Page 237 - Belgrave Diaries(N)_Neat

235

1927

Busy morning, Court & a lot of work. The Sheikh came in for a few minutes. Motored with Parke after tea, he is very
opinionated.

Tuesday [14 June]

Went over to Muharraq in the afternoon with Alban in his launch. Landed at the School. All very gaily decorated & a big
crowd of people, all the Shaikhs & notables inside in the hall, ourselves & the Shaikh at one end. The usual programme,
speeches in English, singing, & recitations in Arabic. The Shaikh appeared extremely bored especially as it was very hot &
many flies. In my opinion there was far too much English about the show, especially as very badly pronounced. It lasted
about two hours. Afterwards drove out to Ali bin Seggar's garden & drank coffee with him & several others including one of
the three new Kadis, a handsome old man with a square white beard, then motored out to the house of one of the biggest
pearl boat owners, Jabr b Msallem where we again drank coffee, served by some of his negro divers, he's a rough plain
spoken man who began as a diver, now become a very rich merchant, owner of a big house at Hedd, then by car back to
Muharraq & walked down to Yusuf Fakroo's house where we had dinner. 50 people but a poor meal, meat tough &
undercooked, & not for cause of the guests being late because we had to wait 4 hour till it was served. Dinner served
indoors in a long Meglis, quite a handsome room, overlooking the sea, with carved shades on the windows. The servants