De Lostalot

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tagsperson, french, diplomat, vice-consul, 19th-century, djidda, snouck-hurgronje, mekka, stele-of-teima
aliasesDe Lostalot, Vice-Consul De Lostalot, De Lostalot (Djidda vice-consul), French Vice-Consul De Lostalot

5 min read

De Lostalot — Vice-Consul De Lostalot — was the French vice-consul at [[Djidda|Djidda] in 1884–1885 whose “small mind and small understanding, in unfaithfulness and vanity” — in the words of Damsté’s account of Snouck Hurgronje’s Mekka journey — brought about the premature end of Snouck Hurgronje’s scientific exploratory journey at Mekka by fabricating, in the French and thereafter the Turkish and Arab press, the lie that Snouck Hurgronje (as Abd al-Gaffār) and the German scholar Euting had been hunting the famous Stele of Teima for European archaeological ambitions, and that he, De Lostalot, had secured the prize for France.

The Office at Djidda

In 1884, when the report that Dr. Huber had been murdered was received at Djidda, France was not fully represented at Djidda. The vice-consul was on leave, and the first drogman — also a Frenchman — performed the office. Formerly, under similar circumstances, the Dutch consul Kruijt had often attended to the French interests; but now Kruijt too had been absent. Only in October 1884 did the vice-consul De Lostalot return to Djidda, and then France was — though fuller, yet worse represented! The reason, in Damsté’s account, was that De Lostalot was “een iemand van klein verstand, maar die gehouden wou worden voor een slimmerd” (a man of small mind, but who wished to be held for a clever fellow).

The Stele of Teima

The vice-consul De Lostalot received orders from his government to ensure that the goods of the murdered French scholar Huber — goods that had been left with his host the emir Ibn Rasjid at Haïl — should find their way to Paris. Intended was above all the Stele of Teima — a gravestone with old-Syriac inscription that Huber and Professor Euting had found on their 1883 scientific journey in the interior of Arabië — whose text had in the meantime, from Euting’s drawing, been deciphered by Nöldeke, and which had thereby become famous. The stone was won for France; but that was not the merit of De Lostalot!

The Fabrication

De Lostalot was a man of small mind, but who wished to be held for a clever fellow; and to that end he fabricated for Snouck Hurgronje all the most dangerous fantasies. On the stone had been hunted, he claimed — from Damascus by Professor Euting, from Mekka “par un autre savant du nom de docteur Snouck Busyrouse (read: Hurgronje), portant le nom d’Abdul-Gaffar depuis sa conversion à l’islam”, from all sides by the Ottoman government, which, as a consequence of the indiscretions of that pair of scholars, had sought to make itself master of it. But he, De Lostalot, had secured the prize!

With that untrue representation of matters — which found its way first into the French and later also into the Turkish and Arab press — De Lostalot broke his promise, given to Snouck Hurgronje before the latter’s departure from Djidda to Mekka, to keep his residence at Mekka secret from Europe; and, rubbing him with archaeological ambitions, he brought him into great life-danger. A “Frank” who gathers science of the Holy Law can be respected as a pious Muslim; but a Frank who takes interest in old stones is surely an unholy merchant, if not a treacherous spy.

The Consequence

So a small mind and a small understanding, in unfaithfulness and vanity, brought about the premature end of Snouck Hurgronje’s scientific exploratory journey. When the Temps of 5 July 5 July 1885 published De Lostalot’s account, and the Turkish and Arab papers took it over, Snouck Hurgronje was given notice on 5 August 5 August 1885 that he had to leave Mekka immediately. Only a few hours were granted him to pack his trunks; and then the journey went back to Djidda, under the guidance of two Turkish police-soldiers. The investigation, begun under relatively favourable circumstances, could not be quietly concluded; the gathered material could not be completely taken along. Medina had to be left unvisited; and the approaching Great Feast, which he had hoped to celebrate at Mekka in the 12th month, had to be abandoned.

Significance

De Lostalot is the French vice-consul at Djidda whose fabrication — the lie that Snouck Hurgronje (as Abd al-Gaffār) and Professor Euting had been hunting the Stele of Teima for European archaeological ambitions — brought about the premature end of Snouck Hurgronje’s Mekka journey. The fabrication, in Damsté’s account, was the work of “a small mind and a small understanding, in unfaithfulness and vanity”; its consequence was the expulsion of Snouck Hurgronje from Mekka on 5 August 5 August 1885, the abandonment of the planned visit to Medina, and the loss of the planned celebration of the Great Feast at Mekka. The Mekka journey nevertheless produced the standard work Mekka (Leiden, 1888–1889), and the Atjèh interest that it awakened would culminate in the Verslag of 23 May 23 May 1892.

See Also

Source

Drie Atjeh-mannen: Snouck Hurgronje — Van Heutsz — Van Daalen, door H. T. Damsté (September 1936). OCR-filename: 20260718_105749_DLP-111-Drie_Atjeh_mannen_Nemotron-OCR-v2_OCR.txt, pp. 8–9.

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