IOR/L/PS/5/486, ff 307-328

This item comprises enclosures to a despatch from the Government of Bombay [Mumbai] Secret Department to the Secret Committee [Bombay Secret Letter], No. 20 dated 19 March 1856. The enclosures are dated 15 January-19 March 1856.

The correspondents are: Brigadier William Marcus Coghlan, Acting Political Resident and Commandant, Aden; the Secretary to the Government, Bombay; and Stephen Page, HM Acting Vice-Consul and Officiating HC [Honourable Company] Agent at Juddah [Jeddah]. The item also includes enclosures to correspondence and one Resolution of the Board.

The papers cover the following matters:

• Coghlan’s decision to continue the British blockade of Berbera, and to disregard the confession (ff 310-311) of a prisoner named ‘Ali Mahomed’ [‘Alī Muḥammad] who has been brought to Aden on the Mahi, since he is not considered to have been the ‘ring leader’ of the attack on the Somali Expedition of Lieutenant Richard Burton and has been repudiated by the Elders [of the Habr Awwal tribe]
• Events relating to Zailah [Zeila, also spelled Zeylah in this item], including: the attempt by the Haj Shermarki [Ḥājjī Sharmārkī ‘Alī Ṣāliḥ, also spelled Sheumarki and Shermarkie in this item] to retake his position as Governor, from which he was lately ousted by the [Ottoman] Turkish authorities; Coghlan’s attempt to prevent Shermarki blockading Zailah and potentially disrupting British supply chains by sending the Assistant Resident to liaise between Shermarki and the Turkish authorities; Coghlan’s efforts to ascertain the effect of the [Ottoman] Sultan’s proclamation prohibiting slavery at Zailah, considering news of the arrival there of a ‘large slave Caffilah [caravan]’ from the interior (ff 314-315)
• News obtained from Mocha that cholera has broken out in the camp of the Asseer [‘Asīr tribe] apparently causing the death of their leader and causing the force's retirement from their putative campaign to attack the Red Sea ports of Yemen
• Relations in Aden between the Abdali [al-‘Abdalī] and Oulaki [al-‘Awlaqī]] ‘chiefs’ regarding their mutual claims over the fort of Bir Ahmed [Bir Ahmad], including: a letter sent by the Secretary to the Government, Bombay, to the Resident in Hyderabad asking him to gather information about the apparent influence of one ‘Sirdar Abdulla bin Ali Oulaki’ [Sirdār ‘Abdullāh bin ‘Alī al-‘Awlaqī] a ‘jemadar [jamadar] in the service of His Highness the Nizam of Hyderabad’ (f 322); and Coghlan’s decision to abstain from interference provided that the dispute causes no interruption of trade
• Intelligence relating to the state of affairs in Massowah [Massawa, also known as Mitsiwa], including a letter from Raffaello Barroni, Agent to Mr Plowden [Walter Chichele Plowden], HM Consul in Abyssinia [now Ethiopia], reporting the promise of the Naib of Massawa to re-establish order but that the current absence of any governor renders Massawa ‘without soldiers and without protection, and the population … left to herself and committed to fortune’ (f 318)
• Report by Stephen Page describing the state of affairs in Juddah and its vicinity since the unsuccessful insurrection led by Abu Montallib [Sharif ‘Abd al-Muṭṭalib bin Ghālib bin Musā‘ad], including Page’s: description of the recent engagement at Tayf (to where Abu Montallib had retreated) between ‘Bedouins’ and [Ottoman] Turkish soldiers; concern regarding the delayed arrival of the newly appointed [sharif?] Ebu Aonan [Muḥammad bin ‘Abd al-Mu‘īn bin ‘Awn]; Page’s belief that the arrival at Juddah of the Elphinstone was effective in preventing further disturbance and his request that it may return there by April to avoid potential attacks by ‘Bedouin’ if Ebu Aonan has not yet arrived; and opinion that Abu Montallib’s rebellion was not properly quashed
• Reports on the prevalence of smallpox and typhoid in the town of Aden.