"ملف VIII\٦ وفاة الشيخ جابر وتولي الشيخ سالم" [و‎‎٥‎٢] (١٣٨/١٠٣)

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Is most to blaa« t ia Mulla Salih 9 the Secretary of the late Shaikh
While continually pretending that he wished to further our ob-
-jects, and accusing his waster to us of bein^ the real obstruc-
-tlonist f I guessed at the time and I now feel fairly convinced
that the illicit traffic went on with his full knowledge and it
is now said that he took large bribes to let p;.ss carayans that
were intended for u all and M edina (most of these however went
through Kasim and not direct, as seems to be imagined in some
quarters). This wiry kittle man is the cleverest politician here
He has ingratiated himself with Bln Baud and Shaikh Khazaal and
has made a great effort to gain the ear of the British authori
ties. My predecessor had a very high regard for him and I too
dmire his energy, ability and agreeable manners. But he dis
likes our getting any news except through him and cannot refrain
from throwing dust in our Nor has he assisted us in ob
taining c mels, ships, stone or other commodities we had n ed of
here. On the other hand the trouble between Nasir and his brother
was to a great extent engineered by him. He had a spite against
N&air, because the latter had given us information of some of $he
trickery that was going on here.
However, there is no doubt that Mulla Salih has always publicl/
and privately declared his pro-British sentiments both from the
st rt of the war and before it during the time that he was in the
service of Sir Mubarak. In this he has rendered us no small ser
vice and I think on the whole th&t hla services outweigh his de
linquencies (or I should say perhaps his falling away from the
standard which we should have liked to see reached by one who
professed to be so ardent a supporter).
£-tbruar.v 1 &th- Messrs. Lester James and Halse, geologists, arriv-
-ed by "Maahona". They intend surveying the country behind Kathi-
•ma and later Burgan.
February 10th- The Shaikh of Mohammerah called to say goodbye,
as he is returning Home after his visit of condolence. He is,
I am sure, secretly chagrined by the effect of the chnages Shaikh
Salim has introduced in the Pllace. It will be remembered that
His Excellency recently married the Georgian widow of^the late
Shaikh
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