Page 371 - Records of Bahrain (1) (i)_Neat

Relations between the Shaikhs and the Wahhabis, 1830-1836 359

858

committing some irregularities sit sesi for which ho readily afforded satis-
fsictiou on its being demanded by the British political authorities, inside
his way from Qsitsir to Masqat with the avowed intention of obtaining
support against his father from i'aiyid Sa'id. The latter, however,
inslcsid of complying with (he wishes of Ahmad, sent his own son Saiyid
Hilal to compose the differences among’ the Al Khalifah chiefs ; and an
agreement, more fully noticed in the history of Qatar,* was^arranged by
his efforts; but it was almost immedisitely violated by the partisans ol
Shaikh 'Abdullah, who induced the Al Bu Kuwfirah to attack the inhabi­
tants of lluwailah,—an act for which the Shaikh refused to make any re­
paration. This last affair led to the secession of 'lsa-biu-Tarif, the principal
man of Huwailah, who at first took refuge with the Shaikh of Abu Dhabi
in Trucial 'Oman, and whose later proceedings will claim notice further on.
About the middle of the year 183G Shaikh 'Abdullah, alarmed by u:q,proc!»o-
mont between
symptoms of an intention on the part of the Government of Shiraz to
the Wuhbftbie
revise, possibly with support from the Saiyid of 'Oman, the Persian and Mm
claim to sovereignty over Bahrain, took steps for a reconciliation with the 1836.
Wahhabi Amir. Faisal-bin-Turki, to whose subjects in Ilasa much
inconvenience had been caused by the Bahraini blockade of the Hasa
coast/and whom the Egyptians had. now begun to press hard upon his
western frontier, received the overtures favourably, and a settlement was
speedily arranged. The Shaikh undertook to pay a nominal tribute of
§‘2,UOO a year to the Amir ; the Amir in return promised to supply troops
for the defence of Bahrain against attacks from without, and to refrain
from calling on the Shaikh for marine transport in case of his deciding
on an expedition against Masqat by sea; and intercourse between
Bahrain and the ports of Qatif and 'Oqair was re-opened.
Meanwhile, however, the lot of the Shaikh's subjects in Bahrain was Internal
affaire of
growing, from day to day, less endurable; and the islands were being
Bahrain.
rapidly depopulated by emigration. The towns were in a state of 1886*38.
ruin and decay, and house rents had fallen to one-eighth of what they had
been only a few yeavs before. Six sons of the Shaikh pretended to
exercise separate and independent power, and their attention was chiefly
devoted to extracting money from merchants and other men of means.
The ordinary subject in Bahrain had no acknowledged rights; his
domestic animals, even, were frequently seized on pretext of corvee and
were not returned. The result was' a general exodus of the inhabitants
to every quarter of the Persian Gidf.

* Vide pago 704 ante.