Page 696 - PERSIAN 5 1905_1911

POLITICAL RESIDENCY FOR Ml.
94
It will be 6een in last year’s narrative that the Shaikh of Debai’s cousin
jfaktum, after his fatal affray with Muhammad bin Nasir bin Luta, took
refuge in the house of one Ahmed bin Dalmuk, a near kinsman of the Shaikh
of Debai by marriage.
It will also be seen in the same report that the house of Ahmad bin
Dalmuk was one of those reported by informers to the Captain of H. M. S.
“ Hyacinth ” as having a store of smuggled arms, and that it was on his
proceeding to search this house that his party was fired at.
Now one of the persons from whom the Flag Captain’s information
regarding the presence of arms was obtained wa3 Ahmad bin Luta. This
may be only a coincidence; on the other hand it is by no means impossible
that the information was laid by the Bin Lutas by way of “ getting their own
back.”
During the hot weather of 1911, the family Inadvisedly and against the
specific counsel of the Resident transferred their domicile to Ajman. This
in itself made it evident to the Shaikh of Debai that the Bin Lutas had not
really buried the hatchet.
On arrival at Ajman they commenced intriguing, by employing them­
selves, or encouraging the Shaikh of Ajman to employ, runaway divers from
Debai, a proceeding invariably leading to trouble on the Trucial Coast
They also seem to have been instrumental in sowing seeds of ill-feeling be­
tween the Chief of Ajman and the Residency A^ent, and matters had arrived
at a pass which called for prompt treatment when the Resident returned to
the Gulf after absence at the Delhi Durbar. The action taken would pro­
perly fall within nest year’s report, but to complete the narrative it may
be mentioned that the two brothers were heavily fined and obliged to deposit
a further sum as security for good behaviour, and appear, for the present at
ell events, to have been thereby reduced to a tractable demeanour.
It is a matter for great regret that plague seems to have come to stay in
the Gulf. A very severe epidemic
Plague.
occurred ca the Trucial Coast during the
spring and hot weather of the year under report, commencing at Debai and
extending to Shargah, and probably to an inconsiderable extent to neighbour­
ing villages also.
The inhabitants themselves attribute the visitation specifically to the
intercourse now prevailing between Debai and India by British India
steamers; and specially to the arrival of large cargoes of rice in May and
June.
Owing to the slowness of letter communication and the ignorance of the
inhabitants, the disease must have been prevalent for some time before it was
diagnosed, owing to some plague-stricken passengers arriving at Lingah
from Debai. Once it got a hold, the disease appears to have spread very
rapidly, and, though the circumstances made it difficult to frame any reli­
able figures, the Residency Agent and the Shaikh of Debai express the opinion
that not less than 2,000 persons died in Debai and about 500 in Shargah. It
appears to have died out as suddenly as it came, and by August the towns
were said to be quite clear.
It is realised that the appearance of plague at Debai, now a regular
port of steamer call, engages the responsibility of the Government of India
in the matter of medical supervision of the Trucial Coast; a somewhat diffi­
cult problem, which occupies their lively attention.
There being some tangible grounds to apprehend that European pearl
merchants, stimulated by the consider-
Pim Fibhtrixs.
(1) Apprehended effort* of European* to get * able success which has attended their
footing in the fiaherie*. operations in the direction' of pearl
(2) Reported depletion of pearl bank*. buying in the Gulf Ports, might attempt
to enter still further into the local industry by inveigling unsophisticated
native Rulers into giving them fishing concessions, the Resident was autn '
ised to explain to the Shaikhs of the Trucial Coast, Bahrain, and Ivu
how greatly it would be to the prejudice of their own interests to grant s