‘Military report on the British Protectorate of Aden and the Amir of Dala’s territories, with special reports on certain other tribes and adjoining border districts’

Content

The volume, a military report compiled in the Intelligence Branch of the QMG’s [Quartermaster General’s] Department and published at the Government Central Printing Office, Simla, is comprised of several sections, as follows:

• section I, a Military Report on the British Protectorate of Aden , prepared by Captain Ernest Arthur Frederick Redl (ff 10-52), and including chapters on: geography; ethnography, with details of the different tribes living in the Protectorate; climate and health; natural resources; harbours and anchorages; communications; fortresses; history; native inhabitants’ administration; the military organisation and strength of native inhabitants; and political relations. A handwritten note is included in the report (f 49), and concerns the entitlements of Protectorate Chiefs to salutes, and issue to them of arms and ammunition, 1906;
• section II, a Report on the Amir of Dala’s [Ad Dali’] Territories , prepared by Major J K Tod (ff 54-118), and including chapters on: geography; ethnography; climate and health; resources; communications; forts and fortified posts; history; administration, and military. Following the report is a gazetteer providing greater detail of the sixteen districts in Dala, including: topography; ruling families and allegiances; villages and population figures, including numbers of fighting men; water resources; agricultural and industrial activities;
• section III, Reports on Haushabi, Subehi and Yafa’i Tribes, Turkish and North Western Border Districts and the River Tiban , divided into chapters, all prepared by Captain Redl unless otherwise specified, on: 1) the Haushabi [al-Ḥawshabī] (ff 120-130), and including a handwritten note, dated December 1905 (f 122), noting that the Sultan of Haushabi has agreed to abide by an agreement of 1895; 2) the Subehi tribes near the Turkish border (ff 130-144); 3) the districts of Turkish Yemen adjoining the British boundary (ff 144-165); 4) Tribes of the north-west frontier Region of British India bordering Afghanistan. (ff 165-172); 5) a memorandum of the Yafa’i [Yāfi‘] tribe, prepared by Captain Gonville W Warneford (ff 172-183); 6) The Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Tiban (ff 184-185);
• section IV, Routes (ff 186-228), detailing numerous routes between key points in Aden province, noting: distances; stages; nature of the terrain and its suitability for different modes of transport; available resources en route; territories crossed. A (duplicated) confidential memorandum, written by Captain G A F Sanders of the Aden Brigade, dated 24 August 1905, containing additional information for stages 5 and 6 of route 5 has been added to the volume (ff 195-198);
• appendix I, a brief statement on inland trade between Aden and the Arabian mainland, 1903 (ff 229-230).

The volume is extensively illustrated throughout with fold-out maps, plans and illustrations, prepared by the Intelligence Branch (I.B.) and all of which describe the topography and terrain of the region. There are three maps included in a pocket at the end of the volume: a map of the Aden Protectorate (f 242); a view from the ruined village of Lakmat Magharam about one-and-a-half miles west of Sanah [Ṣanʻā'] (f 240); and a road sketch from Khalla through Awabil [‘Awābil] to the upper plateau of the Rubiatein [Ar Rubay‘atayn] tribe (f 241).

Extent and format

1 volume (243 folios)

It is grouped into

‘Panorama showing ground traversed by Anglo-Turkish boundary ‘Haushabi-Humar’ to N. of ‘Ad Dareja’’

2 images

Ref: IOR/L/PS/20/59, f 12

‘View up the Tiban N. from Lijma, showing Jabal Warwa.’

2 images

Ref: IOR/L/PS/20/59, f 15

‘Balhaf’

2 images

Ref: IOR/L/PS/20/59, f 29

‘Makalla.’

2 images

Ref: IOR/L/PS/20/59, f 31

‘Makalla’

1 image

Ref: IOR/L/PS/20/59, f 35v

‘Ash-Shehr.’

2 images

Ref: IOR/L/PS/20/59, f 37

‘View east from J Abab at head of Wadi Kurim, opposite Al Husen’

2 images

Ref: IOR/L/PS/20/59, f 57

‘View north from At Thamer near Jimell’

1 image

Ref: IOR/L/PS/20/59, f 67v

‘Hardaba Blockhouse.’

1 image

Ref: IOR/L/PS/20/59, f 69v

‘View from Al Kabar’

1 image

Ref: IOR/L/PS/20/59, f 79v

‘Panorama west from Wali Hassan’

2 images

Ref: IOR/L/PS/20/59, f 86

‘View east from top of Jabal Harir.’

1 image

Ref: IOR/L/PS/20/59, f 88v

‘Compass sketch With Cavalry Sketching case from camp at Wadi Haban up the old Himiaritic road to Jabal Harir and return by footpath from Al Masna’s’

2 images

Ref: IOR/L/PS/20/59, f 90

‘The Rock and Village of Balas (Jabal Jihaf) Looking East from Camp of Hants Regt.’

2 images

Ref: IOR/L/PS/20/59, f 96

‘View to the south from near the top of Jabal Mafari.’

2 images

Ref: IOR/L/PS/20/59, f 99

‘View from near ‘As Sueda’ in Uzlat of the Mafari, looking west.’

1 image

Ref: IOR/L/PS/20/59, f 101v

‘Al Husen, stronghold of Shekh Awas Al Ahmadi in the Wadi Tiban.’

2 images

Ref: IOR/L/PS/20/59, f 106

‘Panorama looking west over Turkish territory from the pass at the head of the Wadi Hilhal.’

1 image

Ref: IOR/L/PS/20/59, f 108v

‘Radfan Hills from Wali Hassan.’

1 image

Ref: IOR/L/PS/20/59, f 113v

‘Sketch of route to Jabal Al Huria from Al Kasha.’

2 images

Ref: IOR/L/PS/20/59, f 117

‘Musemir looking North from below camp of the Hants Regt. January and February 1904.’

2 images

Ref: IOR/L/PS/20/59, f 121

‘Gorge and stream in Wadi Ziyak. (near Haushabi, N.W. border).’

2 images

Ref: IOR/L/PS/20/59, f 125

‘Wadi Hidaba at well above Al ’Ashar (looking South up the Wadi). Juheli hills in background.’

2 images

Ref: IOR/L/PS/20/59, f 127

‘The Wadi Ma’din looking South from near Sanawi on right bank.’

2 images

Ref: IOR/L/PS/20/59, f 131

‘The Wadi Ma’din looking E. from near Sanawi.’

2 images

Ref: IOR/L/PS/20/59, f 133

‘The Wadi ’Ubil at Mijza (Shumaya) from high ground on the right bank.’

1 image

Ref: IOR/L/PS/20/59, f 135v

‘Eastern entrance to Mudariba Valley (looking N.) Showing the Alkami range of J. Am Ibdar.’

2 images

Ref: IOR/L/PS/20/59, f 137

‘Mafalis looking N. from the Nijd Rifad.’

2 images

Ref: IOR/L/PS/20/59, f 158

‘Head of Haiki Valley (Ghail Samada) looking E. J. Hawab in background.’

2 images

Ref: IOR/L/PS/20/59, f 162

‘Narrow strait of Bab-Al-Mandab and Shekh Said Hills taken from Obstruction Point Perim.’

2 images

Ref: IOR/L/PS/20/59, f 164

‘Sketch map to illustrate approximate positions of districts in the vicinity of N.E. line from Lakmat As Shub.’

2 images

Ref: IOR/L/PS/20/59, f 166

‘Route down the Tiban River from Karad to Majar (3 miles N. of Musemir.)’

2 images

Ref: IOR/L/PS/20/59, f 183

‘The Khureba Pass.’

2 images

Ref: IOR/L/PS/20/59, f 189

‘Road sketch from the well below Dar Al Mukhtar via the Mashwara Pass to Habil As Salb in the Selat Mashwara.’

2 images

Ref: IOR/L/PS/20/59, f 191

‘View from village of Lakmat Magharam (ruined) about 1½ miles west of Sanah [Ṣanʻā']’

2 images

Ref: IOR/L/PS/20/59, f 240

‘Road sketch from Khalla (Muflahai tribe) through Awabil (Shaibi tribe) to the upper plateau of the Rubaitein Tribe’

2 images

Ref: IOR/L/PS/20/59, f 241

‘Map of the Aden Protectorate’

2 images

Ref: IOR/L/PS/20/59, f 242

Arrangement

The volume is arranged in four sections (numbered I-IV), with a single appendix. Sections I-III are arranged in numbered chapters while section IV is arranged in twenty-three numbered routes. The volume’s contents page (ff 6-8) lists the sections and their respective chapters/routes, with page numbers referring to the volume’s printed pagination system. A general index (ff 231-238) lists placenames referred to in the volume in alphabetically ascending order, also with page numbers referring to the volume’s printed pagination.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1 and terminates at the back cover with 243; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.

Pagination: the file contains an original printed pagination sequence.

Written in

English in Latin script

Type

Archival file

Access & Reference

Original held at

British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity.

Access conditions

Unrestricted

Archive reference

IOR/L/PS/20/59

Former external reference(s)

No. A. 81./S.A. 104 5 A 14 M.0.2. (h)

History of this record

Date(s)

1905-1908 (CE, Gregorian)

Subjects

SurveysImperialismBoundaries

Places

AdenDala

People & organisations

Government of India, Quarter Master General's Department, Intelligence BranchAnglo-Turkish Boundary Commission

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‘Military report on the British Protectorate of Aden and the Amir of Dala’s territories, with special reports on certain other tribes and adjoining border districts’, British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/59, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/mirador/81055/vdc_100000000884.0x0003b8> [accessed 3 April 2025]

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