"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الجزء II. ج. ج. لوريمر. ١٩١٥" [‎٢‎٥‎٧‎١] (١٢٦٢/١٠٨٨)

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Customs, however, the trade was in a great measure suppressed at
Bushehr and at some of the other principal ports ; the control^ of it,
however, at less accessible points and upon the unwatched coast-line was
attended by difficulties which could not be surmounted.
In 1900 the traffic was brisk at the northern ports of Ma'shur, Persian
Dilam and Rig. Even at Bushehr indications of continued smuggling coast north
still came to light from time to time, in November 1900 the British
firm of A. and T. J. Malcolm & Co. was found to be in possession of
380 Martini-Henry rifles and 183,000 rounds of ammunition, which
were conHseated by the Persian authorities ; and, at the end of January
1904, on the information of herd-boys who had seen some Afghans dig
ging, 80 Martini-Henry rifles were discovered buried in the sand near
the quarantine station at Bushehr. Small captures at ontlying places
were frequent, but large quantities of arms were successfully imported ;
thus it is known that, at the middle of May 1903, a consignment of 400
Martini-Henry rifles from Masqat was disembarked at Hasineh near
Lingeh and scattered broadcast over Shibkuh, Lar and even the Shiraz
district, and that many similar shipments had before_ this reached Lar
through the Shibkuh ports. Some trade in arms continued at Lmgeh,
but it was of a restricted and local nature.
At Bandar'Abbas the arms trade, already in full swing in 1897, was Persian
but little disturbed by the seizures of 1897-1898. From 1898 onwards coa.t south of
contraband arms and ammunition for the Bandar 'Abbas market ceased L,n ^ h '
to be carried by steamer, unless to a limited extent as passengers lug
gage, or even to enter the town of Bandar 'Abbas ; but the merchants
engaged in the business, among whom was one Hindu British subject,
continued to have their headquarters m the town. After 1898 the arm
imported from Masqat into this ne^hbourhood weremoBUylanded at
uninhabited places upon the coast, especially in Khur Mmah and unt 1
the effectual extension of the Imperial Customs regunc to tWeg on
the town of Khamir and the islands of Qishm, Hanjam, Larak a d
Hormuz were regular depots of the trade. As lately as January 1904
a cache of three camel loads of Snider ammunition was discovered in a
sand hill near the Bandar 'Abbas quarantine station, and was captured
by Customs guards, after exchanging some shots w th a gang
Afghans The establishment of a British Vice-Consulate at JJandar
'AbSs in February 1900 had for one of its motives the suppression, by
tff Sn Government and holding them *o ^
of the arms trade between that region and the countries to the west ot
t /-i
1 • W 1 Wn done by the Imperial Persian Customs Activity of
Some good service had been a y ^ -pn r g an( i the the Persian
in checking the importation of arms and ammunition into iars and tn
Vn -tf hut in 1904, a year in which an unaccountable spirit of
in ' 1 'i denartroent, their activity in this respect
meddlesomeness P 0SB " , 0 d ] n Mav 1904 the Director-General
was pushed ^^Per boun • t0 " 00EfiBca te all arms found on
of CustomB at BuBhehrclamed g ^ (iestination . and an att e m pt.
board ship m Persian waters « Arab ggell rs from Masqat to
the .< .he