Coll 29/108 'Tours of Political Agent, Kuwait' [‎12r] (23/38)

As evening fol we oaj.e Md I wanu off j,o
cliange aau l><awlie la a so^swjfiuat prL'dLtlve i^aaaer froa a
oorru^atad iron i»anii wltA t»ho aid of a aio&ll ^int measure*
Vhc watex mi& rmtrfc&bly ©old axvl refreohinc and I returned
ooiXortatly clad in tx white cotton w diafc/laaher" to the cen
tral court to find carpets had been sprfc>aa and ty host \ms
reclining in the centre of then looking rcnarkably cool and
collected* x joined his*, leu vine; ^ aoudaie at the ot M
the carpets and life talked of a a^-iber of thinse including
India on which subject ny host waxed indicant end eloquent
over the Coagrees question. Congre© ** attitude was inexplic
able to him &ad our lack of drastic action in regard to them,
even taore so and I waa treated to a lecture on firmness and
how essential it was when dealing with orientala especially t
in war tlite. Suddenly wy host broxe off fron advocating the >
use of the Indian States to st&np out the Congress and sug
gested dinner# I agretd and he had but to raise a hand to
brine running a servant l&d ams& with a ! auser pistol who
had be n squatting with a companion similarly arced at the
far end of the courtyai*d. The lad lletmed to his ;.actsr f 3
orders and ran off to have thaa executed which they were in
a remarkably snort space of time and he returned to announce
that dinner awaited our pleasure.
After dinner we returned to the courtyard and drank
coffee arid I had an opportunity of talking to Heesein Al
threini the Paekard Agent and Ibn Saud*© Agent in Beirut who
had been introduced to &e at dinner but with whom 1 had not
so far had much conversation. He talked of the difficulties
of war ti&e trade and the lack of a decent hotel in Kuwait.
The following day I drove round with Shaikh Abdullah,
tfchlr Effen&i and Kus&cin Al UWelni to see the ether parts
of the estate and returned to tae house to listen for hours
to Hussein Al Uwcini on the iniqultousnsss of the Free and
Vichy French in Gyria whila tj$ host went off and slept, 'hy t