Page 494 - PERSIAN 2B 1883_1890_Neat

26 ADMINISTRATION REPORT OP THR PKR8IAN GULP POLITICAL

letter seomi to have been looked on as affording proof 0/ this. Tho immunities in favour of
Arab trade with India that hod been granted to Seyyid Sultan wero accordingly auspendod for
a timo, and Captain John Malcolm, who had been selected to conduct a Mission to Persia, was
instructed to call at Muscat on his way thither, for the purpose of renewing tho Anglo-'Oman
alliance, and concluding a second treaty confirming tho provisions of tho ono of 1708.
Captain Malcolm sailed from Bombay in the Bombay frigate, commanded by Captain
Selby, and arrived at Muscat on the 8th January 1800.
Besides tho staff attached to the Mission to Persia, Captain Malcolm brought with him
I; Assistant Surgeon Bogle, of tho Bombay establishment, who, In compliance with tho request,
made by Seyvid Sultan to Mirza Mehdi Ali, had been appointed to act as Resident on behalf
of the East India Company at Muscat. On anchoring in the harbour, the Bombay was
visited by the Governor of the town, Saif-bin-Muhammad, who came to call on Captain
Malcolm, and stated that Seyyid Sultan was absent at the time on an expedition against the
Uttoobees, and that his return was uncertain. Captain Malcolm returned the Governor’s
visit the following day, and then, having landed T>r. Bogle and installed him in his appoint­
ment, 6et sail for Hormuz in search of Seyyid Sultan.
On the 18tb January, Captain Malcolm sighted and boarded the Gunjava off the island
of Henjam, nnd having produced his credentials and delivered his presents, proceeded at once
to explaiu the purport of his mission. He told Scyyid Sultan how much the Indian Govern­
ment regretted he had leagued himself with the French, and hoped he would see that it was
his best policy to ally himself with the English, pointing out that, as all the ports of India
from Surat to Calcutta were in the hands of the English, Muscat could, without difficulty, be
excluded from all participation in the Indian trade if the British Government were so disposed.
1 Seyyid Sultan did not take long to decide. Placing his hand upon bis breast, he said he
desired nothing better than to cement an alliance with the English to the exclusion of their
enemies, and be offered to sign then and there the treaty that Captain Malcolm had been
empowered to conclude. The treaty thus entered into hears in fact the same date and con­
sists of only two articles, one confirming the engagement of 1798, and the second providing
for the residence of a Political Agent.
It was in this year, 1800, that the warlike tribes of Nejd in Central Arabia were first
seen in ’Oman.
These tribes, impelled by the fanaticism engendered by the doctrines of a religious
reformer, Shaikh Abdul Wahhab, after whom they are now called Wahhabees, had already
overrun and conquered nearly the whole of the rest of the Peninsula, and the Amir Abdal
Aziz, eager to expurgate the heresy of Ibadheeisra from the land of ’Oman, was now pre­
paring to turn his arms eastward aod spread his views of the true religion by the sword.
After taking El Hasa and Katif his troops crossed the Sabkhah marsh and pushed on to
El Bereymi, subduing or scattering the Bedouin tribes on the way. The leader of this
expedition, which consisted of a large camel force and seven hundred cavalry, was El Harik,
a bold and skilful Geueral, who immediately began the erection of a.fort there, to serve as a
basis for his operations and campaigns against the inhabitants of El Dbahireh and of the rich
valleys and lowlands of the Batineh. This invasion of their country by the dreaded Wahhabees
created intense excitement throughout all ’Oman, and Seyyid Sultan, with his usual energy and
spirit, lost no time in assembling the tribes and moving up to oppose their advance. Having
allied himself with Shaikh Saki the Kasirai, he marched through the Wady Jezze as far as
El Bereymi, but'in the contest that’ensued with the enemy the ’Omanis appear to have been
worsted, and Seyyid Sultan, finding he could not expel the intruders from El Jow, made •
truce with El Harik and retired to Sohar, where he dismissed his troops.
In 1801 the island of El Bahrein, which has ever been on account of its rich pearl fishery
the chief bone of contention .for the .peoples round the shores of the Persian.Gulf, was again the
object of Seyyid Sultan's ambition, and was invaded, and this, time successfully, by a grand
naval expedition from Muscat, the Uttoobees being driven out, and the island occupied by the
’Omani troops. -Saif bin-Ali, who had already done good service on’the Mekran Coast, waft
appointed Governor and Commandant. An attempt was then made by Seyyid -Saltan to
capture the town of Kowait, where the Uttoobees bad taken refuge, and homage was demanded
from the Shaikh, but the enterprise wae a failure. Nor did El Bahrain remain long in the
possession of Muscat; a few months later it was retaken from Seyyid Salim bin Sultan, then
a boy of twelve, who had replaced Saif bin Ali as Governor, by the Uttoobees, who succeeded
in surprising the garrison.
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