مجموعة ٣٠/ ١٤٨ "قطر: مسألة ملكية الزبارة." [و‎‎٢‎٦] (٢٩٧/٥١)

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5. The events now to be detailed did not cc .e to light
iranediately but 1 have no doubt that tliey are correct. On
oaleh bin mna leaving the audience room he was instructed
iraed
show him the
Shaikh
by the Shaikh of Qatar to go to shaikh
proposed agreement, and instruct him to affix the
of Qatar's seal to the document. It is interesting to
note that Shaikh Hamad should have succeeded in so far
gaining control as to have the custody of that most precious
of all the Arab emblems of sovereignty, the signet ring.
It appears that Saleh bin ana went, to shaikh Hamad who
read the document through, flew into a temper, it .ust be
remembered he had severe tooth-ache and has had for some
days previously, said that his father had sold the country
to the a 1 hhalifah, that me would have no hand in such a
proceeding and would not affix the seal. Saleh bin ana
having no al ter native re tunned to tj^e mhailih of. ^atar and
told him what had occurred with tie result that the old
mand was most upset, became querulous and tore the document
into pieces which he cast from him. Saleh bin liana returned
to Khan Bahadur Saiyid Abdur Razzaak and myself and stated
briefly what had occurred. Naturally we were both disgusted
and disappointed and when the Shaikh returned immediately .
prior to the evening : seal I asked him. whether the document
had been completed. He became incoherent and it was with
difficulty that he lade out that he had decided that he
must make various changes in the form and words of the
agreement. I protested that he as the Shaikh of Qatar
had.given his word, that it was impossible to do business
when he changed his mind every half an hour, and that as far
as i was concerned the matter m/as ended. Je sat down to
dinner, a dismal meal withehost cursing the servants, his
son Shaikh Ali behaving more like an elderly ewe than ever,
Saleh bin liana and Khan Bahadur Saiyid Abdur Razzaak not
eating at all, and myself trying to think of sene way out
of the impasse. ho further mention was made that evening
of the subject but I decided to spend the night in Saleh
bin 'ana's house in Doha and to send the launch round to
Zubarah to eet me there at about.mid-day on the I7th June.
I informed the Shaikh that I proposed to return via Zubarah
and that I would call in the next day in the morning on my
way to Zubarah in order to say goodbye.
6. That evening I dealt with certain minor business re
corded elsewhere and took coffee at the house of Mohammed
al hana where I et one arzook bin Shamlan a Kuwaiti who
was undoubtedly in Qatar in connection with piecegoods. No
mention was made that night to Saleh bin hana of the incident
which had occurred at Riyan and silence was maintained the
next morning until he himself reopened the subject. We made
it^ clear to him .hat we had no intention of. reopening the
subject ourselves but in case the Shaikh of afar had thought
better of matters I was giving him a last opportunity by
calling at Riyan on . y wa; to Zubarah. At approximately
half past eight on the morning of the 17th I left for
Zubarah via Riyan. On our arrival at Riyan we were again mos
cordially received by the old Shaikh and after the inter
change of compliments appropriate to the occasion one of thos
secret whispered conversations which a?e always a feature of
such discussions took pl; Ce between oaleh bin Liana and our
host the outcome of which was that our host turned to me and
siad that he wanted to speak about the Zubarah agreement.
We started all over again and eventually he agreed to the
formula of the evening before with an exception and that
area*exception was the deleting of the word M *?.fUI'JTAQAB ,r . This
was moderately satisfactory although not as pleasant as had
been the prospect of the night before, but I felt that the
deletion of that particular word night be cci sidered as
advantageous to the a 1 khalifah rather than the reverse a d
to accept. .Once again the ceremony of copying was gone