Page 321 - Records of Bahrain (3) (i)_Neat

British influence awl foreign interests, 1904-1906 311

navigation is much harassed by pirates, with whom it
is difficult to deal as the local authorities are
inefficient and the Turkish Government objects to any

action by ourselves in what they claim to be Turkish
waters.
Our relations with Bahrein are governed by
the treaties of 1861 and 1092. Under the former, the
Sheikh agreed to abstairx ,from all acts of maritime
aggression, sc long as he received British support,
and to report all such actions committed against him­
self or his subjects to the British Resident in the
Persian Gulf, who would act as arbitrator in disputes
and take measures to exact reparation i?i cases where

Bahrein could be proved to be the injured party.
The treaty of 1892 provides that the Sheikh
shall receive no representative from, nor hold any
communication or enter into any agreement with, any
Foreign Power; and that he is not to cede, lease, dec,
any territory except to the British Govenvnent. This
latter treaty, which was signed by the present Sheikh

Isa, contains no specific promise of protection or
good offices.
In 1894 we intervened actively on behalf of
Bahrein against the Turks and forcibly dispersed a
band of Bahreinese malconteyits who had settled, wider
the Turkish flag, at Zobata on the El Katr coast.
Again, in the case of the murder in 1900 of Shaikh
Isa's cousin by Behaih tribesmen near JCatif in Turkish

territory, we restrained the Sheikh from taking the
matter into his own hands and making reprisals on the
mainland, and have repeatedly urged upon the Turks,
though not very successfully, the necessity of making
reparation.
In connection with the Zobara episode the
Porte was informed in 1895 that His Majesty's Govern-

ment