Page 360 - Gulf Precis (VI)_Neat

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Between the yoars A. D. 1740 and 1750 further changes took place in the
location of the Chaab involving to a cortain extent their political dependency.
Hitherto the Sheikh had resided in the town of Guban situated on the left
bank of tho eastern branch of the ICaroon, and the chief strength of the tribe
was concentrated in that vicinity, but about the year 1745 tho courao of tho
Guban river became obstructed. Tho
Cron into tho Tori'ian territory.
ICaroon poured its waters through tho
Bamishoer and Haffar channels, and the lands along the old or eastern bed of
the river were thrown almost entirely out of cultivation. It thus became
necessary for the tribo to seek new habitations and while detached parties,
accordingly, settled along the Haffar and on tho borders of the Shat-el-Arab
employed as Fellahs by tho Turkish proprietors of the lands, the main body
of tho Chaab, under their famous leader Sheikh Salman, crossed over from
the Guban to tho Jerrahi river, dispossessed the Afshars of the town of Doorak
and its dependent territory, and obtained a permanent footing in a country to
which tho right of Persia was unquestioned.
Tho political condition of tho Chaab now underwent a rapid and remark­
able change. They had always enjoyed
Condition of the tribe under Sbcikb Salmon.
an element of strength in their common
attachment to tho person of their hereditary chief, and as they had also
during tlioir residence in Guban increased greatly in numbers, it only required
that tho individual at their head should be possessed of skill and vigor,
sufficient to profit by the direction of their combined energies, to ensuro their
elevation from tho condition of unknown buffalo feeders, into something
like a real substantive power. Sheikh Salman was admirably fitted to tho
purpose; endowed with every quality becoming his high station ho availed
himself to the utmost of the attachment of his followers, both to aggrandize
himself and to promote their prosperity, and after a long life aud an exposure
to many vicissitudes, he may be said to'have ultimately succeeded in procuring
for his tribe the virtual enjoyment of
Virtually independent.
independence. It was one of his earliest
cares, after consolidating tho power of the Chaab upon the Jerrahi, to re-establish
his ancostral capital of Guban, and for this purposo ho threw' a dam across
the Karoon at the point of its bifurcation, and thus forcing a part of tho waters
into the old channel, restored fertility to the deserted lands at the same time
he pursued on all sides a systematic course of territorial encroachment. His
acquisitions from Persia, extended to the Hindian river and northward along
the Karoon to the vicinity of Bandlikir, while from tho Governments of
Baghdad and Bussorah, partly by intimidation and partly by bribery, he
obtained for his tribe possession of the island of Abadan of the territory of
Dowasir on the right bank of the Shat-el-Arab, and also of a tract of country
of north of the Haffar canal and along tho course of tho Shat-el-Arab, compris­
ing tho districts of Mohammerah, Haffar and Tamar.

It is not to be supposed that this creation of a formidable and almost
independent power on the shores of the
Perils and Turkey fall in attempts to reduce them.
Persian Gulf was viewed with indiffer­
ence by either Persia or Turkey. Various attempts were made by either
Government to reduce Sheikh Salman to obedience; but as their mutual
jealousies prevented them from acting in concert, their success was of a very
partial nature. Kerim Khan in A. D. 1767 failed entirely in an attempt to
penetrate to Guban, and in 1765 he only so far succeeded as temporarily to
overrun the country. Ho never received homage from Sheikh Salman and
after his withdrawal, the Chaab resumed possession of their lands entirely
regardless of bis authority. Turkey, on the other hand, during the plenitude of
Sheikh Salman's power, would have been glad without a contest to have
waived her claim to supremacy over the Chaab ; hut she was obliged in order
to preserve tho independence of Bussorah, to attempt the recovery from her
rebellious subjects, of tho districts which they had seized on the righthank
of the Shat-ol-Arab. An action took place, accordingly, in the latter end of tho
year 1766 between the Chaab and Turkish fleets off tho mouth of the Haffar
canal. Fortune again favored Sheikh Salman and although the hostilities
on this occasion had in their origin an exclusive reference to the attempted