Page 239 - Arabian Gulf Intellegence

MUSKAT. 197

have shown his usual personal courage, and was carried off with great
difficulty by his faithful Nubians, after being slightly wounded. In the
confusion attending this disastrous affair, a brig and Buggalow
belonging to His Highness got on shore, and, having been abandoned,
were taken possession of by the enemy, but the former was subse-
qucntly burnt by the Imaum’s people during the night. Discouraged
by this defeat, and the ravages committed among his followers by the
cholera morbus, His Highness affected to consider that the hand of
Providence was against him, and, after an ineffectual attempt to con­
clude a peace with the Shaikh of Bahrein, he sailed back with his fleet
to Muskat on the 20th November. Various reasons were assigned for
His Highness having abandoned an enterprise, the preparation of which
had cost him so much labour and treasure ; but it was generally
thought, that he either suspected some of his immediate adherents of
treachery, or that the unexpected intelligence of a dangerous and
spreading rebellion having broken out in his possessions on the African
Coast had induced him to forego any further attempt upon Bahrein,
and hasten back to Muskat.
The town of Bushire having been taken in the latter part of 1828 by
Prince Timor Mirza, that personage sent down an
a. d. 1829.
application to his brother-in-law, the Imaum, for
the assistance of one or two of his vessels, and at the same time strongly
recommended him to make a capture of Shaikh Abdool Russool’s ship,
the Harriet. In pursuance of this request, His Highness sent up the
Muzuffa frigate, which, having fallen in with the Harriet off Congoon,
escorted her into Bushire harbour, without, however, attempting to
molest her in any way. On her arrival in January 1829, the commander,
Syud bin Khalfan, landed, and finding His Royal Highness the Prince
of Shiraz present, and Shaikh Abdool Russool apparently in high
favour, he remained a few days as the Wuzeer’s guest, and sailed away
for Muskat, without attempting any act of hostility.
Soon after this, the Imaum having received information that the
Uttoobees had despatched a fleet under the command of Abdool
Rahman, to cruise against the vessels of his subjects and allies, His
Highness directed two of his ships of war to proceed in quest of them.
On their way up they fell in with a large Bahrein Buggalow, called the
Syar, on her way from India to Bahrein, and immediately attacked her.
The Uttoobee vessel, however, defended herself with great gallantry,
and, after a distant and ineffectual cannonade, the Imaum’s frigates
attempted to bear down, for the purpose of boarding, but, on approach-
ing, perceived that a quantity of combustible materials had been
prepared by the Uttoobees to throw on board them should they come ;