Page 250 - Arabian Gulf Intellegence

208 MUSKAT.

want of energy on the part of the son and nephew of the Imaum daily
diminished their authority. These were guilty of a great want of
judgment, in attempting to avail themselves of the interested assistance
of the Joasrnee, Naecm, and Beniyas Tribes, whereby they opened the
door to great disorders in those quarters, likely to entail as much
injury upon their own subjects as upon those of their opponents; for,
fully aware of the weakness of the Government they were called upon
to support, it was not to be expected that these allies would exercise
much discrimination between the vessels of friends or foes,—anticipa­
tions which were loo fully verified.
His Highness subsequently entered into engagements with the
Wahabee Chief’s Agent in Oman, with a view
a. d. 1836.
to the expulsion of Humood bin Azan from
Sohar, Rastag, and the other dependencies of Muskat of which he had
forcibly and illegally taken possession; and, under the hope that Syud
bin Mootluk’s support would enable him to accomplish this long
desired object, was induced to disburse a large sum of money for the
expenses of the expedition. ■ According to previous arrangement, the
Wahabee force, consisting of 2,000 men, collected by detachments from
the different tribes, after plundering the Coast of Batinah, besieged
Sohar by land, while His Highness blockaded it by sea.
The siege had not been long maintained before a misunderstanding
arose, which led to its being abandoned, in consequence of His High­
ness having satisfied himself of the truth of the communication made
by a deputation from the besieged, that, Sohar falling, the Wahabee
Agent intended retaining possession of it in the name of his superior,
Fysul.
Shortly after the above occurrences, His Highness proceeded to the
personal superintendence of his African posses­
a. d. 1837.
sions, and, principally through the assistance
and gallant behaviour of Esai bin Tarif and his dependents, succeeded,
by the capture of Mombassa, which had revolted, in recovering his
lost authority.
It having been asserted that His Highness the Imaum had agreed
with the Pasha of Egypt to pay him an annual
a. d. 1839. if placed in possession of the island of
tribute,
secret instructions from Zanzibar to the
Bahrein, although his recent __ ,
regency at Muskat were, apparently, to join cordially with umoo
bin Azan in his opposition to the encroachments of Koishid *
certain that he was bond fide in the exhibition of hostility , an tie^- a
lishmentof the supremacy of the Egyptians over the province o nia ’
and the Arabian shores of the Persian Gulf, being a contingency
considered advisable to make the Muskat authon-
to be regretted, it was

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