Page 307 - Gulf Precis (III)_Neat

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will at least adord mo time to warn the neighbouring Chieftains agaiost inter­
fering by sea in a quarrel in which they have no concern and to make the
necessary arrangements also to ensure their neutrality.
"6. The two cases of maritime irregularity to which I have above alluded
as requiring my intervention had their source, as usual, in the flight of recusant
debtors from one port to another, or in the concealment and removal of run­
away slaves purposing to themselves a change of masters—sources J should
observe to which may generally be traced the-loss seiious collisions of such
frequent occurrence during the Fishing Season. In the one a pearl diver who
formerly resided at Sharjah, but to elude his creditors had seceded to Aboothabee,
having this year engaged himself on board of a vessel belonging to the latter
port, was induced while on the banks to visit some of his fellow-townsmen in
the boat of one Khumees bin bhaheen of the Howeleh Tribe. On liis
proposing to return, howevor, that individual secured his person and refused
to restore him to his present employers. In the other a boat belonging to one
Abdullah bin Mutton of Dibbah, a dependency of Sheikh Sultan bin Suggur, on
the Batinali Coast, having put into Aboothabee to trade, her crew succeeded iu
decoying live slaves from the shore with whom they made off to sea. On
discovering their loss the owners of the slaves set out in pursuit in two Bug-
garahs and having overtaken the Dibbah vessel near the Island of Seir Aboneid
compelled her to return with them to Aboothabee, where an on bargo was
immediately placed upon her by Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon. In the formor of
these cases I readily obtained an order from the Joasme«- Chief directing the
immediate release of the pearl diver and his restoration to the parties to whom
he had hired his services, coupled wi<h a promise cn his part that on the
ollcndcr’s return home lie would subject him to a fine or other suitable punish­
ment ; and in the latter case, as the capture of a vessel at sea constituted a
direct violation of the treaty, however justifiable the seizure or even confis­
cation of the one in question might have been bad she been taken in the
harbour, I was not less fortunate in persuading the Beni Yas Chief to remove
the embargo be had placed upon her, on the ground that the detention she had
experienced at Abootbailee for a period little short of six weeks, should under
the circumstances be considered a suflicient puni>hment for the misconduct of
her owner, whose proceedings moreover I had brought to the serious notice of
his superior at itus-ul-Khymah.
“ 6. During my interview with Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon, that Chief com­
plained to me also that two boats not indeed belonging to Aboothabee, but in
which some of his dependents bad shipped their property, on putting into
Fowcyrat for shelter, bad been boarded, and a portion of tbeir cargoes forcibly
removed by the people of that place: the pretext he said was a claim for
salvage, for which, however, in one instance at least, no ground existed. 'I he
occurrences in question having been already brought to my knowledge by the
Agent at Hahrein during my visit to that island, 1 had duly represented them
at the time to Sheikh Mahomed bin Khaleefah (to whom Fowcyrat is dependent)
and obtained from him an assurance that on being made acquainted with the
names of the sufferers and the amount of losses sustained, be w ould immediately
indemnify them. It only remained forme, therefore, to furnish my visitor with
a letter to that Chief communicating the desired particulars, and I trust that
after its receipt no time will be lost by the lattor in redeeming his promise.
“7.1 did not omit on this as on the last occasion of my tour of tho Arabian
Slaves were likowiati imported lust season into Coast to reproach tllO JoasmCO Chief and
Ejmaun. the Chief *of Amalgawein with permitting
the continued importation of slaves into their territory from the African
Coast to an extent, as testified by our Agent, falling nothing short of that of
previous years, and I pointed out to them that while the British Government
was employing so much urgency to suppress this iniquitous traffic at the ports
of Persia, it was hardly to bo supposed that it wrould long tolerate similar infrac­
tions of their engagements by the inhabitants of the opposite shore with no
other result than to place the monopoly of the trade iu their hands and
enhance its profits. To my surprise neither Sheikh Sultan bin Suggur nor
Sheikh Abdullah bin Rushid attempted to deny the fact, but ursred in their
personal defence that except under the pressure of direct and obvious compul­
sion from a superior Power the mere exercise of their authority, I must bo