"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎٤‎٤‎٤] (١٧٨٢/٥٨٧)

444
Wahhfcbi
successes,
1811.
Sai^jid 8&'id
assisted by
Persia, 1813
Fearful Wah-
habi invasion,
1812 or 1813.
Mutlaq, following up this success, advanced to Sohar, which he invested
but was not able to take ; he then passed on towards Masqat, which
with Matrah and Barkah he for a time blockaded. Besides Muhammad-
bin-Nasir, Jabiri, he had with him Haraaid-bin-Nasir of 'Ainain; and an
influential Ya arabi of Nakhl, one Malik-bin-Saif, also attached himself
to the Wahhabi cause. At the beginning of 1811, in attempting to
relieve Hisn Samail which had been besieged by Muhammad-bin-Nasir,
Sa'id suffered a severe defeat in Wadi Ma'awal, losing the greater part of
his mercenary force of Baluchis and Jadgals ; and Hisn Samail shortly
afterwards capitulated to the enemy. Mutlaq in the meantime had
returned to his headquarters at Baraimi.
Disappointed in the hope of succour from India, to the British ridel's
, of which he had repeatedly made application in vain, Sa^id towards the
end of 1811 despatched a mission to Shiraz under his brother Salim.
The Persians, who hated the Wahhabis on account of the atrocities
committed by them at Karbala in 1802, and who perhaps thought that
they saw in the embai rassment of 'Oman an opportunity of re-establishing
their suzerainty over that country, agreed to assist him; and at the
beginning of 1812 Salim returned, bringing with him a force of 1,500
mounted Persians and four light guns worked by Russian deserters, the
whole under the command of Sa'adi Khan, Qajar. The combined 'Omani
and Persian force recovered Nakhl and Hisn Samail; but it was almost
anni ilated at Saddi in 'Oman Proper, in an attempt to capture the fort
oi Izki; and Hisn Samail fell once more into the hands of the enemy.
Turki and Faisal, sons of the Wahhabi Amir Sa'ud-bin-Muhammad,
had now arrived at Baraimi and relieved Mutlaq of his command; but, as
they were attempting to pass through Batinah, a successful night attack
was made upon their camp by the people of Khadhra ; and Mutlaq, with
levies from the Dhahirah tribes, hastened to rejoin them at Hazam. Having
been beaten off with loss in an attack on Barkah, the Wahhabis ravaged the
outskirts of Masqat, plundered the town of Matrah and the village of
Aibaq, and then swept through Eastern Hajar in a tornado of bloodshed
and destruction Hail-al-Ghaf and Tiwi suffered severely from their
hostilftv U F 6 1 ^ llablt i aGtS 0f Sar were able Partially to buy off their
the J M- TrT-f 11 ' marChed t0 Fala ij-al-Mashaikh in
an e ^ enCainped - From Ja'alan they made
ZZZI r n TM COaSt Village 0fHadd ' ^ich they burned,
their fanat 1 in Jaal ^ the Bani Bu >Ali and Bani Kasib became
Eventf H M ^ 1 PP orter s and hdped them against the Bani Bu Hasan.
Eventually Mutlaq returned to Baraimi by way of Izki, at which place