Page 357 - Arabian Gulf Intellegence

JOASMEES. 315

relumed to Bombay, leaving a garrison in Ras-ool-Khyma, consisting of
twenty artillerymen, and the 1st battalion 2nd regiment Native infantry,
under the command of Captain Thomson, of II. M.’s 17th dragoons. In
April of the same year, the Government resolved to remove the detach­
ment from Ras-ool-Khyma to Kislim, and orders were accordingly
transmitted to Captain Thomson to evacuate the former place, after
dismantling the sea defences, and giving up the town to Shaikh Sultan
bin Suggur. On a communication, however, being made to this chief,
he positively refused to take possession, if the works were destroyed.
A reference was consequently made to India, when final orders were
issued for the defences to be destroyed, and the town abandoned,
which directions were carried into effect on the 18th July 1820.
In the commencement of 1823 Shaikh Sultan began the erection of a
fort at Shargah, but was informed that he must
a. d. 1823.
suspend the work until the instructions of the
Government respecting it could be received. An application from the
inhabitants of Ras-ool-Khyma to be allowed to erect a wall across the
isthmus was likewise referred to the Government, which intimated, in
its reply, that it was not intended to prevent the erection of forts or
buildings on the Arabian Coast, as the treaty concluded by Sir W. G.
Keir did not appear to authorise any such interference. About this time
the Shaikh of Ramse (one of the Joasmee ports) was deposed, through
the influence of Sultan bin Suggur, and succeeded by Mahomed
Abdool Rahman, the son of a former Shaikh, who had been removed
by Hussein bin Ali. Shaikh Guzeeb bin Ahmed, of Jazirat-ool-Ham-
rah (another of the Joasmee ports), having died the same year, was suc­
ceeded by Shaikh Mahzem bin Abdool Rahman. All the Joasmee ports,
with the exception of Ejman, appear to have acknowledged the general
supremacy of Shaikh Sultan bin Suggur, but Rashid bin Humeed, the
chief of that place, complained very earnestly to the Resident at Bushire
of the aggressions committed upon him by Shaikh Sultan, and declared
he would never submit to his authority.
In February 1823, on the occasion of Captain Macleod paying a visit
to the Joasmee Shaikh, he produced a paper, signed by the chiefs in the
vicinity of Ras-ool-Khyma, admitting their dependence upon him, and
he expressed himself very anxious that his rights as a feudal superior
should be recognised by the British Government. In reply, he was
informed the Government had nothing to do with his disputes for
supremacy, and must look to every individual chief to answer for
those immediately subject to him. Captain Macleod, in reporting
upon this tribe, stated as follows:—“The Joasmees procure ali their
materials for building, as well as their warlike stores, from Muskat,
Bahrein, and the Persian ports in the lower part of the Gulf. In the
construction of their vessels, they use no other wood than Indian teak,