![‘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’ [‎27r] (58/490)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000000884.0x0003b8/IOR_L_PS_20_59_0060.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "‘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’ [‎27r] (58/490)")
‘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’ [27r] (58/490)
The record is made up of 1 volume (243 folios). It was created in 1905-1908. It was written in English. The original is part of the 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. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
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3 *
Commerce .-—The greater proportion of the tra'Je in the districts
under British protection, more especially in.the western portion, is a transit
trade from Turkish Yemen, from which coffee, “ kat," and skins, in large
quantities, are exported, and to w'hich in return, kerosene oil, clothes,
tobacco, etc., are imported ; the districts through which these commodities
pass, obtaining their revenue from transit dues, guaranteeing the safety
of caravans, etc. Hides are the principal export from Dala and the neigh
bouring districts, as also, with the addition of dates, from the Subehi.
The coast towns from Aden eastwards^ do a considerable trade in sharks’
fins and dried fish generally, 'these are largely exported to the East by
sea, as also into the interior of the Hadramant. Dried fish are curiously
enough often used as food for camels, specially on the east coast, towards
the Hadramant. , TT ,
Honey is an article largely exported from Yeshbum and the Hadra
mant generally. Much attention is also paid to apiculture in the western
part of the Protectorate, but the export does not seem anything like so
considerable as from the eastern d stricts. Frankincense, gum and attar
of roses are also exported from the Hadramaut, while the imports are
chieflv kerosene, cloths, hardware, etc.
Brecch-loading rifles and carbines, and ammunition, are now freely
imported, especially vU Ras al ‘Ara, and favourable landing places between
Shekh Said and Aden, and some are said to filter ti.rough Turkish Yemen,
being landed on the Red Sea coast, but it would seem that the larger
quantity are imported direct. The chief markets for these are the town of
Al Hauta (Lahej), and various markets at the head of the Ma’din valley.
Grain, especially jowari, is imported to Aden from India, and in times
of failure of crops, to the interior. . , . f .
Industries .— Of these there are not many. The Jew^s are the chief arti
ficers and produce the silver work used in ornaments, “Jimbe’a” (dagger)
sheaths, etc., but the finest work of this kind comes from I urkish Yemen.
Hides are roughly dressed for export. Rough blacksmith’s work is done,
such as simple repairs to arms and agricultural implements. Weaving of
a plain kind of cloth is carried on by Jews, better textures of more elaborate
design come from Yafa, while the nomadic tribes to the north and east
weave a kind of rug, and the black cloth of rough texture used for tents.
Dyeing of cloths, both with indigo and a green dye obtained from a
tree is carried on locally. Matting of palm fibre is made almost univer
sally Carpentering is of a rough nature : doors and their frames, and
agricultural implements are the usual t bjocts of their skill. ^
^ Powder is manufactured both by Jews and Arabs ; it is of a coarse
kind and usually used for the matchlock, but reloading and recapping
sdid-drawn caitridges is carried on in Dala, and probably in other places
cis well
Masonry is of a good solid kind ; the blocks of stone are well trimmed
and either built in with mortar, or in more simple buildings the crevices are
filled in with small fragments of stone. Throughout the more mountainous
country stone, a kind of granite, excellent for building, is plentiful. In the
plain towns, mud-bricks are frequently used. „
^ Generally speaking, manufactures are only sufficient for, and intended
to supply, the simple needs of the inhabitants.
Labour except in Aden and the coast towns, centres to which those
in search of employment migrate, is scarce and difficult to obtain,
About this item
- 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)
- 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 View the complete information for this record
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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’ [27r] (58/490), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/59, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100034845247.0x00003b> [accessed 4 April 2025]
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- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/20/59
- Title
- ‘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’
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, 2r:11v, 13r:14v, 16r:28v, 30r:30v, 32r:35r, 36r:36v, 38r:56v, 58r:67r, 68r:69r, 70r:79r, 80r:85v, 87r:88r, 89r:89v, 91r:95v, 97r:98v, 100r:101r, 102r:105v, 107r:108r, 109r:113r, 114r:116v, 118r:120v, 122r:124v, 126r:126v, 128r:130v, 132r:132v, 134r:135r, 136r:136v, 138r:157v, 159r:161v, 163r:163v, 165r:165v, 167r:182v, 184r:188v, 190r:190v, 192r:239v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence