IOR/L/PS/5/380, ff 323-392

The item comprises enclosures to a despatch, Number 124 of 1839, dated 22 November 1839, from the Government of Bombay Secret Department to the East India Company Secret Committee relating to affairs in Aden, covering the following topics:

• The policy the Political Agent at Aden should adopt in his intercourse with the ‘chieftains’ of the interior of Aden
• The British political interest in, and internal economy of, Aden
• The types of arms permitted to pass into Aden
• The need to make Ras Tarshayn [?] the principal military station to secure the vessels in port
• The approval of the appointment of Captain Stafford Bettesworth Haines of the Indian Navy as Political Agent at Aden
• Relations between the tribes of the Fouthelee [Fadhli], the Yaffaee [Yafi‘i], and the Abdalee [al-‘Abdalī] in Aden and Lahedge [Lahej]
• The relation between Captain Haines and the Sultans of the hinterland of Aden
• The conduct of certain ‘chieftains’ of Aden, their hostility to the British Government and the measures to be taken towards them.

The main correspondents in the item are: the Adjutant General of the Army, Military Department, Bombay; the Political Agent at Aden; the Acting Chief Secretary to Government, Bombay; and the Officiating Secretary to Government of India.