In February 1937, a peace between the Hadramawtsultanates, the Qu[ain]aytī and Kathīrī and theirtribes, totally unprecedented in the history of thatregion, was brought about essentially by the effortsof two men: Sayyid Sir Abū Bakr al-Kāf and HaroldIngrams, the first political officer in Hadramawt.This peace was known universally thereafter as“Ingrams Peace”, although the word “truce” is muchin evidence in the contemporary documents studiedbelow.

The prime object of this article is to examine in somedetail some of the contemporary British documentsdirectly or indirectly relevant to the phenomenon(for such it undoubtedly was!) of the late1930s–early 1940s called “Ingrams Peace”. It isquite unashamedly a view of events through Britisheyes, through the eyes of the key players in thedrama. They are allowed as far as is possible tospeak for themselves. Let us first introduce thecharacters involved and set the scene.

Demand for scents, spices and comparable products fromIndia and further east was a major incentive for thenaval expeditions which led, after 1497 AD, to thecreation of European empires in the Orient. Therewas the same demand in the ancient Mediterranean andMiddle East, to which these goods travelled throughthe Red Sea or the Persian Gulf. People in Egypt andBabylonia in the classical period were bothmiddlemen and consumers, and this paper drawsattention to the existence of a few alabaster jarsthat reflect the trade. They are mainly in theDepartment of the Ancient Near East at the BritishMuseum (previously called the Department of WesternAsiatic Antiquities), and are inscribed inBabylonian or Greek with the names of scents orspices. While these inscriptions are unusual,perhaps many more jars were once inscribed in inkwhich is no longer visible.

Providing convincing explanations for objects that areunique to Dvaravati is particularly challenginggiven that our knowledge of the polity is sketchy tosay the least. One particularly fascinating group ofsuch objects comprises a number of stelae depictingthe Buddha apparently standing on the head of somebeast or “monster”. The central Buddha figure isusually flanked by two gods, probably Indra andBrahma, or two bodhisattvas, orjust two attendants. The “monster” has beeninterpreted as some combination of the vehicles ofVisnu (Garuda), Siva (bull) and/or Brahma (hamsa orgoose), or as Garuda, or Surya, the Sun God. Thereare no Indian prototypes for these objects, whichare found only in the Dvaravati sculpturalstyle.

The Jesuit Guy Tachard (1648–1712) first came to Siamwith the Chaumont-Choisy embassy of 1685 as one ofsix Jesuits destined for missionary work in China.The group was headed by Fr de Fontaney (1643–1710).The decision of the Abbé de Choisy (1644–1724), whoheld the post of coadjutant ambassador, to withdrawfrom the diplomatic scene and effect a retreat priorto his ordination as a priest in Lopburi on 10December 1685 enabled Tachard to replace him asinterpreter of Phaulkon (c.1647–1688), theinfluential Levantine adventurer then holding thefunctions, though not the title, of minister oftrade and foreign affairs (phrakhlang) for King Narai (r.1656–1688).Tachard was then charged with secret negotiationswith the court of Louis XIV, most particularly withFr de La Chaize, the king's Jesuit confessor, andthe Marquis de Seignelay, the secretary of state forthe navy, to negotiate the lease of a port and thedispatch of persons of rank to occupy key posts inthe Siamese kingdom. In Paris, he lost no time inpublishing his account of the first French embassyto Siam, padding it with unacknowledged extractsfrom one of the other Jesuits in his party, Fr deBouvet.