeeb each evening in our desert camp composed essays and poems on his cot near mine of our talks about Mohammed of Shakeeb's oration to the King how my assistant, Don Roberts, and I christened the new swimming pool of Minister Sulaiman of our dainty pet gazelle at Jeddah wandering over the oriental rugs from room to room in the palace of the graceful slim larks that appeared now and then in the stark desert how I learned that one could indeed "take up thy bed and walk" if it were an Arab splint bed about chasing in an airplane orange-pink flamingos over the Persian Gulf of the darkened bazaar (suk) at Jeddah and, all in all, how glad I am that at least I have been exposed to the civilization of the Arabs and glimpsed their ceremonial politeness and their firm belief in the Koran.
MOTORIZED CARAVAN: Laurence I. Hewes '98 (second from left) shown with his survey party in the Arabian desert Extreme left is a Soldier of the King and in the center Saleem Amawi, Arab interpreter.
