Page 120 - PERSIAN 4 1890_1899

10 ADMINISTRATION RETORT ON THE PERSIAN GULF POLITICAL

In March 1892 another member of the family of Mubarak-bin-Sabah
attacked an encampment of the Beni Hajir, killing four and carrying off a
number of their camels and sheep. The Beni Hajir retaliated later on bv
surprising a Kowait boat at night, killing two of tho crew, and making off with
§200 in cash and the weapons on board.
In February 189' Shaikh Mubarak-bin-Sabah received orders from the
"Wali of Bussorah to march to El-Hasa, which he reached some time in March
with a force of Bedouins estimated at one thousand eight hundred men.

7.—EL-KATR.
The piracies by the Beni Hajir were not confined to Bahrain and El-Katif
waters, but extended also to Wakrah, near which a boat belonging to a tribe
under ins authority of Jasim-bin-Thani was attacked and carried off, being
finally abandoned near Zobara.
A second boat belonging to Shaikh Jasim was boarded near Dhaayen by
Beni Hajir, who killed two and wounded one of the crew, and made off with the
pearls on boaid. Shaikh Jasim started in pursuit, but failed to capture the
pirates. A gang of the same tribe under Salman-bin-Yr.timah were con-
cerned in an attack near IVakrak on a Persian pearl-boat from Jezza, in which
they killed ten of the crew, wounded thirteen, and carried off the pearls on board.
The same band seized another pearl-boat belonging to Shargali and carried
her off to Khor Shajij, about fifteen miles north of Al-Bidaa. Shaikh Jasim
sent men in pursuit both by land and sea, and succeeded in capturing the pi­
rates with the property, which, with the boat, be made over io the crew. The
robbers after imprisonment for a time at Al-Eidaa were released at the inter­
cession of the elders of the tribe.
The Turkish gunboat S. S. Sahir was said to have captured twenty-five
of the Eeni Hajir pirates in September last—twenty of them near Al-Bidaa,
who were made over to Shaikh Jasim, and five near El-Katif.
There has been no official confirmation of this report.
The TTali of Bussorah appears to have arrived at Al-Bidaa towards the end
of February, with the object of calling Shaikh Jasim to account for his suppos­
ed complicity in the doings of the Beni Hajir, Manasir, and Al-Murrah tribe.
His Excellency wrote to Shaikh Jasim, who was at Wajhah about four hours’
march from Al-Bidaa, to come in and pay him a visit. Shaikh Jasim declined
to do so on the plea of his fear of arrest, and the YTali, on the other hand,
refused Shaikh Jasim’s proposal that they should meet at some place in the
desert, attended by small escorts, to discuss matters.
After refusing all Shaikh Jasim’s offers for a settlement which would not
involve his personal surrender, the "Wali imprisoned Shaikh Jasim’s brother
Ahmed and twelve of the principal men of Al-Bidaa, and marched out to sur-
prise Shaikh J asim at "Wajbah. In this he failed, the tribesbeing on the alert, and
in the action which ensued, the Turks lost, it is said, about one hundred and fifty
men, the Arab loss being more than four hundred; and the remainder of the Tur*
kish troops fought their way back to the fort at Al-Bidaa, the Arabs being kept
at bay by the fire of the gunboat S. S. Jlirrikh, to which the Wali himself retired.
Shaikh Jasim now seized the wells on which the water supply of the town
and fort depends, and was thus able to dictate terms for the release of bis
brother and the other Arabs. The Wall was compelled to sue for the safe
conduct of his cavalry overland to El-Hasa and for the protection of the
troops in the fort of Al-Bidaa,Spending a reference to the Ottoman Governing
The events that have happened since the commencement of the current
official year will more fittingly find a place in next year’s report.