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529. Among tho various canards circulated was one to tl>o effect that tlio
.Sultan was in coilusion with the British Government to soli Sur to them, and
that tho coal-boaring tract was being exploited in connection with a railway to
ho constructed from Sur, and thonco round through tho Sharkiyeh to Maskat.
530. A whole month was spent in tho most trying negotiations and in
patiently ondcavouriug to overcome, first tho suspicions of the tribes, and sub.
sequentiy tho cupidity of Aysa-bin-Saleh and.his companions. At last, with
tho assistance of the Sultan, who was good enough to come down to Sur by
mail steamer to assist tho party and to depute his son Sayyid Taimoor to accom­
pany them throughout, they managed to reaoh tho goal, but not until they
had been ambuscaded and fired at, just as they wero entering tho hills in
which tho coal is found. Once having been permitted to sot foot in the tract,
it might have been expected that they should have been left to continuo their
work unmolestod ; but the tribal feeling among tho ignorant Musharifeh had
been roused to such a pitch of inflammability by tho malevolent preaching of
tho disloyal Hinawi Sheikhs, and rifles wero emptied on such slight provoca­
tion, that it became impossible under such conditions to conduct any sustained
geological examination of tho district, and they wero obliged to content them­
selves with a superficial examination of the deposits, and a collection of samples
of the coal; returning to Maskat with tho Sultan on 25th May after an absence
of seven weeks.

(Second Expedition.)
031. On receiving Dr. von Krafft’s report, tho Government of India felt
that the evidence obtained of the extent and quality of the deposits was not of
a sufficiently complete nature to enable them to give satisfactory advice to tho
Sultan in the matter ; it was therefore decided, as soon as tho cold weather sot
in, to despatch another expedition, and Dr. von Krafft was again deputed.
Unfortunately, ho died very suddenly when on the point of starting from India,
and Mr. It. D. Oldham, also of the Geological Survey of India, took up the
work in his place.
532. On this occasion, profiting by the unexpected experiences of the first
expedition, it was possible for the Sultan to take measures a long time in ad­
vance in order to come to a thorough understanding with the tribes concerned,
who, moreover, in the interval which had since elapsed, bad come to realise
that on the former occasion they had been used by Aysa-hin-Saleli for bis own
private ends, and that in reality, so far from having anything to lose by the
exploration of their country, they had everything to gain by the prospect of a
possible trade in coal which it offered them. On this occasion, the Political
Agent again accompanied the party, and, to save time, arranged to rendezvous
with Air. Oldham at Klior Jorarua near Ras-el-llaad, from which point it was
decided to make a start, the road being reportod better for transport than that
leading from Sur.
633. Captain H. II. Doweling of the Essex Regiment, who happened at
the time to bo starting oti a tour in tho Persian Gulf, was also permitted, with
the Sultan’s concurrence, to accompany the expedition which marched out
from Khor Jerama on 3rd November.
631. Sayyid Taimoor and Sayyid Mahomed-bin-Nasir, the AYaliof Mattrah,
accompanied tho party on behalf of the Sultan, together with a largo escort of
Beni Abu Hassag and Alusharifch, and no difficulties were experienced beyond
tho ordinary slight incouvcuicnces incidental to travelling in a barren and water­
less country with a largo caravan. Air. Oldham’s investigations oceupiod about
a fortnight, and he left Sur for Alaskat and India on 21st November.
635. After the departure of Air. Oldham and his Native miuers, Captain
Dowding remained with Captain Cox in Sur, in tho hope of his being able to
arrange to return to Ataskat by land through the Sharkiyeh. Arrangements
for this were in progross, and the journey could have been carried through, but
tho contemplation of it seemed to cause His Highness tho Sultan, a considerable
amount of anxiety, and therefore, in dofcrcnce to his express wishes, tho Poli­
tical Agent felt bound to relinquish the project for some other occasion.
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