Page 125 - Gulf Precis (VII)_Neat

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entrusted the dcfonco of the post to his confidential servant, Mccrdow. It was
a place of no consequence at first, but under the rule of Ilajcc Jaaber, the son
of Moordow, its favourable situation attracted commerce, and it rapidly rose
into eminence as the mercantile town of Mohammerah.
Sheikh Tkamir, the youugcr brother and successor of Sheikh Ghais, has
cultivated during the last 30 years a more
Phfikl) Thamir alouo ahowii a di.poiitum (o court friendly COUDCXion with tllC Turkish GoV-
protccuou.
eminent than any of his predecessors, for
ho appears to have been fully sensible of the advantage of an uncertain depen­
dency in deterring Persia from attempting to increase the extent, or to sys­
tematize the character of her interference in the affairs of the Cliaab tribe,
without accordingly in any essential point admitting the authority of Bussorah,
ho lias frequently made presonts of money and horses to the Turkish Governor,
independently of tho rent of the lands on the Sbat-el-Arab, and ho has been
gratified to receive occasionally, from tho Moosselim a khelaat or dress of
honour.
The first direct exercise of the power of Turkey in the affairs of tho Cliaab,
however, in modern times, vas the attack on Mohammerah by Ali Pasha in
A. D. 1837, and his subsequent appointment of Sheikh Abdool ltazaq to tho
Government of tho tribe in the place of Sheikh Thamir. To justify this
measure, tho old assertion of the right of Turkey to the allegiance of tho Cliaab
has been revived, and it remains a “ queestio vexata ” to the present day. But
if the Cliaab have thus bceomc virtually independent of Turkey, it may bo
inferred that they must, to the same extent, have become virtually dopondent
upon Persia, and it is necessary therefore for tho verification of this point, that
the preceding sketch of tlieir relations
Companion with tho alove of the connexion
dating the tame period of the Chaab with Persia. with Turkoy, since the death of Sheikh
Salman, should he compared with the
nature and progress of tho connexion of the tribo during the same period with
Persia.
Kerim Khan then withdrew his forces without coming to any definite
arrangement with the Chaab Sheikh, regarding the liabilities of the tribe and
during the wars between tho Zend and Kajar dynasties which broke out shortly
A pecuniary liability attache! to tho tribe, but after the establishment of Fellahiak as
uodefinal iu its naturo and extent. tho capital of the Chaab, tho matter of
course escaped discussion.
From the commencement of tho reign of Agha Mahomed Khan the
Teeshkush of the Chaab seems indeed to have been reckoned by the Government
of Fars, as a part of the annual income of tho province, and to have been
demanded accordingly; but still thoro was great irregularity in the payment,
and a still greater uncertainty as to the amount of the liability. As far as I can
discover, the annual tributo was calculated by the Persian Government at about
4.000 tomans, such being the aggregate amount at which the former Afshar
occupants of the hanks of the Jcrrahi had been assessed, but tho sum
realized did not, it is said, on an average, exceed one-fourth of this truo or
assumed liability. In the time of Fatteh Ali Shah the first attempt was made to
exact a regular and as far as it went a defined payment, the annual salary
of llassan Khan, one of the cliiof officers of the Shiraz Court, amounting to
1.000 tomans, being drawn by her rat upon the Chief of Follahiah. But it does
not by any means appear that this was considered by Persia as a full acquit­
tance of tho liabilities of the Chaab, or that it was ever settled upon what par­
ticular account the sum was levied. On the contrary independently of liassan
Khan's salary, a year rarely passed without presents of horses and money to a
considerable amount being matlo by the Chaab Sheikli to tho Governor of Shiraz
and when Mahomed Ali Mirza iu 1818 marched against Fellakiah,ko demanded
and received 13,000 tomans from Sheikh Thamir on account, as it was alleged,
of accumulated arrears of rovenue.
Persia, nevertheless, can hardly, I think, substantiate a legal claim to the
Dependency on Per*ia for a long period *bown to dependency of the Chaab by tho precedents
Laro beta ou\y partial. of this poriod. Sho certainly in practico
was more closely connected than Turkey
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