Page 554 - Arabian Gulf Intellegence

-

510

EJMAN.

At the date of the General Treaty for the Suppression of Piracy in
a. d. 1820. !his Gulf’ concluded by Sir William Grant Keir
in 1820, the port of Ejman would appear to have
been considered a dependency of the Shaikh of Shargah, having been
included in a treaty with that chief for the surrender of the towers,
guns, and vessels of certain places therein enumerated.
So shortly subsequent, however, as the beginning of 1823, Rashid
bin Hu meed of Ejman addressed a letter to the
a. d. 1823.
Resident, complaining of the aggressions com-
mitted against him by Sultan bin Suggur, and declaring that he never
would submit to his authority. An attempt on the part of the latter
chief to induce the Resident, while on a visit to Shargah in the same
year, to recognise his supremacy, by showing him a paper signed by
several of the Shaikhs in that neighbourhood, in which they acknow­
ledged their dependence upon him, would allow also of a supposition
that his jurisdiction was not altogether undisputed.
On the other hand, in a case of piracy committed upon two Debaye
boats by a subject of Rashid bin Humeedin 1827,
a. d. 1327-
a remonstrance addressed to Sultan bin Suggur
occasioned the offender, with two of his followers, to be placed in con­
finement, without any objection being raised on the subject of his
responsibility, or right of interference.
The revival of the Wahabee power under Toorkey bin Saood, in 1827,
was seized by the Shaikh of Ejman as a new opportunity for intrigue,
and, according to the correspondence of the Government Agent at
Shargah, he appears to have endeavoured to persuade the Wahabee
Chief to furnish him with troops, for the purpose of enabling him to
throw off his dependence upon Sultan bin Suggur, or even to supplant
him in his superiority amongst the Joasmee Tribes. Toorkey bin Saood,
in reply, is said to have told him that he conceived it would be highly
beneficial if Sultan bin Suggur were to resume the supremacy which he
formerly exercised, and that it was expected he (Rashid bin Humee )
would demean himself accordingly towards that chief. He adde , t ia

* 4