Page 406 - Arabian Gulf Intellegence

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UTTOOBEE ABABS (BAHREIN).

About a. d. 1716, three considerable tribes of Arabs, called the Beni
Subah, A1 Yalahimah, and A1 Khaleefa, urged
a. d. 1716.
by motives of interest or ambition, entered into a
compact, and took possession of a spot of ground on the north-western
shore of the Persian Gulf, called Koweit. The Beni Subah were subject
at this time to Shaikh Soleyman bin Ahmed; the Beni Yalahimah to
Jaubir bin Utloobee ; and the Beni Khaleefa to Khaleefa bin Mahomed.
2. These chiefs strengthened the new settlement by intermarriages
with the daughters of the other clans, with the view of being enabled by
such alliances to resist the attacks of the Beni Khalid, who were a very
powerful tribe.
3. The three tribes determined to follow the occupation of merchants
and agriculturists, and to share the profits equally. In the formation
of an administration, it was agreed that the sons of the Beni Subah
should exercise the functions of government, those of Yalahimah should
superintend and control the maritime, and the Beni Khaleefa the
mercantile, branch of their concerns.
4. In the course of fifty years, by a prudent and cautious policy, the
new settlement attained a very high degree of
a. d. 1766.
prosperity: but the accumulation of wealth
rendered the mercantile branch desirous of seceding from the original
league, that they might singly enjoy and add to their acquired riches.
5. They were obliged to have recourse to dissimulation to effect
their purpose. Khaleefa bin Mahomed, an artful and politic chief,
undertook to accomplish it. He represented to the other two the pro­
to the shores
spects of wealth that presented themselves by proceeding
of that part of the Persian Gulf the most productive of pearls, and, by
forming a settlement on some contiguous spot, to conduct the fishery
themselves. Lured by the advantages thus held forth, the Beni
Khaleefa Chief was permitted to leave Koweit, with a part of his tn e.
He accordingly passed over and settled at Zobara, on the Arabian s ore.

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