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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’ [‎136r] (276/490)

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

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»95
The Bushbushi section live at the hamlet of Ali ba Jirjah in the
Adim ontheZureki border, and the 'Utri, at Nassera and Dar Salim Thabit,
a couple of miles to the south. There is a little cultivation in the
neighbourhood but water is very scarce, the only well which produces
any appreciable supply being Bir Majdura in Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Majdura and that is
brackish.
The Buremi are an ignorant people, to a great extent nomads, and
covering long distances on their camels. In common with the other
western tribes of the Subehi, they seem much more peaceably disposed
than the eastern tribes such as the Matarafi.
T’' The Shumaya —Are a small clan living in Juledi territory but
mow independent. They border on the Zureki in the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Ubil, the boun
dary being just above their hamlet of Mijza which consists of two towers
and some huts. There are date-palms in the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. and cultivation which
they irrigate from a good stream coming from the Zureki country and
ending just above Mijza. The stream breaks forth again | mile below
Mijza and flows for about a mile. Am Mijba and Am Majarih are small
hamlets with a little cultivation lower down the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. .
From the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. ’Ubil on westwards, the inhabitants on either side
of the border consist of small clans, on the Subehi side living in either
Atifi, Juledi or Buremi territory, in small valleys with a little cultivation
frequently watered by small streams. Many of them were either
originally, or have of later years assumed the character of, Sufis, a re-
1 gious sect of which the founder is buried near Lahej but which has
q* branches in nearly the whole of South Yemen, Ad Dubiyat in the Amir
of Dala’s. and Shabvva in the Haushabi Sultan’s country, being among
their principal centres. This character confers certain advantages in
the shape of immunity from tribal feuds, and to a great extent from the
payment of dues to ihe ruling Shekh.
MuJariba .—South of the Alkami (Turkish) and west of the Shumaya,
■ separated from the latter by some 8 miles of stony and uncultivated
country, are the small clan of Mudariba, inhabiting a fertile little valley
traversed bv the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Am Barhana which joining the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Khosana,
forms the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Turan.
The majority of the inhabitants are Sufis and occupy a cluster of
little hamlets, consisting of a tower and a few huts apiece, surrounded
with date-palms and cultivation near the junction of the Wadis, where a
good stream springs forth and flows at intervals for some two miles along
the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Turan. There are also two wells, and a third well with poor
supply and some small springs in the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Amjueil close by. Karbi is
abundant. The people of Mudariba, adherents of the Juledi Shekh in
whose territory their^ valley is, were found to be peaceable and well-
disposed.
About 7 miles further down the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Turan, is the village of
Am Shat in Buremi territory but also inhabited by Sufis. It contains
gome 30 houses and stone huts, and is supplied by three good wells, one
of which is nearly two miles up the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. , one near, and one a little below
the village. A stream Ghail Rahban rises in the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. about 2 miles
below' on the road to Turan.

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
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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’ [‎136r] (276/490), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/59, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100034845248.0x00004d> [accessed 6 April 2025]

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