Mss Eur F126/61

The file contains three separate statements regarding William Gifford Palgrave's travels throughout Arabia, all relating to the disguises and aliases that Palgrave used to travel and his willingness to assume the religion of whichever place he was travelling through.

• The first statement is a translation of an account by Aboo Eesa, the guide who took Palgrave to Riyadh, of how he came to encounter Palgrave, their journey to Riyadh and time spent there and their further travels on to Katif and Bushire. The statement also contains details of their aliases and disguises and includes postscripts to the original statement regarding a paper which Palgrave gave to Eesa regarding a scheme to 'revolutionize the country and institute another religion among the Wahabis (ff 1-5)
• The second statement was written by Mr Rozario, the Medical Charge at the Muscat Political Agency who encountered Palgrave in Muscat in 1863 and provided him with assistance as he was living as a mussulman but was having difficulty in observing the fasting period owing to suffering from fever and was permitted to use Mr Rozario's home in order to partake of food and wine. Mr Rozario's statement is dated 25 April 1866 (ff 6-7)
• The final statement is a letter from Eusuf ben Bedr written in Arabic, 18 December 1865, and translated into English regarding his conversation with the individual who took Palgrave to Riyadh (Aboo Eesa). The statement within the letter is a shorter version of Aboo Eesa's first statement (ff 6-7) and was received at the Residency in Bushire 25 January 1866