Page 792 - Belgrave Diaries(N)_Neat

great fury, he is rather a villainous looking old man, very sallow & wrinkled with a red dyed beard that gives him a
slightly diabolical appearance, his morals are shocking and Abdel Latif is well known to act as a go between for his
innumerable affairs, but all the same I have always liked the old man & he is very loyal to the Shaikh. He argued for
hours & tried to make out that the things were put into the house to get him into trouble. We arrested another of his
servants who was caught entering the house. We let Abdel Latif out on bail as Sulman & I don't want to take action
without being sure the Shaikh will back us up and if Lady Ayesha tries to work him she may succeed. It is quite a
"society sensation" in Bahrain & the whole town is buzzing with talk about the affair. After lunch Shaikh Ahmed bin
Jabr, Shaikh of Kuwait, came to call. He arrived, as usual, alone, in a car. Unlike our Shaikh he never brings a string of
relations round with him, which is I think more dignified. He stayed a long time and talked hard & was most
interesting. We talked about oil politics and he got very angry about the concession given by Ibn Saoud over Hassa as
it includes a debatable area near Kuwait which is claimed by Ibn Saoud and Shaikh Ahmed. He spoke of going to
England next summer, I asked what he thought of Sh Sulman going home but he showed no enthusiasm. Picniced &
bathed at Ain Hakem, it was awfully nice out there & we stayed till dark, James had a fine time in the sea. The Shaikh
of Kuwait is an interesting person, he is much younger than Shaikh Hamed and a fine looking man but, like all Arabs,
very conceited. He delights in knowing all about European customs and lives as much as possible in European way,
eating English food etc etc. He is I am sure jealous of the importance of Bahrain in comparison to Kuwait and he takes
every opportunity to show up what a "jungly" person Sh Hamed is & what little he knows of English things, still he is
interesting & amusing.

Sunday 25th [June]

Court, took case of Abdel Latif. Sh Rashid appeared in court, which was most unwise and unsuitable and after we
heard the evidence he came in & argued in favour of his servant. It was very difficult. Showed him a letter from the
Shaikh saying we should deal with him as with other cases of the same sort. Ayesha sent messages about the other
servant asking me to release him which I refused. Motored in afternoon & then played Bridge at de Greniers.

Monday 26th [June]

Kit Inspection of the Police. No Court. Spent a long time at Police Offices taking down evidence of one of the four
men who murdered a girl in Muharraq some time ago, he gave us all particulars but said he did not do it himself. The
other three are on mainland, he is very ill & so came back to Bahrain. Ayesha sent the children & their ayah here &
told them not to come home till I released the servant boy - a typical Arab method - I didnt. M went to a show at the
Mission girls' school. Sulman came to see me here & we discussed the case. Bridge at the Skinners. Mrs Skinner is
going home, by air, on the next machine.

Tuesday 27th [June]