Page 221 - Arabian Gulf Intellegence

MUSKAT. 170

adopted active measures to relieve that State from the pressure of all
that side of Arabia employed by the Wahabccs to reduce it. Agents sent
from Muskat to Deriah, to claim the restitution of Shinas and other
forts that had been taken from the valley of Sohar, were ill received by
Saood, who informed them that they would be detained until the
Imaum sent his vessels against Bussora, or gave a proof of his attach­
ment to the Mussulman cause by equipping a predatory expedition to
India, and threatened to visit Muskat in person.
61. Owing to the disaffection of the Chiefs of Oman, the- Imaum felt
himself unable to resist those demands. Six Wahabee teachers were in
fact at Muskat, compelling the inhabitants by blows to pray in their
manner, and forcing the merchants to repair to the mosques. They laid
the foundation of a large fort at Joh, on the western frontier of Oman*
as a place of strength which might command that province.
62. The Wahabees had also succeeded in establishing a new power,
the Zahib Tribe, in the tract of country from Musseldom to Ramse,
which was placed under the government of Hussain bin Ali, who was
the Shaikh of Ramse, and of two strong forts called Fequera and
Bithney, which Saood had taken from the Joasmees, and whom that
chief had conciliated to his support. The Imaum, anxious not to break
with the Wahabees, refrained from acting against this tribe, which it
would have been for his interest to have done.
63. Notwithstanding, however, the complete influence which the
Wahabees had established throughout Oman, and in the Persian Gulf,
the Arab Tribes were represented as hostile to their ascendancy ;
the common danger had united the whole, and they were ready to
join any attack that might be projected or made against the power of
that sect.
64. Mahomed bin Nassir Ghafie, one of the Chiefs of Oman who
had joined the Wahabees, dissatisfied with the Wahabees, made
advances to the Imaum, who, drawing him into a snare, seized and
imprisoned him, in consequence of having acknowledged the Wahabee
power, but released him on his surrendering to His Highness Semayle
and another strong place he possessed in the mountains.
65. The Chief of Zaheera, having been plundered and insulted by
the Wahabees, offered to join the Imaum, who however distrusted him;
whilst the ruler of Sohar, having been deprived of half of his territory,
declared his resolution rather to die than longer to submit to the
Wahabees. The common danger had also reunited the Shaikhs of
Oman, and they were determined on a vigorous resistance to Saood,
who had threatened them with a visit on his return from Mecca. They
were, however, desirous of the assistance of the English to recover
Shinas, and the places on the coast near Cape Musscldom, that had