Page 652 - Belgrave Diaries(N)_Neat

650

1931

an answer to the one we sent. Jabr bin Msallem came to see me in the office after the meeting and talked about diving, he has
more than sixty boats but this next season he is only sending out 20 or at the most 30 boats, and others in the same proportion.
Goodness knows what is going to happen. At present there is no sign whatever of the market improving. In the afternoon I
went out to Kurzakhan to see about a boundary case. As we passed Aali we saw flags on every house in the town in honour of
Shaikh Khalaf. I took Parke with me, it was very nice out there all green and tall grass and flowers. I have never seen the
country so green as it is this year. Barden, Walker Parke and a man called Bennett, a building contractor from Baghdad who
has come to see about the new Bank, came to dinner and we played Bridge. The builder was quite a decent man though not a
gentleman but very keen on gardening so I had much to talk about as he told me a lot about seasons etc in Basrah. Still got a
heavy cold in the head. Very warm, quite summer weather, Prior is wearing thin suits again.

Thursday [19 March]

Court, very long and very dull, had a case of a married woman carrying on with a neighbour, both admitted it, we sent the man
to jug for six months and he and the lady to be beaten in the sook and they all went round to the Shera and returned in ten
minutes with a divorce paper, the whole case didnt take half an hour. Had a long talk to Shaikh Sulman about Shaikh Khalaf,
we sent Mohamed Khalil out to him with a letter from Prior asking him to come to the Agency at four oclock Arabic tomorrow
which is exactly the time of Friday prayer so that he should not take the prayer out at Berber where he is staying. He is to be
ordered to live in Manama and not to take Friday prayer which is the exclusive right of the official Kadi. Mohamed Khalil
found hundreds of people out there and the road full of people going out and coming in from calling on him. There will
certainly be a lot of trouble about wakfs now that he has come back. Abdu Ali came to see us about it in the morning, he is
very angry about it all. Gardened in the afternoon and then did some work in the office, Prior sailed. Shaikh Abdulla, the
Kadi, came to call in the evening, I just looked in to say salaams to him and then went to bed, he stayed an hour and a half,
Prior seemed surprised at the length of his visit. Heavy cold in the head which is rather a nuisance, very hot day with a south
wind, too hot for this time of year, once the wind shifts it will become cool again. My garden looks really brilliant, simply full
of flowers.

Friday 19th March

Shaikh Khalaf came to call in the morning, on me and on Prior. He looked very well, a tall old man in a long white robe with a
brown abba and a long cane with a silver handle, with which he beats people who annoy him, and a big white turban. He was
very amiable and plausible and made many polite speeches. He brought a letter to the Political Agent to introduce Shaikh
Khalaf, as if he needed any introduction in Bahrain. He stayed a long time, several of his supporters were with him and sat in a
row taking no part in the conversation. He mentioned many times that he had been Kadi for thirty years in Bahrain. He is a
clever old man and talks very convincingly. He promised to go away within three months and agreed to live in Manama and
said if it was wished that he should not take Friday prayer he would not do so. The whole business is very comic. Went to the
Bank for Bridge and in the afternoon there was tennis here. Had one good set and one very bad one. The Jordans were here
and at the Bank, she looking very well and quite smart with a great deal of colour, some her own some not. D.G. seemed very
sulky probably because the Js are back again. Used the drawing room, the floor looks very nice. Very hot day, had the fan on
at dinner time.