Page 126 - The Pirate Coast (By Sir Charles Belgrave)

the pirates, and lie offered ships, men and all possible help to the
British, such as allowing them to use some of the islands which lie
controlled. Although the Sultan disagreed with the point of view
which Sadlier had put to him, his reception of Sadlier was most
friendly, and lie insisted on calling on him in the ‘sooty and tot­
tering apartment* where Sadlier lodged in the bazaar. Loch, in
his dairy, gives in full a copy of the despatch which Sadlier sent
by his hand to Sir Evan Napean, the President and Governor in
Council in Bombay. In this despatch, lie mentions that one of
the reasons why the Sultan was so opposed to the idea of co­
operating with the Pasha was because it was generally known
that the Turks had pretensions to Bahrain, which the Sultan him­
self hoped one day to recover.
From Muscat, Sadlier went to Bushirc, and there lie heard that
the Pasha was going on the Pilgrimage, and then returning to
Egypt. He crossed the Gulf, meaning to land at Katif, but his
ship ran aground off the coast some twelve miles from Katif.
He was rescued by pilots, who were sent to his aid by Ralimah
bin Jabr, the pirate chief, who occupied a fortress on the coast.
The Turkish Governor of Katif refused to sec him, but demanded
the services of a doctor. The ship’s doctor went ashore, but as
no horse was provided to take him to the town twelve miles
distant, he returned to the ship. The Governor was only suffering
from what Sadlier calls: ‘an cndacious appetite!’
The Governor was in a state of great agitation because he had
received orders to hand over control to the Shaikh of the Beni
Khalid tribe, who had been appointed as Turkish representative
in Hasa. He did all that he could to oppose his successor, refusing
to allow the Shaikh to enter the town with more than two atten­
dants. The Shaikh, very wisely, stayed outside. Meanwhile,
Sadlier says: ‘the Turk armed himself in his chamber, which
resounded with his vociferations, and applied himself to “regu­
lating” his accounts, being an adept at converting tens into
hundreds and vice versa!’
On June 28th, Sadlier left Katif on the first lap of his journey
across Arabia. The journey was dangerous, the Egyptians were
withdrawing and the Bedouin were becoming aggressive. The
Arabs who accompanied Sadlier were thoroughly unsatisfactory;
he calls them ‘hordes of robbers’ who never ceased trying to
extort more money from him. He mentions one surprising fact,
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