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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’ [27v] (59/490)
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.
33
as well as expensive. In several cases which came under notice in the
Wadi
A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
Ma’din, the most thickly populated part of the Subehi country,
for building towers and repairing wells, w orkmen were brought from Turkish
territory. Hajris and analogous classes are often employed but they are
not numerous. The experiment has not been tried in the interior, but it
would seem that anything in the shape of a
coolie
A term used to describe labourers from a number of Asian countries, now considered derogatory.
corps from local Arabs
would be unobtainable.
A nimals —Camels are the universal beast of burden throughout the
country. They are smaller in size than the Indian camel and l.ghter in
build, suggesting rather an inferior riding camel, than a regular breed of
baggage animal. I here are several varieties, but they may be civided
generally into hill camels and plain camels The former are exceedingly
active and sure-footed, and rheir leet wear wonderfully well in the stony
ground. Few can carry a 400 lb. load, 300 lbs. would be about the aver
age load for both hill and plain camels, and in very steep and mountainous
country they w-ill not take more than 200 lbs. With a light load they will
ascend rough slopes of to 8* for a limited distance.
Nearly all the camels employed during 1902-4 were hired and
accompanied by their owners On the whole they did fairly well ;
the mortality was not great, and no large numbers broke down. The
expeditions in w’hic-h they were used, though the ground traversed was
often very trying, did not give continuous marching enough to try them
very high, but the majority had been in hard work between Aden and
Dala previously.
The Arab camel has, however, tw r o very great disadvantages as a
transport animal : he is accustomed to being watered every day, and will
barelv go more than two days without water at a pinch, and he is used to
being hand fed with jowari fodder, and when in work, the owner never
seems to let him graze. This is some times inevitable, as good grazing
is scarce in many hill tracts, but excellent grazing was met with at times
in the Subehi country, and though forage was very scarce, pressure had to
be put on the men to graze their animals. The only camels observed
grazing freely were she-camels with young and camels out of w'ork. 1 here
is no doubt the camel would g aze fieely, if allowed to, and would be all
the better for it.
Mang* is very prevalent throughout, and is respon-ible for many
break-downs. The Arab, though he knows the remedy well enough, is
often very careless about it in the earlier stages. Katran, a kin i of native
tar, much used in the Sudan, is as good a remedy as anything, and can be
obtained at almost any Arab village.
With regard to numbers, it is difficult to make any very accurate
estimate. Large numbers are engaged in the carrying trade, and
judging by the loads, they were also the best specimens. 800 was
the utmost, the camel-contractor at Dala estimated he could get from
the Amiri country, and this number included some from Turkish Yemen.
In fact, throughout, camels were brought in for hire from the
Turkish districts, a large black animal being a noticeable variety. In 1903,
camels were taken for Somaliland, and the last years generally w'ere
perhaps not favourable to collecting large numbers. Local conditions
may of course change, but it would be fairly safe to say that 1,500 to
2,000 workable animals would be the outside that one could expect to
collect with a month’s notice for any given expedition. The contract
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’ [27v] (59/490), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/59, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100034845247.0x00003c> [accessed 5 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