Page 548 - Arabian Gulf Intellegence

504 BOO FELASA.

Coast. It was clearly, therefore, fear and apprehension alone that d
these chiefs to unite, and grow, as it were, into one, for much ieal
1
had been of late displayed by cither. They combined, however
strove in union well together. * d
The two chiefs were shortly joined by the Shaikh of Ejman, and when
the Wahabee forces had been defeated, and the Beniyas Imd reached
the zenith of his power, the three chiefs espoused the cause of the
fallen Syud bin Mootluk, and repaired to Brymee, for the purpose of
ejecting therefrom Shaikh Syud bin Tahnoon.
A number of skirmishes followed, in the immediate vicinity of the
forts; but owing to the arrival of a mediator in
a. d. i84y.
February 1849, and the acceptance of peace by
the belligerent parties, the whole of the chiefs returned to their seats,
and hostilities ceased.
Shaikh Muktoom still kept up a friendly intercourse with the Joas-
mees; and both chiefs, especially the former, strongly advised Ameer
Fysul in November 1849 to rebuild the town and fort of Adeed,
and to replace therein the people of the Gubeysat Tribe. Their intrigues,
however, did not produce the desired effect: the tribe in question
thought fit, during the absence of Shaikh Syud bin Tahnoon at Shinas
and Muskat, to secede from Aboothabee, and repair to the Guttur Coast,
—a step which so incensed the Beniyas Chief that he resorted to mea­
sures of the greatest severity to bring the offenders to punishment,—
measures untempered with mercy or honesty, that eventually reduced
the power and resources of the tribe to a state bordering on nothingness.
To relate the part that was taken by the Debaye Chief in the Muskat,
Brymee, and Sohar complications, will not detain us long.
Shaikh Muktoom cordially hated the Beniyas Chief, and was ever
striving to reduce and weaken his power; and when the Joasmee sum­
moned the rest of the tribes to unite with himselfand proceed to the aid
of the Chief of Sohar, nothing would have tempted the Debaye Shaikh to
declare himself one of the league, had he not thought an attack upon
Shaikh Syud was sure to be made during the course of operations.
This, and this alone, prompted him to equip a body of troops, and
repair to Zeit, to meet the rest of the chiefs; but
a. d. 1850. when he found Shaikh Sultan caring for the
interest of none but himself,—when he saw him bent on a mo\e in t ie
direction of Batinah,—he was no longer eager for strife : he re uctan y
followed as far as Shinas, and, after the reduction of that place, re
to his seat at Debaye.
from the tenor of a con-
Early in the ensuing year we gather, Resident with Shaikh
versation held by the that
a. d. 1851. Muktoom bin Butye on the 30th January,

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