Page 305 - Gulf Precis (III)_Neat

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CHAPTER III.

REPORT ABOUT THE ARAB TRIBES, 1854.
(a) Attachment of the tribes to the British Government.
(&) Shihiyin Tribe and the Chief of Shargah.
(c) Maritime Irregularities.
34. The following report—the first one after the conclusion of the Perpetual
Treaty of Peace, about the affairs of the Arab tribes, submitted by Captain
A. Kemball—deals with some important
Volumo 88*IV of 1856, pi»"e 165.
topics, especially the relation between the
Shihiyin tribe and the Chief of Shargah, and will be read with interest—
!
No. 5-A., dated Bassadorc Roads, the 22nd September 1854.
From—Captain A. B. Kemball, Resident in the Persian Gulf,
To—II. L. Anderson, lisq., Secretary to Government in the Political Department,
Bombay.
** I have the honour to report, for the information of Government, that
having arrived at Bassadoro on the 2nd instant from Deraaum, the 28th ultimo,
I again set out on the 7th idem to perform the tour of the Arabian Coast; and
after calling at Sharjah to receive on board the British Agent, proceeded to
visit the several ports of Oman in the
Ru*al Khymah. order in which they are mentioned in the
Amal^HWoin.
Ejmaun. margin. Owing, however, to the absence
Sharjah. of Sheikh Humaid bin Rashid from Ejmaun,
Debaio.
Abooibabee. I was deprived of the pleasure of meeting
that Chief; and accordingly the present
which is usually raado to him on these occasions will bo retained by me until
my return from Muscat, when, should circumstances again require my presence
in that quarter, the opportunity may present itself of delivering it in person ;
otherwise, having no particular business to transact at his port, I will duly
forward it to him with our appropriate letter before retracing my steps to
Bushire.
“ 2. At my interviews with the other Maritime Chieftains who successively
came on board the Clive to see me, the topics of conversation wero for the most
part of a general nature, having reference to the origin and progress of the war
with Russia, and the recapture of Bunder Abbas by His Highness the Imaum of
Muscat, in both of which subjects my visitors seemed to take a lively interest.
In the cases only of Sultan bin Suggur aad Saeed bin Tahnoon were grievances
brought forward or matters discussed worthy of special mention, Prom one and
all of them I received assurances of their continued attachment and devotion to
the British Government, and of rheir resolution, as heretofore, to conform strictly
to existing engagements. If we except two instances of irregularity intrinsically
trifling, but deriving importance from their tendenoy if unadjusted to create
further disorder, the season of the Pearl Fishery had advanoed thus far towards
its close without any violation of maritime tranquillity, or, so far as their own
subjects were concerned, without a single collision on the banks that could be
construed into a breach of the General Treaty of Peace concluded last year in
supersession of the periodical truce; nor was it less a matter of satisfaction to
gather from their remarks that Ahmed el Soodoyree, the TVahabee Lieutenant at
Brymee, though availing himself as usual of the feuds and jealousies of the
various tribes in order to preservo his general supremacy, had hitherto conducted
his affairs with so much tact and discretion as to preclude any open rupture
between them, and by discountenancing acts of wanton aggression upon each
other, had mainly contributed to establish that state of comparative security
inland which for the moment also happilv prevailed. Immediately prior to my
arrival on the coast ho had given proofs of his intentions in this respect by bring­
ing to account the Monasir, a Bedouin tribe connected with Aboothabee,