Page 210 - Arabian Gulf Intellegence

168

MUSKAT.

Musicat is the chief seaport of one of the two grand principalities
into which the Province of Oman is divided, of which Rastag is the
capital. It is inhabited by the Beni Yemen, or Beni Hinavi Tribe of
Arabs, of which the Imaum of Muskat is the head. The line of coast
from Cape Ras-ool-Gate to Cape Musseldom belongs to the Imaurn,
The tribes dependent on Muskat are enumerated in the 2nd paragraph
of my sketch of the Province of Oman.*
2. The ascendancy of the Arabs of Muskat in the Gulf of Persia
may be dated from the year 1694-95, when they
a. d. 1694-95.
became so powerful as to excite an alarm that
they would obtain the command of the Persian Gulf. The navigation of
the Gulf became more difficult in the following year, from the increase
of their power, of which our Agent at Gombroon predicted that “they
would prove as great a plague in India as the Algerines were in
Europe.”
3. Being superior to the Persians at sea, they carried on a success­
ful warfare against the trade of that kingdom,
a. d. 1696-97.
insomuch that the King of Persia made an
offer to our Agents that if the Company would co-operate in the reduc­
tion of Muskat, he would grant them the same privileges at that port
i as we enjoyed at Gombroon, No decided answer was returned, as we
i had neither ships nor troops to spare.
4. By the observance of this policy, the English trade was uninter­
: ruptedly prosecuted, while the conduct of the Muskat Arabs towards
■
the Portuguese clearly proved that they would hold any aid given by
l Europeans to the Persians as an act of hostility against themselves , for
as soon as they found that the Portuguese had assisted the former, t ey
divided the Muskat fleet into two squadrons, one sailed along the Coast
i ? -
of Africa, and burnt the Portuguese settlement at Mombassa, and the
other, stretching across the Indian Seas, destroyed one ot tnei

mi factories.
3Z
* Vide page 42 of this Selection.

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