File 600/1905 Pt 2 'Aden Hinterland: Future Policy' [‎351r] (189/226)

11
The first post we come to in our downward journey is Hardaba (17
miles*). Here we have a blockhouse in the hands of the Amir of Dthala and
20 soldiers. These are a part of the force which by revised Treaty he is bound
to maintain. No extra payment is, therefore, requisite. The blockhouse is,
however, badly placed being too high up the hill, while caravans passing below
would require their guides near at hand. The blockhouse was built to watch
the country for miles round at a time when it was thought the Kotaibis were
somewhat unsettled. It has served its purpose. A far better position can be
had some 800 yards up the Saila (river bed) at the juncture of two -tracks
coming from the Hadfan hills. I would propose a small building here after
the Arab model.
(b) Next comes Suleik (21 miles*) garrisoned by 100 men of the 81st
Pioneers. This post cannot at present be safely surrendered to the tribesmen.
Eventually, after their internal dissensions are settled, the Kotaibis might
hold the place under the Amir. The water is good, and the Port itself is placed
at an inlet to the Kotaibi country.
It is probable that rest camps in the shape of huts will be always required
on the march from Nobat Dakaim to Dthala, and this is the best place for the
same.
(c) Lower down (at 22j miles*) is the “ Dar al Qabtan,” a fort
on the hill of Hamra, and held, since the Kotaibi restlessness, by
30 men of the Alawi Sheikh. The objection taken against the site
of the Hardana blockhouse holds good here. The position is too far off
the road. Again, and this is the chief objection I have, the fort was built for
the ’Alawi ostensibly to protect trade, but actually to repel any Kotaibi attack
on that side. Now that the Kotaibis show a conciliatory spirit and we are kept
to make them our friends, it is politic the ’Alawi should vacate the post.
The following disadvantages may be enumerated in its retention :—
(1) Inaccessibility from the trade-route. (It was originally a watch-tower
merely.)
(2) It is situated on debatable ground, the Kotaibi claiming it as theirs.
Muhammad Saleh told me he had strong objections to the ’Alawi holding
this hill, but if the latter was permitted to hold it from Government let it
any rate be called “ Dar al Qabtan ” (after the late Captain Warneford) and not
Al Hamra, its local name. This latter name, he said, would wound the
susceptibilities of the Kotaibis.
(3) It was created to check the Kotaibis, and has no raison d'etre at this
juncture, nay, its retention will preclude that degree of friendliness which I am
now striving to maintain between the ’Alawi and the Kotaibi.
(4) It is too close to Suleik and is superfluous. Instead of this site I
would build in Arab style a Dar or Port for the ’Alawi at a spot clearly
within his own territory and nearer Jimil—in fact on a site opposite to his
village of Ma’baga and in proximity to his custom house. This is further
down the road from Suleik, say, some two miles, and is chosen because of the
change of tribal jurisdiction that we shall get here. Prom here there are some
five miles to
(d) Al Millah (29^ miles*). This is Haushabi territory. The place is
somewhat unhealthy, but the water-supply is good. There are here 30 men
of the 81st Pioneers. Al Millah is a convenient spot on which to erect a few
huts to serve as a rest-camp on the march up, or the ground may be kept clean,
merely, and troops may pitch their tents carried with them. Politically no
purpose is served by the retention of this place, but two miles lower down we
have
(e) Bus Habil Ash Shams (31i miles*), i.e., the 4e head ” of the plateau so
called. This is Haushabi soil. The Dthambari raiders find it an excellent
rendezvous when contemplating a raid on caravans, and here I advocate a
mixed post of Haushabi and Dthambari men, say, 26, armed and paid by
Government. The Dthambaris are bom raiders. I believe this confidence
will not be misplaced.
* These distances are from Dthaia.