Ingrams - Arabia The Isles

ARABIA AND THE ISLES

HAROLD INGRAMS

THE KEGAN PAUL ARABIA LIBRARY VOLUME ONE

First published in 1966 by
Kegan Paul International

This edition first published in 2010 by
Routledge
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Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

This edition Kegan Paul International, 1998

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 10: 0-7103-0567-2 (hbk)
ISBN 13: 978-0-7103-0567-1 (hbk)

Publishers Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent. The publisher has made every effort to contact original copyright holders and would welcome correspondence from those they have been unable to trace.

CONTENTS

ILLUSTRATIONS

From Photographs by the Author, except*

* Crown Copyright Reserved: by kind permission of the Royal Air Force.

MAPS

T HE name of Harold Ingrams is already so well known to all who are interested in Arabia and the Arabs that it is superfluous to introduce him to those to whom primarily this book will appeal. Its attraction will not, however, be limited to Arabian experts and enthusiasts: it is a book that will interest and entertain a far wider public, and for this reason and also because for several years I watched at close quarters the authors work in the Aden Protectorate I venture on some introductory remarks on his achievements in that country.

Mr. Ingrams is an officer of the Colonial Administrative Service who has had a varied career. In the war of 191418 he served for five years with the Kings Shropshire Light Infantry and was wounded in Belgium in 1916. He entered the Colonial Service in 1919 and held appointments in Mauritius and Zanzibar, descriptions of which appear in this book. With a great capacity for work, he combines a wide vision and a power of planning for the future with a capacity for assiduous application to the details of everyday administration. It is in his nature to be an enthusiast, and it was not long before his gaze fell upon Arabia, and he felt the attraction of its ancient culture, of its fascinating history, and of the possibilities of a revival of Arab fortunes in the modern world.

In Zanzibar Ingrams came into contact with Arabs from southern Arabia, and he learnt from Hadhrami visitors of their strange native land, so close to the activities of the outer world, and yet so remote from them, so prosperous and so poor, so civilized and so savage. The Hadhramaut is indeed a country of contrasts, with its wealthy Seyyids and its impoverished peasants, its handsome towns, country houses and estates, and its turbulent tribes, banditry and blood feuds. Although part of the British Protectorate of Aden, the wide valley of the Hadhramaut had remained isolated by its natural barriers of mountains on the south and desert on the north. Its seclusion remained undisturbed by Europeans, except for the visits of a few adventurous travellers, until exploratory airmen of the Royal Air Force at Aden, taking swift birds-eye views of obstacles that had proved so formidable to those on the ground, flew over this little known country, and were surprised both by its unique aspect and by the warmth of the welcome with which their appearance was received.

Many of the Arabs of the Hadhramaut had for some time emigrated in large numbers to Malaya and Java, and there they had seen the results of internal security and settled government. Never losing their love for their home in Arabia, they came to realize how much belter and happier a place it might be if the curse of tribal and private warfare could be lifted from it. At the same time it became all too apparent to them that there was in their country no local force or institution strong enough to deal with the mischief, and their eyes turned hopefully to the envoys of the Power which had brought peace and prosperity to India, to Malaya andnear at handto Aden.

This was the picture that was portrayed in tempting outline to a man who was already deeply stirred by the pioneering spirit from which the British Empire has grown, and by a belief in the capacity of its representatives to ameliorate the lot of their Eastern fellow subjects. A country calling for help, and above all one that was peopled by Arabs, who, as a race, appealed vividly to his sympathies and his imagination. Here indeed was a task to fire the enthusiasm and determination of a character like Ingrams. It became his ambition to serve in the Hadhramaut and to try his hand at solving its problems.

It was not long before the way was opened. The Colonial Office wishing to establish closer contact with this outlying part of the Aden Protectorate, found in Ingrams an eager explorer of the country, of its needs and of its possibilities. A journey through the length of the Hadhramaut valley, in which Mrs. Ingrams shared with her husband the discomforts and local dangers, resulted in an invaluable report which provided a foundation for the evolution of British policy in the Eastern Aden Protectorate. In due course Ingrams was entrusted with the work of implementing the schemes of pacification and development for which the country called.

In this land of turbulence and blood feuds there were but puny forces to support any form of law and order. Stronger means of keeping the peace had still to be organized. In the meantime there was the power of the Royal Air Force, but this weapon could be used only sparingly and with the greatest restraint in a country where we wished to penetrate as friends, not as enemies. The work or pacification had thus to depend to a supreme degree on persuasion and personal influence, on a judicious blending of firmness and conciliation and above all on sincerity of purpose and a capacity to gain the confidence of a people easily roused to suspicion and hostility.

Ingrams seized on the very real desire for peace, and under his guidance internal warfare was suspended, and a network of inter-tribal truces spread over the land. As Resident Adviser to the Sultans of Mukalla and Seiyun he was able to inaugurate a series of reforms, which, in spite of difficulties and inevitable delays, have set a country long distraught by anarchy on the path of order and progress.

In all his work Ingrams has been encouraged and supported by the indefatigable collaboration and help of his wife. The name of Doreen Ingrams is as widely known as that of her husband, and in this story of life and work in Mauritius, Zanzibar and southern Arabia will be found a vivid description of efforts in which they have shared in the toil and in the success.

A DOCTOR once told me that almost every one of his women patients who had a baby said Never again. But later, he added, they come along and ask me to see them through with the next. That is the stand I take, never again, but I hope that I shall be sufficiently firm to stick to this resolve.