File 600/1905 Pt 5 'Aden Hinterland: Treaty with Sultan of Balahaf' [‎143r] (69/152)

No. 73, dated Calcutta, the 12th January 1906.
From— Major D, C. Phillott, Secretary, Board of Examiners, Calcutta,
To—The Assistant Secretary to the Government of India in the Foreign Department.
Reference. Your letter No. 45-E. B., dated the 5th January 1906.
I have the honour to report that the Arabic of the treaty in question is
very faulty both in graminer and in idiom. It is therefore difficult to say
exactly how it would be interpreted by an Arab ignorant of English.
Article I is certainly capable of misconstruction. Mr. Azoo, the Arabic
Instructor of the Board, (whose mother tongue is Arabic and whose acquaint
ance with the grammer, syntax and literature of the language is exceptional ),
misconstrued the meaning of this article till he referred to the English.
2. The following objections will, I think, be readily understood :—
(1) In line 4 of the Arabic heading, the word “ peace ” has been rendered
by am an Amdn means peace in the sense of “ security ” or “ safety ” and
not peace in the sense of “peace existing between parties,” which is silm ^
(2) In Article I the phrase occurs “to extend to Balahaf the
gracious favour and protection ” The Arabic of this phrase is
quite inaccurate : the construction is not Arabic in the least. The clause
mi^ht be twisted into the meaning that it was the territory of Balahaf that
was to be extended. The word taitsi means “to extend” in the sense
of “amplify, make broad boundaries of a province,” etc.,
(3) In line 4 of Article 2, for “successors” the word khulafa (>ULL) is
correctly used, hut as this word also signifies “ agents ” or “ lieutenants ” the
words mmbad'hi are required to restrict it to the first significa
tion.
In line 5 of the Article, “entering into” is rendered by muddMialah
This word, however, signifies “interference”, whereas dukhdl
(j^Lo) (from the same root), signifies “entering into.”
In line 6, mukdtabah (&v^) is correctly used for “ agreement,” but if
the word hilf (^L) were substituted, it would include any oral as well as
any written agreement.
In line 9, the plural is used instead of the singular : it is>
however, the Sultan who promises and not all the parties mentioned.
3 Attached is a translation made by Mr. Azoo. The Arabic may be
trusted in every respect. It has been kept as close as possible to the original
wording of the Arabic, and is so simple that any intelligent uneducated Arab
could understand it: more — he could not misunderstand it.