IOR/L/PS/5/447, ff 382-411

This item comprises copies of enclosures to a despatch from the Government of Bombay Secret Department to the Secret Committee, Number 148 of 1846, dated 12 December 1846. The enclosures are dated 26 October-9 December 1846.

The enclosures mainly relate to British relations with the ‘Arab Chieftans’ of the vicinity, in particular:

• Haines’s account of the continued hostility and intractability of Sultan M’Houssain Fudthel of Lahidge [Sulṭān Muḥsin bin Faḍl al-‘Abdalī, Sulṭān of Lahej] and the consequent suspension of the monthly stipend paid to him by the British
• The apparent eagerness of several other local ‘chiefs’, including Sultan Ahmed Abdulla Foutheli [Sulṭān Aḥmad bin ‘Abdullāh al-Faḍlī], to agree terms of peace with the British and obtain the removal of the British blockade of their ports
• The resumption of kafilahs [caravans carrying supplies] entering Aden town
• The Government of Bombay’s opinion that a division between the Foutheli and Abdali tribes might be to their benefit
• Haines’s condition of peace that the Sayud Ismail [Sayyid Ismā‘īl] be removed to a distant country and be prohibited from returning to the vicinity of Aden
• Reports received by Haines that Sultan M’Houssain Fudthel intends to come to Aden after Eyed [Eid] to sign peace terms
• Haines’s report of the Sultan of Lahidge’s attempt to seize Foutheli camels returning from the Aden market, the resulting deaths and capture of Foutheli prisoners, and the intention of the Foutheli to retaliate against the Abdali
• A report by Haines of the death of Sallem bin Sallah [Sālim bin Ṣāliḥ] who was wounded by a Foutheli raiding party, and the incidental wounding by grape shot, fired from the Aden field works, of three men of the kafilah who received medical treatment at Aden.

The principal correspondents are Haines, the Government of Bombay, and the Government of India.