Page 69 - Gulf Precis (III)_Neat

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218. In May 1S92, the Government of India received with Political and Secret
Department of tlio India Office, No. 87,
Sccrot E .July 1802, Noa CG-98
dated 1st April 1892, two letters from the
Sonior Naval Officer, Persian Gulf Division. The first, a report on the slave
trade, dated Basrah, 1st January 1S92, stated that he was informed on very good
authority that a slave market actually existed at that place, which Europeans
woro never allowed to seo. The letter adds—
" Tho slaves, ns usual, como up in buggalows flying French colours, cloven of which sailed
up Inst year ; the slaves nro lauded in some of the numerous creeks of tho Shal-cl-Arab Rivor,
excopt a fow at ICowoit who aro driven overland. '*
249. In the second letter, dated 21th January 1892, the same officer
writos : —
" I havotho honour to report that Ilis Highness the Sultan of Maskab has informed mo
8«er«t E, July 1892, Ncs. 60*98, vide No. 90. that the French Consular authorities at Aden
liavo depiivid the Sur buggalowa of their right to
fly Fronoh colours, so that they have to return to the Arab flag.33
260. When M. Ottavi was appointed in 1891 French Vice-Consul at
Maskat, the Sultan expressed apprehen­
Becrot E , February 1695, Not. 438*153.
sions that the object of tho appointment
was to assert French protection over French flng-holdors. Tho Resident was
told by the Government of India that, in the event of the French Consul
putting forward such a claim, the Sultau should bo advisod to “ refer him to the
declaration, dated 10th March 186H% respecting the independence of Maskat
and Zanzibar end to inform him that the assertion of French protection over
Suris boat in Oman icaters tcouldbe a contravention of that declaration. **
261. These instructions were approved by tho Secretary of State for India,
Mr. Fowler, after consulting the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Secre­
tary of State's Despatch Secret No. 48, dated 19th October 1894).
252. In his lettor No. 2LG, dated 26v.h September 1891, Major Saddler
reported after a visit to Sur :—
u 1 ho Indian traders, who number soven firms, do not, as in tho towns on the Batinoh
Coast inhabit a separate quarter j their houses are
Secret E., April lb95, Noe. 6-11.
scattered about the town ; they have therefore
more than usual opportunities of mixing with tho people and of knowing what is going on.
They inform that all slaves lauded at Sur are brought in Surid hows flying tho French flag ;
the traffic takes place twice a year, during April and May, and again from the middle of
August to the end of October, in fact before and after the height of tho south-east monsoon.
The slaves are usually landed in parties of five to ten ; they are nover kept ling at Sur, but
aro run up for sale to the B ilineh Coast and up tho Persian Gulf, in smaller craft in parties
of two or five ; tho Nakhudas passing them off, if questions are asked as portion of their crew.
Occasionally they are laudfd in lurgjr batches : a fortnight before H.M.S. Sphinx reached
Sur, apart/ of fifty bad bcon landed and despatched northwards as abovo indicated.
But few scorn to bo sent inland to tho Sharkiyyoh and Janlan, as owing to the system of
irrigation in thoso parts, thorc ip not tho samo demand for labour on the date plantations as
there is in the Batinoh where the date trees have to bo watered from wells.
Before turning tho point at Ras-al*Had the Nakhudns of dhows with slaves on board
hail the fishing boats, and if tho coast is dear they make for the Sur oreek ; otherwise they
land the slaves at convenient places on the coast south of Ras-al-Had, such as Bas Gomelah
and Askari, whence thoy are marched overland to Sur.”
253. With this report Major Saddler also forwarded a list of 11 flag-
holders bolonging to the Jenebeh tribo and 12 of the Beni-bu-Ali tribes : of the
latter 4 were regi°terod in East Africa, and the port registry of the rest was
not known : of the former 7 were registered at Obokb, and 3 at Bukin in
Madagascar; the port of registry of the rest was not known.
254. Major Saddler bad reason to infer from careful enquries that the
majority of slaves imported into Oman and the Persian Gulf were brought by
the Suri ships to Sur at some place near that port.
266. Colonel Wilson observed on this report (No. 73, dated 6th October
1894) :—
“ It appears to me that the mischief is by do means confined to the abuse of the French
flag to cover this nefarious tratfio in oases when that flag has been granted by duly constituted
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