Page 12 - PERSIAN 4 1899_1905

4 ADMINISTRATION REPORT ON TOR PERSIAN GULP POLITICAL
subsidy for tho previous month was paid by Captain Cox, in consequence of
His Highness’s improved relations with tho British authorities, and the difficul­
ties which ho was experiencing for want of ready money to moot urgent calls
upon him. I visited Maskat in December, and was able to recommend tho
prospective renewal of tho subsidy which has boen in consequence sanctioned
by the Government of India. There have been constant negotiations going on
between Her Majesty’s Government and that of the French Republic with tlio
object of deciding a sito for a French coal-shed in Maskat harbour. This
point is stiU unsettled.
Tho question of the right of certain Maskat dhows to fly tho French flag
has also formed the subject of much enquiry and discussion of late. No
deflnite arrangement has, however, yet been arrived at, and it is not unlikely
that the flag of tho French Republic is used to protect those engaged in the
slave trade, as well as in the traffic in arms. There has been a considerable
importation of arms into Maskat duriDg the past year, and there is reason for
thinking that they are imported thence to Bunder Abbas and other places in
Persia as well as to Koweit and various other ports on the Arab side of the
Gulf. It baa not, up to the present, been found possible to entirely put an end
to this traffic, but the measures taken two years ago have undoubtedly reduced
it to a very great extent.
Maskat and the neighbouring districts have suffered greatly from the
ravages of cholera, and there has also been some plague, the first reported cases
of which occurred in April 1399. They were imported, and the disease at that
time could gain no foothold in the place. Recently, however, it has re­
appeared, and it looks as if it would establish itself on the Oman Coast. Every
effort has been made by the British authorities to assist the Sultan in dealing
with this important matter, and it is to be hoped that the efforts being made
will prove successful. Cholera appears to have been brought to Maskat from
Gwadur, where it was virulent in July and the beginning of August. There is
considerable trade between the two places, and it was not likely that Maskat
would eventually escape, though at first it did so. Unlike plague, an outbreak
of cholera is, as a rule, sudden and spreads with rapidity from the first, and
reports show that the epidemic in Maskat, Mutrah, and the surrounding
districts in the interior, was, from the first, a severe one. About 500 deaths
are reported to have occurred at Maskat and Mutrah, and it is said that some
thousands have perished in the interior. The exact number will, of course,
never he known.
8.—OMAN—PIRATE COAST.
I was able to visit this portion of my political charge during the winter,
and, after interviewing Sheikh Ahmed bin Tbani, a brother of the notorious
Sheikh Jasim, at El-Wakra, a town close to El-Obeyd, the Turkish bead-
quarters on the El-Hasa peninsula, I went to Shargah and subsequently met
the Chiefs of Shargah, Debay, Ras-el-Khyma, and Um-el-Kowain.
I did not see the Chief of Abu Tbabi as he was ill at the time, but met
his sons, and Wazir, or Secretary, with whom I discussed various pending
cases in which Abu Tbabi is concerned.
The most important question pending at present on the Arab Coast is con­
nected with the expulsion of the Persians from Lingah by Sheikh Muhammad,
which was mentioned in last year’s report, and the subsequent re-capture of
the place by the Darya Bogi. Sheikh Muhammad, and his principal adviser,
Saiyid Yusuf, effected their escape and took refuge with their Jowasimi kins­
men. The Persian Government declare that a fresh descent on Lingah is
contemplated by these Arabs, and they have asked us to arrange for the
surrender of Sheikh Muhammad and his followers. There is nothing to show
that any such intentions exist at present, but . the Jowasimi Arab Sheikbs
complain that, after the re-capture of Lingah, much property of theirs, which
had nothing to do with Sheikh Muhammad, was confiscated by the Darya BegL
The matter is 6till under consideration.
A curious case has arisen on this Coast in consequence of the discovery of
a pearl of great value in one of the pearl banks near Kumzar. It appears that
it was sold by the finders for much less than it realized subsequently, and