'An Account of the Arab Tribes in the Vicinity of Aden' [‎63v] (131/404)

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ARAB TRIBES IN THE VICINITY OF ADEN.
Communications between Sokotra and the Aden Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India.
have since continued unbroken, and in 1877 Sultan Salem bin
E<a visited Aden. Sultan Sa’fd bin Hamed died in 1877*
Between February and April 1880 Dr. Balfour, Professor
of Botany to the University of Glasgow, visited Sokotra, being
deputed by the British As ociation and Royal Society to report
on the flora and fauna of the island. For his kind treatment
of Dr. Balfour a present of a signal gun and powder were
made to the Sultan, accompanied by a letter of thanks from
the Resident.
In 1881 and 1882 Professor Dr. Schweinfurth and Mon
sieur Chartrand Manuel, a French Naturalist, visited the island
for purposes of scientific research.
At the close of 1883 the Resident was directed to report
what facilities existed for erecting and maintaining a lighthouse
on the eastern extremity of Sokotra, and with this object the
Resident personally visited the island in January 1884 accom
panied by the Port Officer and Executive Engineer. A site
was selected near Ras Radrasa, and in May 1884 Captain
King, Assistant Resident, again visited Kishn and Sokotra,
and succeeded in obtaining the Sult&n’s consent to the erection
of a lighthouse on the condition that the site should remain his
property. In January 1885 the Government of India express
ed its readiness to build and maintain the lighthouse on the
understanding that the whole cost of erection, maintenance
and protection should be re-imbursed by Imperial funds, and
that the lighthouse should in no way be regarded as property
for which the Government of India was responsible.
In 1884 the S. S. “ Airy ” was wrecked near Dthafar, and
the shipwrecked crew hospitably treated by the Sultan of
Kishn and the Shaikhs of Ras Nishton and Tibut, to whom
a sum of Rs. 500 was distributed as a mark of the approval
of Government.
At the close of March 1886 the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. w’as
authorized by the Government of India, under instructions
from Her Majesty’s Secretary of State for India, to conclude
an additional treaty with the Sultan of Kishn and Sokotra,
whereby Sokotra and its dependencies should be placed under
British protection. With this object, Captain Sealy, Assistant
Resident, was despatched to Sokotra and Kishn in H.M.S.
“ Dragon ”, and a treaty {vide Appendix B) was executed on
the 23rd April 1886.