Page 276 - Belgrave Diaries(N)_Neat

274

1927

Muharrak to see Sh Abdulla about the ground for the oil store. Afterwards drove out to Idari for a bathe before dinner. Its
wonderful that Kerr is able to dive & to swim with one leg.

Wednesday [17 August]

Kerr & I went out to Idari before breakfast & he left later by the mail boat. Went up to see the Shaikh in the morning. A
fellow from Medina, a sort of glorified dragoman who conducts parties on the Pilgrimage, arrived by the boat & planted
himself on the Shaikh & brought him a present of a very old very poor horse - from Baluchistan. The Shaikh said the saddle is
worth more than the animal & he doesn't want it. It was palmed off on the giver by one of the petty Baluchi chiefs & has
probably been refused by most of the chiefs up the gulf.

Tennis at Mespers in the afternoon, met Pack & his brother in law. Dined with the Shaikh, A.R. Kosaibi, Pack & his relation,
& some Negdis from Dohar were there. A poor dinner, the Shaikh gives the worst dinner in the place, food, in huge
unappetising quantities, thrown at one. This is how it happens. One arrives & is shown up onto the roof lit by a powerful lamp
on the top of the dome. Carpets, & a row of chairs, always in a long line - so that one only talks to ones immediate neighbour.
One sits half an hour & drinks one round of coffee, three cups. Servants arrive & spread a big round date leaf mat on the
ground. One servant brings a dish of dates which he throws over the mat in handfulls all round the edges. Then there arrive