CONFIDENTIAL. No.5121/40/58. H.B.M'S CONSULATE GENERAL, MUSCAT. April 19, 1958. Please refer to Cheuncy's telegram No.236 of April 17th about my work on Muscat-Trucial States frontiers. Shaikh SAKHR and I started work on the Buraimi UMM AZ ZAMNL area mentioned in paragraph 4 of my letter 5121/27/58 of March 23 on March 29, two days later than had been planned as Shaikh SAKHR's arrival in Buraimi was delayed by a motor accident. We both went with the Muscati tribes guides southwards through Buraimi, the JAU plain, and JABAL HAFIT to the Sands, where the Shaikh left me , returning to muscat with a copy of my programme for the Sultan. I continued southwards with AL BU SHAMIS guides to the western end of the WADI SAFAH (marked on Thesiger's map some 60 miles south of Buraimi) where the AL BU SHAMIS HARAM meets that of the southern BANI QITAB. Shaikh Mohammed bin Salimin told me that the BENI QITAB were ZAID's neighbours as far as TAWI AWAIYA (also marked on Thesigers map) and that from AWAIYA south to UMM AZ ZAMUL the DURU bordered on ABU DHABI territory. As the Sultan has asked me to avoid the BANI QITAB, and had make no arrangements with the DURU, I then took ZAID's men and followed their claims as far south as the WADI SAFAH. ZAID wanted me to continue to UMM AZ ZAMUL, but there was no time to do this before I returned to Muscat to see the Sultan who was due to leave for SALALAH on April 17. There was also no time to collect evidence, though even had there been, the collection would have been handicapped by Ramadhan. Despite this, the results of my investigations in this 115 mile frontier sector have so far een encouraging. The district between the Buraimi Oasis and the mouth of the WADI JIZZI is, admittedly, more widely disputed than I expected, and I suspect that Zaid's tribesmen have claimed a larger area than Zaid, Leit to himself, would have done. On the other hand there is a considerable amount of agreement between the NAIM of HAFIT and the AL BU SHAMIS on the one hand, and ZAID on the other. In one area the claims by the opposing parties (Zaid and Hafit) have been so modest as to leave an unclaimed area some five miles long and one mile wide between them. On the evening of March 16th Chauncy and I reported progress to the Sultan, who while worried about the Buraimi-Wadi JIZZI area, appeared to be fairly happy about the rest. He has agreed that I should next 80 with 2AID'S men along the Abu Dhabi Irontier between the WADI SAFAH and UMM AZ ZAMUL and that I should then collect evidence in the Buraimi area. He has accepted the idea that I and my party on the UMM AZ ZAMUL trek should be allowed to go further east than previously permitted in search of good tracks, so long as we only pass through and avoid the towns. However hec has indicated that I should not yet tour with DURU or BANI QITAB GUIDES 5. The Sultan has agreed that when I have returned from Buraimi Shaikh SAKHR and I should visit the WADI MADHA. After some hesitation, on being told that I would avoid making any trouble and that he would not be responsible for my personal safety, he has also consented to my visiting the SHIHUF area and will arrange that SAYID AHMED bin IBRAHIM will write letters of introduction to the necessary /SHIHUH A.T. Lamb, Esq., M.B.E., D.F.C., British Residency, Bahrain.
