nephew Said bin Salih. The latter died on the 1st April 1892, and his eldest son Shaikh Saif bin Said was elected to the Chieftainship. The annual stipend of 60 dollars paid to the late Chief is continued to his successor.

The Alawi muster about 500 fighting men: the revenue, which amounts, approximately, to 6,000 rupees per annum, is chiefly derived from transit duties.

(12) Dthali.

The collection of tribes ruled over by the Amir of Dthali occupy the district north-west of the Alawi country on the high road to Sanaa. The ancestors of the present Chief are said to have been Muwallads, or half-caste slaves of the Imams of Sanaa, and to have established themselves as independ ent at Dthali about the beginning of the last century.

On the death of the late Chief, Shafal bin Abdul Hadi, in 1872, his nephew Ali bin Mokbil, was recognised by the British Government as his successor. In the following year he was required by the Turkish authorities to make his submission to the Porte, a Turkish Superintendent was appointed to Dthali, a detachment of Turkish troops was quartered there, and the Chief was required to give a hostage for his good behaviour who was to reside at Taizz. He was afterwards summoned by the Turks to Kataba, and imprisoned there, but effected his escape. Muhammad bin Masaid, who had been appointed Chief by the Turks in the place of his nephew Ali bin Mokbil, was killed, and his son Abdulla bin Muhammad was recognised by them as his successor. He continued to resist Ali bin Mokbil till 1878, when Turkish support having been withdrawn from his rival, Ali bin Mokbil resumed his position as Chief of the tribe, with the loss however of several of his villages which had, some voluntarily and some under pressure, yielded allegiance to the Porte.

In 1880 the Chief signed an Agreement (No. LXVIII) by which he became a British stipendiary, receiving 50 dollars per annum. This allowance was afterwards increased to double that sum.

In September 1886 Ali bin Mokbil died and was succeeded by his cousin Shaif bin Saif, to whom the stipend is continued.

In 1881 the Kotaibi tribe became restless, and began to exact dues on the Hardaba route. In 1884 it was found necessary to support the Amir with a few sabres of the Aden Troop and some sappers. They destroyed some of the Ahl-ath-Thomari forts, and the Kotaibi then tendered their submission. But they soon resumed their independent position, and it was not until 1888, when

the Resident met the Haushabi, the Dthali Amir, and others to settle a schedule of rates to be levied on kafilas, that the Kotaibi and Ahl-ath-Thomari formally recognised the Amir as their superior.

(13) The Wahidi.

The Wahidi are a Hadthramaut tribe. The territory occupied by them is bounded on the north and north-east by the lands of the Naman and Burayshi tribes, on the north-west and west by the Upper Aulaki, on the south-west by the Dhnyaibi, and on the south by the Arabian Sea. It has a sea-coast estimated at 50 miles in length, and includes the ports of Kas-al-Kalb, Bir Ali, Balahaf, and Ras-al-Majdaha.

The country may be divided into the three districts of Habban, Izzan, and Bir Ali. In 1885, Hadi bin Salih being made the principal Sultan, the Wahidi were practically united under one ruler; but the title of Sultan is borne by several subordinate Chiefs belonging to the reigning family.

Until recent years this tribe had had no dealings with the Aden Residency, but their country was visited by Captain Miles and M. Werner Munzinger, C.B., in 1870.

One of the Wahidi Sultans visited Aden in 1872, and uninterrupted communication has since been maintained between this tribe and the Aden Residency.

In 1877 Sultan Ahmad bin Husain was dethroned, and was succeeded by his son Salih bin Ahmad.

In January 1873 several of the Wahidi Sultans addressed a joint letter to the Resident, complaining that negotiations were going on between the Kaiti Chief of Shihr and Talib bin Hadi bin Talib for the sale of the port of Bir Ali to the Kaiti. The Wahidi desired the Resident to close the port of Bir Ali and hoist the British flag at Balahaf until a settlement was effected. The Resident advised Talib bin Hadi not to be so imprudent as to sell Bir Ali to the Kaiti.

succeeded by his cousin The latter visited Aden Abdalla bin Omar was

Sultan Salih bin Ahmad died in 1881, and was Abdalla bin Omar as Sultan of Habban and Izzan. in 1881, and was suitably received by the Resident. dethroned in 1885, when Hadi bin Salih of Balahaf was made the principal Sultan.

In the beginning of 1882 Izzat Pasha was appointed Turkish Governor General of Yemen, and on his way from Baghdad to Hodeida to take up his

P

appointment, visited Balahaf and Bir Ali. No agreement of any kind passed between him and the Sultan of Balahaf; but Nasir bin Abdalla, one of the Sultans of Balabaf, apprehensive that Balahaf might be annexed by the Kaiti Chief of Shihr and Mokalla, obtained a Turkish flag, which was to be hoisted every Friday and on the approach of a foreign vessel. The Wahidi Sultan of Habban and Izzan, while denying all complicity in the matter, stated his inability to prevent the Sultans of Balahaf from flying the Turkish flag, and proclaimed his readiness to go against them with British aid.

Subsequently the Wahidi Sultan and the Sultans of Bir Ali, Balahaf and Majdaha, all wrote almost identical letters to the Resident, praying for British protection.

From the correspondence which took place in connection with this incident, it appeared that the then Wahidi Sultan of Habban and Izzan had little, if any, control over Bir Ali, Balahaf and Majdaha.

It was eventually decided to enter into closer relations with the Wahidi, and with this view Protectorate Treaties (Nos. LXIX and LXX), similar to that executed by the Chief of Sokotra, were concluded in 1888 with the Sultans of Bir Ali and Balahaf. Annual stipends of 120 dollars each were at the same time granted to Sultan Mohsin bin Salih of Bir Ali and Sultan Hadi bin Salih of Balahaf.

Sultan Hadi bin Salih of Balahaf has lately (1892) resigned the Chieftainship in favour of his younger brother Mohsin bin Salih. The Govern ment has sanctioned this arrangement, and continued the stipend to Mohsin bin Salih.

(14) The Kathiri.

The country inhabited by this tribe was formerly extensive, reaching from the Aulaki districts on the west to the Mahri tribe on the east, and including the seaports of Mokalla and Shihr. Civil wars led to the interference

of the Yafii, and much of the Kathiri territory came under the sway of the Kasadi and Kaiti, the Kathiri now possessing no seaport at all.

Some account of the tribe will be found under "Shihr and Mokalla" (infra). There is no treaty with them.

At the end of 1883 Sultan Abdalla bin Salih, one of the Kathiri Chiefs, visited the Resident at Aden. His principal object was to ascertain what attitude the British Government would maintain in the event of the Kathiri attacking the Kaiti with a view to repossessing themselves of the ports of Shihr and Mokalla.

Abdalla bin Salih also visited Zanzibar with intent to

intrigue with the ex-Nakib of Mokalla, from whom, however, he failed to obtain any material assistance.

The Government of India in March 1884 directed that the Kathiri be warned that an attack upon Shihr and Mokalla would be viewed with grave displeasure, and that, if necessary, a gun-boat would be sent to support the Kaiti ruler. The Jamadar of Shihr and Mokalla was subsequently assured in the most public manner that Government would support him in the event of any attack on his ports.

The following is a statement of the tribes in the neighbourhood of Aden who have (1892) relations, stipendiary or otherwise, with the British Government:

SHIHE and Mokalla are the two principal ports in the province called Hadthramaut on the southern coast of Arabia. Mokalla is 250 miles north

east of Aden, and Shihr is 20 miles distant from Mokalla. The whole province was, till some 400 years ago, in the possession of the Kathiri, but disputes having arisen among the members of the ruling family towards the close of the fifteenth century, one of the claimants, Amr bin Badr, called in the Yafii, who, in return for their assistance in putting him in power, retained for themselves the ports of Shihr and Mokalla. Mokalla was till lately retained by one of their sub-tribes, the Kasadi; both places are now however in the possession of the head of another sub-tribe, the Kaiti.

Shihr and Mokalla were at one time centres of an active traffic in slaves from Zanzibar and the Dankali coast. On the 14th May 1863, Brigadier Coghlan, the Political Resident at Aden, concluded an Engagement (No. LXXI) with Salah bin Muhammad of the Kasadi sub-division of the Yafii tribe, Nakib of Mokalla, in which he agreed to abolish and prohibit the export and import of slaves. A precisely similar engagement was concluded on the same date with Ali bin Naji, of the Kaiti sub-division of the same tribe, Nakib of Shihr. In 1866 Sultan Ghalib bin Mohsin, Chief of the Kathiris, expelled Ali bin Naji from Shihr and took possession of the fort. At this time the inland town of Shibam was held by the Kaiti tribe, and their Chief, Abdulla, being apprehensive that the capture of Mokalla would follow that of Shihr, and that his communication with the seaboard would be cut off, applied to his brothers, who were in the service of the Hyderabad State, for assistance against Sultan Ghalib bin Mohsin. A request was thereupon preferred by the Minister of the Nizam for the armed interference of the British Government on behalf of the rightful Chief of Shihr. Government, however, declined to interfere or to allow an armed expedition to be fitted out by Arabs from the Indian coast.

In April 1867, Awadth (Awaz) bin Omar, better known by his Hyderabad title of Sultan Nawaz Jang, a brother of the Kaiti Chief Abdulla, after establishing a blockade on the sea-coast, landed near Shihr, attacked Sultan Ghalib bin Mohsin, and on his flight obtained possession of the town. An attempt was made by the Kathiri Chief in December of the same year to retake the place, but he was repulsed by the Kaiti, who have since remained in unmolested possession of the port and district. Application was made by the Kathiri Chief to the British Government for permission to recover Shihr by force, but it was considered undesirable to interfere. At the same time the Nizam's Minister declared his readiness to prohibit any interference on the part of Hyderabad subjects in the affairs of Hadthramaut.

Salah bin Muhammad died in 1873 shortly after the conclusion of a