Political No. 49 of 1873, Forwarding Papers Reporting the Payment of Compensation of a Dhow Captured by HMS Daphne in 1869, and Captain Prideaux’s Mission to Maculla and Shuhur; and Deferring the Renewal of Treaties with those Places [‎202r] (5/12)

Captaia Prideaux’s Mission to the Somali Coast.
ty/h', No. 344, dated Bombay Castle, 20th January 1873.
From—Secretary to the Government o£ Bombay,
To—Secretary to the Government of India, Foreign Department.
With reference to ttie correspondence ending with my letter No. J 371,
dated 11th September last, regarding the payment ot compensation to the
Sultan of the Mijierteyn Somalis for a dhow A term adopted by British officials to refer to local sailing vessels in the western Indian Ocean. captured by one . . J J
vessek of war in 1869. I am wow directed ^
Government of India, copy of a letter from t e o i . p
No. 263-958, dated the 7th ultimo, reporting the resultsof Capta
mission to the Somali Coast to carry out the orders of the Secietaij , .
tire above matter. Captain Prideaux’s Report also contains the results of his
enquiry at Maculla with regard to the alleged nupytation of slaves un ei
French flag, referred to in my letter No. 5260, dated the 6th September
2 In submitting these papers to the Government of India I am to state
that the suggestion of 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. , that an early opportunity should
be taken of renewing Treaties with the Chiefs referred to m his 4th an
paragraphs, has the support of His Excellency m Council, who is of opinion t
care should be taken that the new Treaties should bind the succession of the C je s
with whom they are made, as well as themselves, and that _ aftei the^ Treaties
have been obtained steps should be taken to confer the jurisdiction there rom
derivable on the Vice-Admiralty Court at Aden.
3 A copy of the papers will be forwarded to Her Majesty’s Secretary of
State,'with an expression of opinion that the negotiation of Treaties in all these
regions will be perfectly valueless unless enforced by the presence ot an eifacient
squadron.
No. 263-958, dated Aden, 7tb December 1872.
From—Political Resident at Aden,
T 0 —Secretary to tbe Government of Bombay From c. 1668-1858, the East India Company’s administration in the city of Bombay [Mumbai] and western India. From 1858-1947, a subdivision of the British Raj. It was responsible for British relations with the Gulf and Red Sea regions. .
1 have the honor to state that I despatched Captain Prideaux in Her
Maiesty’s Kwangtung to Maculla and Bunder Murayah on the 23rd No
vember 1872 for the purpose of carrying out the instructions contained in
Government Resolution No. 5259, of the 6th September last, and in the Secre-
tarv of State’s despatch No. 127, of 18th October 1871, to the address of the
Governor-General of India in Council, copy of which was forwarded to this
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. with Government Resolution No. 112, of the 9th January 1872.
2 Captain Prideaux reached Maculla on the 25th November, and as
regards the rumour that the buggalow Large trading vessel. Futteh Rahman had landed a cargo _ of
slaves at that port under the French flag, he reports he was unable to elicit
anything on the subject, but from the enquiries he instituted, there would
appear to be little doubt that a brisk trade in slaves is carried on between
Maculla and the Sowahil, notwithstanding the engagement entered into with
the Nukeeb by Brigadier Coghlan in 1863. Captain Prideaux further ascer
tained that a cargo of Abyssinian or Galla slaves had recently been landed at
Maculla which tended to prove that the traffic is on the increase there, as
arrivals were formerly confined from the north-east corner of Africa.
3. The increase in this traffic is susceptible of easy explanation, and has
arisen from the absence of eruizers in these parts, not a vessel of this descrip
tion having been stationed between Ras-el-Hadd and Bab-el-Mandeb for some
years past. 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. has also at intervals been left without a
steamer, so that it has been impossible to keep up a friendly communication or
show of interest with Maculla or Shuhur with whose Ruler an engagement was
also concluded in 1863 by Brigadier Coghlan for the abolition of the export
and import of slaves.
4. A reference to these engagements, which will be found at pages 308-309
of Volume VII. of Aitchison’s Treaties and Engagements, will show that the
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