Page 397 - PERSIAN 5 1905_1911

AND THE MASKAT POLITICAL AGENCY FOR THE YEAR 1008.
95
general information and to ascertain especially whether there was any prob­
ability of piracies being committed, and what the Kaimmakam could do
for their prevention.
Lieutenant Prideaux Prune returned with a report that the Kaimmakara
was actually being besieged in his town, that villages could be seen burning
all over the oasis, that the Turks had no control over the Bedouin putting to
sea, and that the latter were said to be encouraged and fed by Sheikh Jasim
of Darin on Tarut Island, son of Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab Pasha.
The Kaimmakam also suggested that the surest way of disposing of the
latter nuisance would be for the British gun-boat to arrest Sheikh Jasim and
send him in custody to Katif for punishment.
In these circumstances the Political Agent, who knew Sheikh Jasim
personally, proceeded in the Lapwing to Darin, where he administered a
stringent warning to the suspect and afterwards steamed along the Katif
coast in the launch, landing at Dammam, Saihat and Anich, to ascertain
definitely the state of some of the outlaying villages.
Dammam contains only a ruined fort, once the possession of the A1
Khalifa of Bahrain, and it was uninhabited, but Saihat village and Anich
fort were found to be in a state of siege, though the Bedouin who were stated
to be in the surrounding date-gardens did not show themselves. The occu­
pants of these two outposts said that they had held no communication with
the outer world, except very occasionally by sea, during the previous fort­
night, and that they were becoming inconvenienced for want of fresh
provisions.
The Political Agent then returned to Bahrain, and thereafter the Agency
steam launch, flying the white ensign, the Lapwing and the Redbreast,
which arrived on the 13th August, shared the duty of patrolling the waters
between Bahrain, Katif and Ojair, for the intimidation of any Bedouin con­
templating a resort to hostilities on the sea, until on the 28th August re­
inforcements from Basrah were actually received in Katif.
The people of Bahrain and Katif had previously been rather sceptical
of the arrival of any assistance, as it was known that the civil and military
authorities in Basrah were disagreed on the subject. The relieving force,
which consisted of a Mirolai, Asma Beg, and 340 men with 5 guns, was
however accompanied by the Mutasarrif-designate of Hasa, named Ahmad
Mumtaz Beg, who speedily settled the trouble by suspending the Kaimmakam,
deporting to Basrah the six leading townsmen of Katif including Ali bin
Mansur bin Akhwan, the customs farmer, and generally condoning all the
outrages committed by the Bedouin.
On the 4th September, the Mirolai orossod over to Bahrain to arrange
with one of the steamer agents for a transport to convey the expeditionary
force back to Basrah, and on the 9th idem he chartered the S.S. Naseri and
proceeded in her for this purpose. The Kaimmakam left Katif about the
same time for Hasa across the desert.
The rapidity with which the Katif trouble was suppressed occasioned
considerable surprise in Bahrain, but the Bedouin presumably had expended
most of their ammunition, and had contrived to appropriate a considerable
quantity of loot including half the date-crop. They had little stomach
therefore for real fighting, while the Katifis being refused consideration and
being quite unable to carry on the struggle without Turkish assistance were
constrained to acquiesce, to obtain immunity when harvesting the remainder
of their fruit. The activity of the British naval officers undoubtedly served
to limit the extent of the hostilities, and thus lessened in some degree the
losses incurred by merchants of Bahrain, many of whose correspondents in
Katif have unfortunately been very seriously crippled from a financial point
of view. During the latter months of the year reports were occasionally
received of instances of Bedouin insolence in the oasis. No serious breach
of the peace has however occurred again.
On the 12th September, the news was received in Bahrain of the death
in Bombay of Sheikh Muhammad bin Abdul Wahhab Pasha, who originally