Page 49 - Arabian Gulf Intellegence

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OMAN.
Imaum married the daughter of one of those princes, thus connecting
his own family with the most illustrious persons of his dominions.
Ahmed now turned to the conquest of the people of Ras-ool-Khyma,
descendants of the Ghafiri, who had aided the Persians in their views.
He attacked them in a. ii. 11G0 (a. d. 1747), by land and sea, with an
army of twelve thousand men, under the command of Kandhalabin Suif,
of the family of Sueed, who was met at Boraimi by Rashid bin Matar,
the Joasim, and Amrar bin Homaid, the Noaimi (a large tribe south of
Shargah, the pirate port), at the head of an army of fourteen thousand
!
men, which met with a total defeat.
Ahmed was at this time engaged in the siege of Khurfakhan, a town
and port in the Batinah, in lat. 25° 20'N., with a fleet of eight ships, and
forty of the larger description of Native vessels. The garrison of this
fort was composed of one thousand Joasim, who, when they heard the
fate of their brethren, gave up the fort, and, entreating the clemency of
their conqueror, were permitted to return to Sir.
The ambition and exertions of Ahmed daily increased. He pushed
I
his conquests as far as Khasab, the governor of which place, Hassan
bin Abdoolla, the Shihiyyin, who was formerly subject to the Joasim,
submitted voluntarily to his government.
During a residence of ten days in the town of Khasab, he received the
alarming intelligence of the revolt of a member of the house of Yarabi
Jaalan. His measures were decided : he directed his cousin, Khalfan
bin Mirhamad, to proceed to Ras-ool-Khyma, with the great body of
his fleet, and returned himself to Muskat with three ships, to attend to
the suppression of the revolt. After a delay of only four days, he
proceeded to Jaalan, and attacking the rebels, overthrew them with
considerable bloodshed, and took a large number of prisoners. This
occurred in a. h. 1162 (a. d. 1749).
Khalfan, after repeated attempts, found he could make no impression
on the Joasim. Ahmed proceeded thither in person, and after
remaining for four days in the town of Ramse, returned to Muskat by
land, and despatched Ali bin Suif, the Syudi, with four ships and ten
Dows, directing him to cruize against the ports of Sir, with the utmost
rigour, until they submitted to his authority. Ali followed up these
orders so strictly, in face of Ras-ool-Khyma, Jazerat-ool-Hamra, Fasht,
and Shargah, not permitting a boat to attempt the pearl fishery or a
commercial voyage, that the inhabitants of all these places, with the
exception of the first, were reduced to the last extremity, and obliged
to acknowledge the supremacy of the Imaum, a. h. 1176 (a. d. 1763)".
The Chiefs of Ras-ool-Khyma bore the blockade for a year longer, at
the end of which time three of these, Sugur bin Rashid, Mahomed bin
Ah, and Abdoolla bin Matar, proceeded to Rastag, to Imaum Ahmed,