"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الجزء II. ج. ج. لوريمر. ١٩١٥" [‎٢‎٥‎٠‎٣] (١٢٦٢/١٠٢٠)

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the Nakhuda on the Batinah coast and there sold into slavery; but^
information of this outrage having reached Masqat, steps were taken
which resulted in the recovery of the negro, the confiscation of the boat,
and the imprisonment of the Nakhuda by the Sultan.
In February 1896 an armed party of the Yal ^a^ad kidnapped 17 men 1896,
from the south Arabian coast, carried them by boat to Batinah, and sold
them into slavery in the interior; the affair did not come to light until
some time later, when it was reported at Masqat by one of the slaves
who had escaped. The Shaikh of the Yal Sa'ad principally concerned
was then imprisoned by the Sultan of Masqat and died in confinement,
but of the persons abducted only one other could be traced; this individual
was ransomed by the British Government from the Bedouins in whose
possession he was found.
At the end of 1896 a gang of slave dealers in Batinah, who had for
some years been dealing with impunity in Baluchi slaves kidnapped from
the opposite coast of Makran, were at length brought to book, as was
also the Shaikh of Wudam, a port bearing the same relation to the
Baluchi slave traffic as Sur to the African. The Shaikh of Wudam was
said to be too ill to be brought to Masqat, but the Sultan was prevailed
on—not without difficulty—to order the arrest of six of the gang,
themselves apparently Baluchis. The accused were tried by a tribunal
consisting of Lieutenant Beville, the British Consul at Masqat, and
of a representative of the Sultan upon no less than 34 charges of slave
dealing, with the result that five of them were convicted and were
sentenced by the Sultan to fines varying from $100 to $500 and also to
imprisonment.
In 1900 a case came to light which pointed to the occasional 1900.
exportation of children from famine-stricken districts in Western India,
as slaves, to the Persian Gulf. In August of that year a Hadhramauti
Arab, arriving at Masqat in the British steamer " Simla,was^ found
to be in possession of three Hindu children from Baroda, whom inquiry
showed that he had either purchased or kidnapped and was holding in
slavery. The children were sent back to India, and the Arab was
extradited and made over to the Baroda State, by one of whose courts
he was condemned to two years' rigorous imprisonment. Precautions
were also taken by the police of the Baroda State against the recurrence
of similar incidents.
In 1904 'Abdullah, the Sultan's Jama'dar or military commandant 1904.
at Sohar, was shown to have bought slaves exported from Makran to
Soharby the Persian Governor of Bashakard and was sentenced by his
master, on the representations of the British Political Agent, to three
months' imprisonment. It transpired that two of the slaves fought
by the Jama'dar had been presented by him to the Sultan himself, who
Had accepted them.
In 1905, in consequence of an unfavourable award by the Hague i Q05i
Tribunal in regard to the French flag in 'Oman, the local repiesentative
of the Republic began to exercise a closer supervision over the proceedings
of native vessels entitled to use the French colours.