Page 488 - Arabian Gulf Intellegence

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WAHABEE3.
pnIhae Wal*abtec Agent a. JBrymee, at the suggestion of his master,
deavourecl, but without success, to secure the maritime assistance of
l s Highness the Imaum of Muskat and the coast tribes against
ahrein, the former replying, to the requisition for the use of his ships
ol war, that he was not at liberty to employ his vessels on such enter-
prises without the previous knowledge and sanction of the English
overnment. Circumstances, however, shortly after inducing the
Bahrein Chief to make overtures of peace and submission, and the
profler of a small annual tribute, Ameer Fysul, mindful of the encroach­
ments of the Egyptians on the western, was fain to receive them, and
thus creditably rid himself of an active and indefatigable enemy
on the
eastern side of the Arabian peninsula.
It soon became evident that the.fears entertained by him, in
conse-
quence of the proceedings of the Egyptian ruler, were not destitute of
foundation.
The object of the latter, to establish a ruler in Nujd more compliant
to his views, and more devoted to his interests,
a. d. 1837.
by whose means would be easily effected the
subjection of the Bedouins to the south-west, to whom, on the contrary,
the present ruler was supposed to have granted aid in their hitherto
successful resistance to the progress of the Egyptian arms, was indicat­
ed in the open support he now afforded, in the shape of a body of troops,
to the pretender Khalid bin Saood,* who early in this year set up
pretensions to the chief authority over Nujd, and was preparing to
establish them by the sword.
Ameer Fysul lost no time in making every exertion to meet this new
and serious contingency, which he further endeavoured, but now loo
late, to avert, by despatching messengers with most submissive letters
to Mahomed Ali Pacha, with a view to induce him to withdraw his
support and assistance from Shaikh Khalid.
This pretender successively captured Gusscem and Deriah ; and at
length, meeting the forces of his rival near Riaz, defeated them in the
open field. Fysul, compelled to retreat, fell back upon Riaz, but found
the fort already in the hands of some of the adherents of the victorious
usurper. Thus the province of Nujd fell virtually into the hands of
Ameer Khalid, for Lahsa and Kateef only awaited his approach in force
to tender their submission. .
Little doubt could be entertained that he was a mere puppet in the
hands of the Egyptians, who were of course to reap the benefits of his
success, obtained through their assistance. These auxiliaries, or rat er
principals in disguise, consisted only of from 1,000 to 1,500 horse and

* Saood was great-grandfather to both Fysul and Khalid.
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