IOR/L/PS/5/490, ff 156-165

This item comprises enclosures to a despatch from the Government of Bombay [Mumbai] Secret Department to the Secret Committee [Bombay Secret Letter], No. 12 dated 16 January 1857. The enclosures are dated 11 December 1856-14 January 1857.

The papers comprise:

• A letter from Brigadier William Marcus Coghlan, Political Resident, Aden, to the Secretary to Government, Bombay, reporting on his successful visit to Sultan Ali Mohsin [‘Alī I bin Muḥsin al-‘Abdalī], the Sultan of Lahidj [Lahej, also known as Lahij, and also spelled Lahedj in this item], which he states is the first occasion that the Resident has ever proceeded inland. The account includes details of Coghlan’s party and a description of: the topography, cultivation and terrain between Aden, the village named ‘Sheikh Othman’ [Ash Shaikh Outhman], and Lahidj (also referred to by its Arabic name ‘Howtah’); watering places; the Sultan’s escort; the party’s accommodation in Lahidj; the town of Howtah, notably its population, houses and local bazaar; the Sultan’s palace and family; and the night spent on the party's return journey at the ‘Castle of Bir Mekki’, belonging to the chief of a clan of the Abdali tribe who owned territory near Lahidj. Coghlan emphasises the friendly reception they received and the Sultan’s wish for the boys of his family to be educated at the British school at Aden. The latter is concurred in by a Resolution of the Board and Governor’s minute
• A letter from Coghlan to Bombay, regarding the situation in Sanaa [also known as Sanaʽa] as reported by Reverend Mr Stern, recently arrived in Aden claiming that Sanaa is in a ‘state of perfect anarchy’ and the government of the Imaum [Imam] ‘at an end’ (f 164).