![‘Military report on the British Protectorate of Aden and the Amir of Dala’s territories, with special reports on certain other tribes and adjoining border districts’ [‎11v] (27/490)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000000884.0x0003b8/IOR_L_PS_20_59_0027.jp2/full/!1200,1200/0/default.jpg "‘Military report on the British Protectorate of Aden and the Amir of Dala’s territories, with special reports on certain other tribes and adjoining border districts’ [‎11v] (27/490)")
‘Military report on the British Protectorate of Aden and the Amir of Dala’s territories, with special reports on certain other tribes and adjoining border districts’ [11v] (27/490)
The record is made up of 1 volume (243 folios). It was created in 1905-1908. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
4
into British territory from Turkish Yemen, or the converse. These main
lines o< advance may be brought under three heads, and it is proposed
to consider shortly how the frontier as at present established affects
each—
(a) Through the Dala valley from northern Yemen (San'a, Yerim,
etc.).
(b) Through the Tiban valley fromTaiz and Mavia.
(c) From the x\ T akil Hamra past Mafalis and down the
Wadi
A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
Ma’din.
With regard to {a), the boundary crosses the valley drained by the
Selat Kataba, and bounded to the north and west by the high and precipi
tous mountains of A 1 Aud, through which the main route to San’a passes.
Any move from the British side of the border, either to the north or the
west, would entail the ascent of high passes, both difficult and susceptible
of efficient defence.
The Turkish advance on the other hand, though across the undulating
Dala valley, would encounter the chain of low hills stretching from near
Jalila towards Jabal Harir, which present a line of positions which must
be passed before reaching^the heads of the passes, the Nakil Khureba and
the Nakil Rabad, leading down from Dala to the lower-lying country.
Assuming that this were accomplished, their only route would be down
a river-bed commanded by steep hilb on either side, or by side tracks,
barely passable for transport, over most difficult mountainous country.
With respect to ( 3 ), an advance from Mavia would encounter a line
of low hills on the British side very close to the actual boundary, which
effectually command the valley as it opens out at the south foot of the Mavia
pass, and the open plateau of the Habil Arabi. These positions, it is true,
would be within distant fire from heavy artillery from theJalisa-Am Amma
(Turkish) range, but the difficulty of getting big guns into effective
positions, if indeed possible at all, would be so great, that this scarcely
comes within the scope of practical politics. In the first instance, it would
involve the existence of such guns, which is extremely doubtful, and
in the second, the making of roads practicable for them.
On the other hand, any advance on Mavia would involve the pass
age of the Mavia pass, a defile easily defensible by light artillery and
muskeby. An advance on Mavia from the east, by the Wadis Tusan
and Hilhal, would also encounter great natural difficulties.
An advance from the Turkish side from Taiz would be most difficult
against opposition. The actual western frontier of the 'Amri Haushabi
follows generally the crest-line of a chain of hills completely commanding
the extensive plain in Turkish territory to the west. This chain is passable
for transport at four points, by the Wadis Akkan (or Natid), the YVarezan,
the Selat Sudan, and by the
Wadi
A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
Hakab. In each case the passage is in
the nature of a defile to which access could be effectively barred by the
high ground on the British side on the actual boundary. The 'Amri
country itself also presents positions wffiich it would be difficult to pass,
while still further back, the vicinity of the junction of the Akkan with the
d iban, forms a position, the forcing of which may be regarded as practi
cally impossible. It must also be remembered that by the Tiban route
alone would water in sufficient quantity for a force, large enough to attempt
such offensive measures, be found.
About this item
- Content
The volume, a military report compiled in the Intelligence Branch of the QMG’s [Quartermaster General’s] Department and published at the Government Central Printing Office, Simla, is comprised of several sections, as follows:
- section I, a Military Report on the British Protectorate of Aden , prepared by Captain Ernest Arthur Frederick Redl (ff 10-52), and including chapters on: geography; ethnography, with details of the different tribes living in the Protectorate; climate and health; natural resources; harbours and anchorages; communications; fortresses; history; native inhabitants’ administration; the military organisation and strength of native inhabitants; and political relations. A handwritten note is included in the report (f 49), and concerns the entitlements of Protectorate Chiefs to salutes, and issue to them of arms and ammunition, 1906;
- section II, a Report on the Amir of Dala’s [Ad Dali’] Territories , prepared by Major J K Tod (ff 54-118), and including chapters on: geography; ethnography; climate and health; resources; communications; forts and fortified posts; history; administration, and military. Following the report is a gazetteer providing greater detail of the sixteen districts in Dala, including: topography; ruling families and allegiances; villages and population figures, including numbers of fighting men; water resources; agricultural and industrial activities;
- section III, Reports on Haushabi, Subehi and Yafa’i Tribes, Turkish and North Western Border Districts and the River Tiban , divided into chapters, all prepared by Captain Redl unless otherwise specified, on: 1) the Haushabi [al-Ḥawshabī] (ff 120-130), and including a handwritten note, dated December 1905 (f 122), noting that the Sultan of Haushabi has agreed to abide by an agreement of 1895; 2) the Subehi tribes near the Turkish border (ff 130-144); 3) the districts of Turkish Yemen adjoining the British boundary (ff 144-165); 4) Tribes of the north-west frontier Region of British India bordering Afghanistan. (ff 165-172); 5) a memorandum of the Yafa’i [Yāfi‘] tribe, prepared by Captain Gonville W Warneford (ff 172-183); 6) The Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Tiban (ff 184-185);
- section IV, Routes (ff 186-228), detailing numerous routes between key points in Aden province, noting: distances; stages; nature of the terrain and its suitability for different modes of transport; available resources en route; territories crossed. A (duplicated) confidential memorandum, written by Captain G A F Sanders of the Aden Brigade, dated 24 August 1905, containing additional information for stages 5 and 6 of route 5 has been added to the volume (ff 195-198);
- appendix I, a brief statement on inland trade between Aden and the Arabian mainland, 1903 (ff 229-230).
The volume is extensively illustrated throughout with fold-out maps, plans and illustrations, prepared by the Intelligence Branch (I.B.) and all of which describe the topography and terrain of the region. There are three maps included in a pocket at the end of the volume: a map of the Aden Protectorate (f 242); a view from the ruined village of Lakmat Magharam about one-and-a-half miles west of Sanah [Ṣanʻā'] (f 240); and a road sketch from Khalla through Awabil [‘Awābil] to the upper plateau of the Rubiatein [Ar Rubay‘atayn] tribe (f 241).
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (243 folios)
- Arrangement
The volume is arranged in four sections (numbered I-IV), with a single appendix. Sections I-III are arranged in numbered chapters while section IV is arranged in twenty-three numbered routes. The volume’s contents page (ff 6-8) lists the sections and their respective chapters/routes, with page numbers referring to the volume’s printed pagination system. A general index (ff 231-238) lists placenames referred to in the volume in alphabetically ascending order, also with page numbers referring to the volume’s printed pagination.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1 and terminates at the back cover with 243; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.
Pagination: the file contains an original printed pagination sequence.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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‘Military report on the British Protectorate of Aden and the Amir of Dala’s territories, with special reports on certain other tribes and adjoining border districts’ [11v] (27/490), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/59, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100034845247.0x00001c> [accessed 13 May 2024]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/20/59
- Title
- ‘Military report on the British Protectorate of Aden and the Amir of Dala’s territories, with special reports on certain other tribes and adjoining border districts’
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, 2r:11v, 13r:14v, 16r:28v, 30r:30v, 32r:35r, 36r:36v, 38r:56v, 58r:67r, 68r:69r, 70r:79r, 80r:85v, 87r:88r, 89r:89v, 91r:95v, 97r:98v, 100r:101r, 102r:105v, 107r:108r, 109r:113r, 114r:116v, 118r:120v, 122r:124v, 126r:126v, 128r:130v, 132r:132v, 134r:135r, 136r:136v, 138r:157v, 159r:161v, 163r:163v, 165r:165v, 167r:182v, 184r:188v, 190r:190v, 192r:239v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence