The curious negotiation between the Government of India and Mr.
Cook, which we mentioned in February, 1886, is now complete. The Government has been long annoyed by the excessive sufferings of its Massulman subjects while making pilgrimage to Mecca. The pilgrims, who number many thousands, are carried to Jeddah for the most part in country boats, or dhows, are packed like sardines, and die either on the voyage or after it in quite extra- ordinary proportions. Arrived in Mecca, they are plundered by the Shereef's agents, and on their return are plundered again by the masters of the dhows. The Government cannot inter- fere in Mecca—though a gentle squeeze to the Sultan might effect some improvement—but it can interfere at sea, and it has done so in the most prosaic but effective way. It has made a con- tract with Mr. Cook, the head of the "personally conduoting " firm, to deliver and return pilgrims at so mach a head in safety and well fed. They are to be divided into three classes, special accommodation is to be provided for women, and all religious scruples are to be studiously respected. The rates are fairly low, the vessels will be steamers, and it is believed that the entire tide of Mnssulman pilgrimage will flow this way. Mr. Cook's business ceases at Jeddah ; but he may be relied on, we think, sooner or later, to buy protection for his clients at Mecca, and then the diminution of human suffering will be something astounding. The effort is most creditable to Lord Dafferin's philanthropy and sense; but what a strange thing it is for an Irish noble in the nineteenth century to have to do ! He is, however, Great Mogul, and the Great Mogul would have done it if he had known how.
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