Page 493 - PERSIAN 4 1899_1905

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RESIDENCY AND MASKAT POLITICAL AGENCY FOR THE YEAR 1003-1004.
question of tho French Flag in Oman to arbitration by tho Hague Tribunal.
Oil receiving this satisfactory news, Uis Highness tho Sultan was pleased, on
the advico of tho Government of India, to release all five delinquents from
confinement after a month’s incarceration. The reference to tho Hague Con­
vention is an eminently satisfactory arrangement, and it is confidently hoped
by It is Highness that this ditficult question will be, within a measurable time,
definitely adjusted.
In July an Indian of the name of Lai Khan Ali Khan, in the employ of Law*
a clerk in the office of the British Indian Agents at Maskat, murdered his wife
in a most bloodthirsty manner during a fit of jealousy, and then made a
murderous attack on her supposed paramour, finally attempting to take his
own life with the same knife as lie had used upon his victims. The murderer’s
windpipe was completely severed, and his condition very serious, but he
recovered under the skilful treatment of tho Agency Surgeon, and after
examination ia His Majesty’s Consular Court was committed for trial to the
Sessions of the High Court in Bombay. The Jury found him guilty of murder
and attempted suicide, and he was sentenced to transportation for life.
The new buildings under erection on the site adjoining tho Consulate in- Building
tended for the Agency Surgeon’s residence and quarters for the staff of the °P°ratlons-
Consulate and Telegraph Department were to have boon finished by the end of
the financial year. Owing, however, to the difficulty experienced in importing
masons and coolie labour from Karachi as the result of stringent emigration
regulations in force there, it was found necessary to extend the .period of the
contract, and a good deal of work still remains to be done.
Improvements have been carried out at the coal depot, including the Makuilab cove.
reclamation of a piece of the foreshore from the sea in order to replace the
loss of storage space resulting to us from the presentation of a moiety of the
original space to the French Government for storage of their coal. A stone
jetty has also been thrown out from tho sea wall which it is Loped will expedite
coaling operations by saving coolies fatigue of wading.
Tl’.e wreck of the S.S. Amiral Gucydon. In May Lost a large French Marino,
liner, tho Au.iral Gucydon, bound from Havre to the far east with passen­
gers and cargo, caught fire when in the neighbourhood of Socotra owing
to an explosion in her fore hatch, and her Commander decided that the only
chance of saving the lives of his passengers and crew was to turn the ships
head to leeward .and run her ashore on the coast of Southern Arabia. This he
was successful in doing, and he could hardly have chosen a better spot than
that chanced upon, namely, the soft sandy strand under the Ice of Has Hasek
near Dhofar in the Sultan’s territory. fihe Monsoon having by this time com-
menced, communication by native craft with Maskat or elsewhere was impos­
sible owing to the heavy sea running, and a messenger sent overland never
arrived, so there the unfortunate mariners had to remain until the season
opened again. For four mouths the ship’s company and passengers consisting
of 350 men, one lady and two children were encamped on the strand alongside
of the smouldering ship in rough tents made of awnings, etc., and provisionin'*
themselves from the ship’s stores. During that time ’ they appear (from the
account given to the press by the Commander) to have been treated with
surprising humanity by the wild Gara and Mahri tribesmen who inhabit that
inhospitable coast. After they had been there a short time the news of their
shipwreck reached the Sultan’s Governor at Dhofar, and he at once joined
them in person and gave them the protection of his presence until the monsoon
sea subsided, and it was possible for him to biro dhows to take the party to
Maskat. In duo course, on 12th September, he procured three dhows and the
whole of the shipwrecked persons after storing a large quantity of provision*
in the dhows loft in them for Maskat escorted by some representatives of the
Wali. On the voyage thither, they were encountered by the Russian mer­
chantman Trouoer homeward bound, taken on board, and safely landed at A^n
a few days later. It is interesting to note that the Amirll oZydU
was

been still smouldering, seven months after she caught fire!