'Selections from the Records of the Bombay Government' [‎18] (55/733)

18
PIRATE POHTS.
greatly shortened. All merchandize pays here ten per cent., date
grounds and agricultural produce generally twenty per cent. It ean
boast of only forty or fifty dwellings. Hence to Dareyah six days,
during two of which no water is procurable.
Kateef, &c.
Fiom Ogaii to Kateef two days. This is a considerable seaport town r
whither merchandize is brought for the interior of Arabia. A strong
fort defends the town and port, and from fifty to sixty villages are
scattered, at some distance from each other, containing individually
about two hundred houses. From Ogair to Kateef the inhabitants are
Aiabs of the Uttoobee tribe; and thence to Grane is a sandy tract of
country, inhabited by Baddoos. Ti.e territory intervening between
Huailah and Kateef is called Beri Gattar. From Kateef to Fantas, near
Grane, is half a day. From Grane the district is called Adan, and is
inhabited by Baddoos ; opposite to which lies the island of Jarim on the
banks of which the Amaeer tribe of Arabs fish for pearls from'spring
to autumn, and during the rest of the year lead a pastoral life.
The tribes inhabiting the Pirate Ports are allied, by common descent,
to those Arab families who subsist under the Persian Government, on
the opposite shore, at the ports of Tahiri, Aseeloo, Naabund, Congoon,
Nakheeloo, Cheeroo, Charak, Sertes, Mogoo, Bastion, Shinas, Lingah,
and Koong. Of these stations, Charak has shown itself most hostile to
us ; the rest are comparatively innocent ; which in them, and indeed
m every petty tribe of the Gulf, results rather from weakness and a
dread of our power than from a deficiency of inclination to a life of
piracy, or a conviction of its lawless character.
, 0f < tbe ( COast on which these ports are situated, and their islands,
Captain Seton, formerly Resident at Muskat, speaks as follows : Of
those islands in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. whioh arc known our navigators
t le greater part have wood, water, antelopes, and wild goats ; they have'
also verdure m the rainy season, and in some of them the Natives
weave a coarse cloth of cotton. Surdy has large plantations of date
trees, some w.ld apple and banian Merchant of Indian extraction. trees, with water, and firewood.
Pohor has few date trees, but a great abundance of wild thorn for
firewood, and some water. Bomosa is less fertile than the two above
mentioned but possesses m a small degree the produce indigenous to
10 o ler wo is ands. All of them are frequented by the inhabitants
of the opposite coasts, who are left undisturbed in their possession
Koong, Lingah, Shinas, and Mogoo are close to one another and
sfggn rfT 01 0 , f GU r b bin bin G " Zeeb ' -P he - ^ Suhan
llahman bin ^fgnr, noHiowcT 'rhf" 311
not ' ' loweve r, the son of the Joasim Chieftain.