'Extracts from Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia by J G Lorimer CIE, Indian Civil Service' [‎34v] (73/180)

'"l
1878.
1882.
1884.
1885-1886.
Slave trade,
and further
Ensagement
(1856) re
lating to the
same.
Telegraph
Agreement,
1864.
Absconding
Debtors
Agreement,
24th June,
1879.
58
Government of India ordered that the whole of the Qasimi coast on the Gulf of
'Oman from Dibah to Khor Kalba, as also the coast of Ruus-al-Jibal, so far as
might be convenient, from Dibah to Musandam, " should be deemed subject to the
operation of the maritime truce," which was not applicable to the coasts of the
'Oman Sultanate.*
In 1878 Shaikh Hashar of Dibai, a man of quick and impetuous temper even
for an Arab, refused to satisfy three claims established against his subjects, the
plaintiffs in two cases being Persians and in the third an Indian; and Colonel Miles
found it necessary to visit Dibai in H.M.S. " Teazer." Compensation and a fine
were exacted and an offending boat was burned, after which the Shaikh apologised
for his conduct and friendly relations were resumed.
In June 1882 it was discovered that boats belonging to 'Ajman had been
implicated in an attack, some time previously, on the " Fath-al-Kanm," a vessel
under Turkish colours in the Red Sea, and that part of the booty had been landed
at 'Ajman. H.M.S. " Arab " was accordingly sent to 'Ajman, where a quantity
of the goods was recovered and nine of the boats implicated were publicly burnt
as an example.
In June 1884, a dispute about diving stations having taken place on the pearl
banks between a boat of 'Ajman and another of Sharjah, Saif-al-Adham, a
mischievous 'Omani who had been living on Sirri Island for several years since his
expulsion from 'Oman, sided with the Sharjah boat and fired upon the other. In
consequence of this offence H.M.S. " Philomel " was sent with the Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. Agent
to Sirri, where Saif's own boat was publicly destroyed.
In 1885 or 1886 the Shaikh of Bakhah moved by sea with an armed force,
apparently to assist the Shaikhs of Ras-al-Khaimah and Sharjah in some operations
against Sha'am; he escaped with an admonition from the Resident.
At the beginning of the period the slave trade continued almost unabated,
especially at Sharjah, Umm-al-Qaiwain and 'Ajman. The Shaikhs professed them
selves extremely willing, but quite unable, to suppress the traffic; it was
ascertained however that the Shaikh of Sharjah, who was the most obsequious
of all in his protestations, habitually levied a tax of $4 upon each newly imported
slave. In 1856 a further Engagement was obtained from the Trucial Shaikhs, in
which they undertook, among other things, to seize and deliver up to the British
authorities any slaves whose importation into their territories should be proved.
The Rutis-al-Jibal tract having been crossed at the isthmus of Maqlab by the
Indo-European Telegraph Department's line and a station having been established
on an island in Khor-ash-Sham, it was considered advisable, as the jurisdiction
over the district was asserted by some of the inhabitants to belong to Sharjah,
to obtain a written guarantee for the protection of the line " in and near " their
territories from all the Trucial Shaikhs. An Agreement in this sense, in the form
of an additional article of the Perpetual Treaty of Peace of 1853, was accordingly
concluded in 1864.
We have already adverted, in connection with the Ten Years' Maritime Truce,
to a principal cause of such minor disturbances as still occurred at sea—the
migration, namely, of debtors engaged in the pearl fishery or pearl trade from one
jurisdiction to another with a view to evading their liabilities. The evil was a
far-reaching one, and in 1868 Colonel Pelly, the British Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. , took
steps for enforcing the duty of extradition upon harbouring chiefs; but they were
not, apparently, efficacious. At length, on the 24th of June 1879, an agreement
for the mutual surrender of fraudulently absconding debtors was accepted and
sealed by the Trucial Shaikhs in the presence of Haji 'Abdur Rahman, the Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India.
Agent at Sharjah, and of Haji 'Abdul Qasim, Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. Munshi A term used in the Middle East, Persia and South Asia to refer to a secretary, assistant or amanuensis. Munshis were employed in the British administration in the Gulf. , who had been
specially deputed from Bushehr to explain to the Shaikhs the views and wishes of
the Resident; it provided that in future every runaway of the class in question
should be at once surrendered; that, if on the contrary he were harboured, the
harbouring chief should be liable to a fine of $50, or in the case of the absconder
being allowed to proceed to the pearl banks to a fine of $100, besides incurring
liability for the just debts of the runaway; that the facts, if disputed, should be
settled by a Majlis or council of arbitration; and, finally, that no fine should be
* Such was the form of the order, but it appears somewhat inappropriate. The General
Treaty of Peace of 1820 and the Perpetual Treaty of Peace of 1853 do not apply to particular
waters or coasts, but to the subjects of the signatories wherever they may be. It would have been
sufficient, and more strictly correct, to have recognised Shamailiyah as belonging to Sharjah, as
was actually done later in 1903. Nor can the inhabitants of Ruus-al-Jibal, who are Masqat subjects,
be properly regarded as subject to the treaties quoted above, to which their Sultan is not a party.