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his attention as there were so many distractions. In the summer we sat a name which he had not met before. When the child developed a fever,
in the shade of the house on a bench covered with rugs. Shaikh Mamed which did not respond to any treatment, the Shaikh was very sympa
always kept a pair of binoculars close to him and it my conversation thetic. He knew how anxious we were and one morning, when he came
was more than usually dull, discussing perhaps budget estimates, he to the office, he said to me, ‘l know what I would do to cure your son
would pick up his glasses and scan the horizon or send for a servant and if he was mine, but I don’t think his mother would like it.’ I asked what
give him long instructions about a camel or a horse. This was disconcert he recommended. ‘The boy should be branded with a hot iron, by some
ing at first. But I found that if I stopped speaking lie would smile at me body who knows how to do it,’ said the Shaikh. This was a ‘cure’ which
and then continue to discuss the subject. the Arabs used for various ailments and I believe in some cases it was
Often, without warning, the Shaikh would arrive at the office before effective as a counter-irritant. I suppose I looked rather horrified. ‘No,
breakfast on his way to Muharraq, or he would come to the house in the Your Highness, I don’t think his mother would like the idea,’ I replied.
afternoon, when the office was shut, and sit on a sofa in the drawing ‘Then,’ he said, ‘I will come and see him and I will say some prayers over
room, talking business or chatting. He was very informal, but he pos him.’
sessed great natural dignity. He was kind and considerate and took a great That evening the Shaikh came to the house. He went to the nursery,
interest in our personal affairs. where the boy was sleeping, and we left them alone. When he came out
In April 1929 my son was bom in the house. Marjorie was looked the Shaikh said, ‘He will get better now, Inshallah.’ After a few days,
after by a woman doctor from the American Mission. We had procured sure enough, the baby began to recover. The story reached the cars of
a British monthly nurse from Calcutta, but a few days after she arrived the American missionaries, and I heard that some of them expressed
she developed dysentery so she was out of action; a young Indian nurse strong disapproval at our allowing Moslem prayers to be recited over our
from the Mission took her place. Conditions were still primitive; we had son!
neither electric light nor running water. It was all very difficult. Three There are no Europeans in Bahrain now who remember what the
weeks later Marjorie took the baby, who had not been well, home to place was like thirty years ago. One of the greatest drawbacks was the
England, travelling by British India boat to Bombay and from there by lack of adequate medical services for dealing with European patients,
P. & O., without a nurse or an ayah. I did not realize what an undertaking especially women. There was usually at least one good American doctor
this was, nor, at the time, did she. They arrived safely and in the following in the Mission, but there was no suitable accommodation for European
winter she brought the baby back to Bahrain. patients in the Mission hospital, and very often the doctor would be away
On the day that the boy was bom I sent a message to the Shaikh to visiting Saudi Arabia. Today the Government has large up-to-date
announce his arrival. A few hours later, hearing a commotion in the hospitals for men and for women where Europeans, as well as the people
compound, I went down and found' one of the Shaikh’s lorries unloading of Bahrain, are looked after. They are staffed with British and Indian
six large fat sheep. With them was a letter of good wishes and a sword doctors and surgeons and nursing sisters. At Awali the Bahrain Petroleum
in a golden scabbard for the boy. Some more sheep and another sword Company has excellent hospitals for Arabs and for Europeans. Altogether
arrived later, from the Shaikh’s brother. We killed the sheep and accord the medical and hospital facilities in Bahrain are now superior to those
ing to custom distributed the meat among our friends and neighbours. It in many European countries.
so happened that a new Political Agent, Geoffrey Prior, arrived on that Sometimes, in the cold weather, the Shaikh invited us to join him
day so I sent him a large leg of mutton. He was very puzzled and, until when he was out with his hawks. Falconry in Bahrain, as in England in
he heard the explanation, he assumed that it was an old Bahrain custom the olden days, was an aristocratic sport indulged in only by the Ruling
to greet His Majesty’s Representative with a gift of meat. Family. It is an expensive hobby owing to the high price of hawks and
The Shaikh took a great interest in our son, who was the first English the cost of meat on which the birds are fed. They are snared in the Persian
boy to be bom in Bahrain. He was very pleased when we asked him mountains and brought by Arabs for sale in Bahrain. An outstandingly
if we could call him Hamed as one of his names. But when he was fine bird would fetch as much as £50 or £fio. When a consignment of
christened in England, the parson was rather dubious about our choosing hawks arrived they were often brought from the boat to my office, when
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