![‘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’ [‎21r] (46/490)](https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000000884.0x0003b8/IOR_L_PS_20_59_0048.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’ [‎21r] (46/490)")
‘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’ [21r] (46/490)
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.
19
They are divided into some 24 sections, of which the principal are the
Markashi, Allaha, Ahl Hanash, Ahl Hasana and Dathina. The Markashi
who possess a large slice of the eastern sea board and who reside in the
hills, claim descent from the Himiarites, while the Dathina and Ahl Hasana
come of Upper Aulaki stock. The code of morality seems, among the
mountaineers of the Fadli country, to be of a lower order than in the
remainder of Yemen, the curious custom prevailing among the Markashi of
holding a baseborn son in greater estimation than a legitimate one.
Since 1870 the Fadli have been at continual feud either with the
Lower Aulaki or with the Lower Ya f a i, a standing bone of contention with
the latter being the water rights of a canal, the Naz’ia, cut for irrigation
purposes from the Bana river. British intervention in their inter-tribal dis
putes has been frequently necessitated, and may very possibly again be called
for. The Dathina and other tribes in the eastern Fadli country are very
little under the control of the Sultan, and are of a wild and predatory
disposition. The present Sultan is reported to be at the point of death
and it seems to be uncertain who his successor will be.
The Aulaki.
The Aulaki like the Yafa'i are divided into two main divisions, the
Upper and Lower. Very little is known of the country or indeed of the
people. Many clans are of a wild type and predatory in their habits.
The Upper Aulaki are under the Sultan Salih bu Abdalla. According
to Mr. Bury, they can muster some 9,coo fighting men, of whom about
1,000 are “ Asakir” or professional soldiers maintained by the Sultan. Of
the inhabitants of the town of Ansab, some 60 per cent, are Hadramaut
merchants. Not only are the outlying tribes much addicted to raiding, but
also counter-raids are made sub rosa from Ansab on the offenders, the
Sultan apparently finding this system of punishment more congenial than a
regular punitory expedition.
The district of Yeshbum is under its own ruler, Om Rasas bin
Farid, who is, to all intents and purposes, independent of the Sultan, but
they are closely allied for mutual defence. The inhabitants are much
engaged in commercial pursuits.
The Upper Aulaki are divided into two main divisions, the Ahl Maan
and the Ahl Mahajar. Each of these tribes numbers some 4,000 fight
ing men and is divided into sub-tribes, which again are split into a
variety of clans. With the exception of those inhabiting the towns, their
occupations are pastoral and agricultural, many of them being nomadic.
The inhabitants of Yeshbum are included among the Ahl Maan. The Ahl
Hamam, a division of the Ahl Mahajar, numbering 1,200 men are nomadic,
and inclined to be predatory, and scour the Hamami desert on the look
out for caravans.
The Lower Aulaki are formed by the large tribe of the Ba Kazim
who number between 4,000 and 5,000 men. This tribe is split up into some
20 sub-tribes, and the population seems fairly evenly divided between
agricultural and nomadic classes. Two Sahmai chiefs, Fadl and Ali bin
Mehsin, are at the present time supreme among the Ba Kazim, and of the
two, Ali, who lives at Jidhaba, is the most influential.
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’ [21r] (46/490), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/59, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100034845247.0x00002f> [accessed 27 June 2026]
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- 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