File 600/1905 Pt 3 'Aden Hinterland: Situation; Withdrawal of Political Agent from Dthala; Treaties with Haushabi, Kotaibi and Alawi chiefs' [‎52r] (99/508)

engage to be responsible for tbe acts of his tribesmen wherever committed. I
further urged that they should agree to the prompt payment of compensation
by the Chief within whose limits an offence was committed, and that they
should bind themselves jointly to enforce recovery from the Chief of the tribe
to which the offender belonged should the former show himself backward in
paying up. I added that I felt sure that Government would agree to any
reasonable decision that they might jointly arrive at so long as it made for peace
and permanency. At their request I embodied in a draft the provisions of a
joint agreement (see A attached) that seems to me to offer some real chance of
success if it only be acted upon in good faith. This they have discussed
among themselves and have professed their readiness to conclude. By their
desire I have agreed, on their executing such an agreement, to witness it and
I have expressed my readiness to recommend to Government—
(i) that the transit dues heretofore levied by the Alawi shall in future
pass to the Kotaibi Sheikh ;
(h) that the additional stipend recommended in my No. 34*19, dated
9th June 1906, for the Alawi as representing the responsibility
formerly imposed upon him by the safeguarding of the road of
which he will in future he relieved, should pass to the Kotaibi in
consideration of his increased responsibilities;
(Hi) that the Alawi’s present stipend should be continued to him in
consideration of the original Resolution of Government in the
Political Department, No. 814, dated 14th May 1875, under which
it was granted;
(iv) that the arms recommended for the Kotaibi in my No. 592, dated
27th January 1907, should be given to him.
11. The matter is still under the consideration of the Chiefs concerned and
I hope I may be able to bring them to some sort of agreement. But they are
as short-sighted as children, each filled with a profound distrust of one
another, and only unanimous in their determination to obtain some increase
to their allowances, even though they may have nothing to offer in return. In
order that I may be in a position to carry out the wishes of Government I
request to be informed at an early date how far a settlement on the lines I have
indicated will meet with their approval and how far the conclusion of such a
settlement will be left to me.
A
AGREEMENT.
We, whose names are hereunto appended speaking for ourselves and for
those tribes whose suzerainty we claim, for our mutual advantage, to foster
trade, and to secure to us the benefits that we severally derive from the dues
that we are permitted to levy by the British Government on caravans passing
through our limits, hereby agree and mutually covenant as follows :—
(i) We will protect from outrage and violence all travellers passing to
and from Aden, and we will each of us be responsible to each
other and to the British Government for the security of the road
within our respective limits which are defined as follows :
Amiri . • . . • Sana to Safa Hilia.
Kotaibi Safa Hilia to A1 Hijjar.
Hausbabi .... A1 Hajrjar to Nobat Dakim.
Abdali Nobat Dakim to Dar-al-Amir.
(ti) If any loss or injury be sustained by any traveller on the road, the
Chief within whose limits the offence has been committed shall
forthwith compensate the sufferer for the damage which he has
sustained whether to his person or his property^ This compensa
tion shall be paid whether the offence be committed by his own
tribesmen or by the tribesmen,- of any of the parties to this
agreement.