"مذكرة تتعلق بترسيم حدود عدن" [و‎‎١‎٧‎٧] (٢٢/١١)

to the Demarcation Commission as Joint Com
missioner. He was acquainted with the attitude
of the Turkish Government at Constantinople,
and it was anticipated that his command of the
Turkish language and experience of Turkish
officials and methods of business would render
him a valuable colleague to Colonel Wahab. He
ioined the Commission at Dthali at the end of
November.
In December 1902, His Majesty’s Govern
ment reluctantly decided that it was necessary
to send up troops to support the Commission at
Dthali and to reinforce the Aden garrison from
India. Four hundred men and four guns were
accordingly sent early in January 1908 to
Dthali, and reinforcements were sent from India
to Aden. In order to prevent the arrival of
Turkish reinforcements at Hodeida, His Majesty’s
ships “ Hermione ” and “ Intrepid” were sent
to Aden from the Mediterranean. By May the
force on the Dthali plateau and on the com
munications had been increased to about 1,500.
These proceedings had a good result. Orders
were sent from Constantinople in February
which caused the local authorities to modify their
attitude, but it was not till towards the end of
March 1903 that the levies were finally dis
banded, and the Turkish forces withdrawn
behind the line which His Majesty’s Govern
ment had claimed provisionally for the Chief of
Dthali, leaving Jalela in his possession. With
this withdrawal of the Turkish troops the
preliminary difficulties disappeared, and delimi
tation, in the proper sense of the word, may be
said to have begun—thirteen months after the
meeting of the Commissions.
Though organized obstruction ceased with
the withdrawal from Jalela, it was some time
before the excitement created in the tribal
country ceased, and progress was at first slow.
However, in May 1903 it was possible to with
draw the ships. In June a proper survey of the
Amiri border was completed, and the British pro
posals as to the general line to be followed by the
demarcation were referred to Constantinople. In
September and October the Shaibi country up to
the Wadi Bana was surveyed by the Joint Com
missioners, and a line agreed to and demarcated.
In October the actual demarcation of the Amiri
country was begun by the Joint Commissioners,
the doubtful points as they arose being settled
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