ملف رقم ٦٠٠ لسنة ١٩٠٥ الجزء ٦ "المنطقة الداخلية لعدن: يافع العليا؛ معاهدات مع السلطان قحطان وزعماء آخرين" [و‎‎٥‎٦] (٢١٢/١٠٧)

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took refnge with the Dthubi section, Haidara betook himself to the Maasata clan of whom
the Askar family are of great repute and are scylod the “ fathers of Yaffa. To have
selected as our nominee the Turkish choice would have been a sounder policy and have
for ever defeated Turkish intrigue on that border. Now we shall be subjected to the
probability of constant intrigue, flaidara is a man of great influence and should, I submit,
with expediency be taken under our wing, more especially as we must for sometime
continue to exercise control from a distance. The presence on the border of a strong and
disappointed man is a weak and vulnerable spot in our line of defence. Recognise ivahtan
as deposed by his people and replace a weak man by a strong and we shall be able to leave
Upper Yaffa for a time without concern or anxiety. I may add that Haidara s father
strongly favoured the British Government. The Turks were ever present on tn o ho ^ er
and we were in Aden. Hence the Yaffai's coquetry with, and declension to, the lurks. Ihe
Yaffai is a commodity merely. He belongs to the highest bidder. Ali bin Mohsin, our
intermediary, is a vain and crafty person and at heart inimical to the one he is aftecung to
reinstate. His aim is to win British favour, he is the soi-ditant light of the Upper Yalta
country. I would in future totally ignore him and his pretensions to influence. He neither
can, nor will, do honest work for us.
Finally with regard to the proposal to pay the Upper Yaffa stipendiaries at the
enhanced rate of a 2-rupee dollar, I would advocate this privilege and I have clearly notified
to all the stipendiaries that the concession is one of pure grace and liable to withdrawal if
a recipient ceases to render loyal service and should be granted from and after the 1st
proximo to all save Sultan Kahtan bin Omer, and for the reasons above detailed. We shall
thus be the better able to guage his worth and power, and this will be a further incentive to
him to regain his “ Bar ” if indeed he be able to do so.
(Signed) H. F. JACOB, Captain,
Political Officer, DThala.
D'thalay BOth Augutt 1905.
Memorandum No. 404, dated the 30th August 1905,
From—Captain H. F. Jacob, Political Officer, D'thala ;
To —Captain F. de B. Hancock, First Assistant Resident, Aden.
Forwarded with compliments to First Assistant Resident for the consideration of the
Resident. It is known that Colonel Scallon would prefer to postpone for a time the
re-adjustment of Upper Yaffai politics, and I am in complete accord with him, but feel sure
that we can with advantage now begin quietly, and from a distance, to move in that country
on the lines I have indicated so as to be ready at a later date to pick up the threads and
advance towards a more perfect consolidation of our interests on that north-east-frontier.
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