Page 122 - Gulf Precis (VII)_Neat

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Between the years A. D. 1740 and 1750 further changes took place in the
location of tho Chaah involving to a cortain extent their political dependency.
Hitherto the Sheikh had resided in the town of Guban situated on the loft
hank of tho eastern branch of the Karoon, and the chief st rength of tho tribo
was concentrated in that vicinity, but about the year 1745 tho eourso of tho
Cuban river heeaino obstructed. The
Crow Into tlic Fenian Territory.
Karoon poured its wators through tho
Bamishoor and ITatTar channels, and the lands along the old or eastern bed of
tho river were thrown almost entirely out of cultivation. It thus becamo
neeossary for the tribe to seek new' habitations and while detached parties,
accordingly, settlod along tho llaffar and'on tho borders of the Slmt-el-Arab
employed as Fellahs by the Turkish proprietors of the lands, tho main body
of the Chaah, under their famous leader Sheikh Salman, crossed over from
the Guban to the Jorrahi river dispossessed the Afshars of the town of Doorak
and its dependont territory, and obtained a permanent footing in a couutry to
which the right of Persia was unquestioned.
The political condition of the Onaab now underwent a rapid and remark­
able change. They had always enjoyed
Condition of tlio tribo under Sheikh Salmon.
an element of strength in their common
attachment to tho person of their hereditary chief, and as they had also
during their residence in Guban increased greatly in numbers, it only required
that the 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 the condition of unknown buffalo feeders, into some thing
like a real substantive power. Sheikh Salman was admirably fitted to tho
purpose; endowed with every quality becoming his high station he availed
himself to the utmost of the attachment of his followers, both to aggrandize
himsolf and to promote their prosperity, and after a long life and an exposure
to many vicissitudes, he may bo said to have ultimately succeeded in procuring
for his tribo the virtual enjoyment of
Virtually independent.
independence. It was one of his earliest
careB, after consolidating tho power of the Chimb upon the Jerralii, to re-establish
his ancestral capital of Guban, and for this purposo be threw a dam across
the Karoon at the point of its bifurcation, and thus forcing a part of the 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. Hia
acquisitions from Persia, extended to the Hindian river and northward along
the Karoon to the vicinity of Bandlikir, while from the Governments of
Baghdad and Bussorah, partly by intimidation and partly by bribery, be
obtained for his tribe possession of the islaud of Abadan of the territory of
Dowasir on the right bank of the Shat-cl-Arab, and also of a tract of country
of north of the Halfar canal and along tho course of the Shat-ol-Arab, compri­
sing the districts of Mohammerah, Hafi'ar and Tamar.
It is not to he supposed that this creation of a formidable and almost
independent power on the shores of the
Penis and Turkey fail in attempt* to reduce them.
Persian Gulf was viewed with indiffer­
ence by either Persia or Turkey. Various attempts wero 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 lie only so far succeeded as temporarily to
overrun the country. He never received homage from Sheikh Salman and
after his withdrawal, the Chaah resumed possession of their lands entirely
regardless of his 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 tlie Chaab ; but she was obliged in order
to preserve tho independence of Bussorah, to attempt the recovery from her
rebellious subjects, of the districts which they had seized on the right bank
of the Shat-ol-Arab. An action took place, accordingly, in the latter end of the
year 1765 between the Chaab and Turkish fleets olf 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