'File 7/4 Aviation and Air Force Matters' [‎61r] (128/506)

• difficile ♦ and had little to I sent for the Wing Conana
der and introduced him. We arranged to return his iriait after
dark, ae there waa no time to spare the next day, and were
receiTed at his raejlis outside his fort* He became much more
affable, and finally became quite friendly, and insisted on
returning to the water 's edge with me, chatting the whole way.
He asiced me my age, and the number of my children. He was very
surprised to find that I apparently had no children and was not
married and inquired the reason. I explained that out religion
allowing ua a less generous quota than Islam, it behored us to
kxkx be more circumspect in taking a step so unique and permanei
8. The Khan dahadur adijylsed that the ap re petrol should
be kept on the dhow A term adopted by British officials to refer to local sailing vessels in the western Indian Ocean. in the lagoon, as it will be required for
Sir Geoffrey M Galmond's flight to India at the end of July.
He said that its return to Shargah would be misinterpreted by
the local Arabs, and as the extra cost was alight wing Comman
der Howe readily agreed to thla. I Informed the Ke^sldency
Agent of the Impending vlalt 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. , and he
said that he would no doubt go into the matter of a storage plac
place then.
J. '"oxt morning after an early start, we flew to Ota-el-
Qaiwain and taxied about the lagoon. The 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. Agent had
told me that aome family quarrel war ins progress so that we
decided not to land, nor as a matter of fact waa there time to
do so. Our visit here was not without its humorous side, nota
bly when we went aground, quite unnecessarily, and again when
the pilot opened up to leave the water with the fitter sitting
outside on the back plane 1 The look of indignant astonishment
on his face and hie rapid descent into the after hatch were
well worth weeing.
10. ing Commander Howe was much impressed with the ad
vantages of •im-sl-qaiwain as a seaplane base, and considers it
.uuch perior, tkxto Has el Shaimaft, the only advantage at the
latter place being the preaence of the R.A. for a prt of the
yea*. There is a far larger lagoon here, and it would be pos-