Page 179 - Belgrave Diaries(N)_Neat

177

1927

Tuesday [?]

Spent most of the morning at the fort. It is very well kept & extremely clean. The Shaikh came in the afternoon, first to the
Agency & then here. Went up to the palace in afternoon & then on to tea & Bridge at the Spences. The telegraph boat is
aground near the coast. de G went out to her in a launch.

Tuesday 15th March

The Shaikh came in the afternoon, first to see Barrett & then here, also Sh Abdulla. Tried to get A to take the carpets back
but he made a great fuss so I decided to keep them & to get him something in return - a nuisance, but they are very nice. The
Shaikh complained of his clerk Abdulla Shah, the one who runs his private business under my supervision, evidently someone
had been putting him up to do so. He was in quite good form, intended going to the Palace but dawdled so that it became
too late, rather to my relief. Tea and Bridge at the Spences. The Shaikh, as usual wants money, this time for old Shaikh Isa
whose wife keeps him short of funds. Abdulla & Sh Hamed talked to Barrett about various doings of Daly, of course
everything bad is put down to him nowadays - thats so like Arabs, as soon as a person is going or has gone they begin to run
him down. I do think Daly was a bit too stiff with them, especially with the Shaikh, but he did lots of good here.