"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎٦‎٢‎٥] (١٧٨٢/٧٦٨)

be of such importance that he returned to Masqat with Colonel Stewart,
R.E., the Director of the telegraph operations^ and asked Saiyid Thuwaini
to state in writing-, for purposes of official record, whether Maqlab
itself and the villages of Habalain and Maqaqah, between
which the telegraph line crossed the isthmus, were part of His
Highnesses territory, and whether he agreed to certain local dispositions
proposed by the telegraph officials. In reply, in a communication dated
2l6t February 1864, the Sultan with reference to "Maqlab, Khasab and
their neighbourhood •" stated categorically "These are all my country
and my dependents, no one has any concern with themand he assented
to the suggestions regarding details of construction. From local
enquiries, made later, it seemed certain that Kumzar and Khasab on the
western coast, together with the villages between them, actually
acknowledged the sovereignty of the Sultan of 'Oman; but some
doubt remained as to the status of the inhabitants of Film, Shabus, and
Shisah on the eastern side of the promontory, who were said to be
virtually independent while at home and to become subjects of the
Shaikh of the Sharjah in the date season, when they were accustomed
to migrate to Dibah. On the other hand no claim to any part of
Ruus-al-Jibal was openly advanced by the Shaikh of Sharjah, and it
was stated that, in reply to a reference from the Shaikh of Maqaqah,
Sultan-bin-Saqar had merely ordered that the telegraph operations
should not be opposed in any way.
The undispelled doubts in regard to jurisdiction at Maqlab continued
for some time to exercise the Government of Bombay; but they clearly
inclined to the view that the tract belonged to Masqat. The
question whether the telegraph station should be regarded as lying in
the official district of the Consul at Masqat or in that of the
Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, between whom at this time
there was some friction, was decided by the Bombay Government on the
iUt of April in favour of the former officer, on the ground that
" it is generally admitted that Mussendom is in the territory of the
Imaum of Muscat and later, on the 5th of July 1S64, the same Gov
ernment ruled that " the Telegraph Islands in the liilphinstone Inlet are
part of the Muscat territory,^ and that consequently the Political Agent at
Masqat should deal with offences committed in Ruus-al-Jibal by British
subjects under his consular instructions, obtaining from the Sultan of
'Oman the requisite authority to dispose of such as might be committed
by others. On the 26th of October 1864 however, on a representation
by Colonel Pelly, Resident in the Persian Gulf, that it was inexpedient
to raise a question of local boundaries and that the contingency of claims
to ownership by the Trucial Shaikhs might be provided for by t t exe
cution of an agreement on their part to protect the British telegraph at al
places in or near their territory, the Government of Bombay lea i >
assented, adding that no investigation of claims had been eithci mtende
or authorised; and, as the Government of India held similar views, an
agreement was obtained in the form suggested, as is related m _ he
history of Trucial 'Oman. The ownership of Ruus-al-Jibal thus remained
indeterminate.
In 1865 a journey was made by land from Dibah to Ras al^ K haimah
by Colonel Disbrowe, Political Agent at Masqat, and Captain Po^
4?!