'Selections from the Records of the Bombay Government' [‎632] (676/733)

632
NAVIGATION OF THE
salt, pearls, and slaves. A large quantity of ghee, and some cotton, are
also imported from Sind and Kutch. Most of these articles are either
sold to the inland tribes, or again exported coast-ways along the
Imaum's territory, or into Persia or Turkish Arabia A term used by the British officials to describe the territory roughly corresponding to, but not coextensive with, modern-day Iraq under the control of the Ottoman Empire. . The exports are
gums, drugs, dates, dried fruits, sharkfins, salt, salt fish, and asses, the
latter generally to the Isle of France or Bourbon.
To give some idea of the trade, I need only mention what the amount
paid by the Banian Merchant of Indian extraction. who farmed the customs was in 1827, viz. one lakh One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees
and eighty-eight thousand German crowns. Muskat takes off from
Man galore and the Malabar Coast annually about four or five hundred
thousand morahs of rice, besides immense quantities of timber, pepper,
and cardamoms. A large quantity of the Mysore coffee is also exported
from the Malabar Coast by vessels belonging to Muskat and its de
pendencies.
The Imaum himself is one of the principal merchants of the place:
a very great portion of the trade is in his hands, and also much of
that to Bourbon and the Isle of France, The inhabitants are Arabs of
various tribes, and mostly Mahomedans of the Soonee sect; and though
many Shaikhs from the Mukran and Persian Coasts are settled here, all
under the present Imaum are alike protected.
Syud Saeed bin Sultan, the present Imaum or Sultan, succeeded his
elder brother, who was appointed by his cousin Biddoo bin Jaaf, in
1806 or 1807. He is now about fifty-two or fifty-three years of age, of a
most prepossessing appearance, and gentlemanly manners, and is pos
sessed of considerable abilities. He is a careful politician : he watches
carefully all political events in India or Arabia, and, as far as he can,
turns them to the advantage of his Government. He is much attached
to the English, both from personal feelings, and gratitude for the assist
ance they have given him at various times.
The Imaum has established a very respectable naval force, which is,
with the island of Zanzibar, his principal care and study. His navy
consists of one seventy-four (I believe now sent to England as a present
to the king) ; the Shah Allum, a double-banked frigate of fifty guns ; the
Caroline, of forty guns ; Piedmontese and Mustafa, of thirty guns
each ; Rahmany, corvette, of twenty-two guns; three brigs and schooners,
of eight to twelve guns each ; besides four war Buggalows and six Buteels,
carrying from four to ten guns each. He has also several merchant
vessels. His dominions extend from the 22nd to the 27th degree of N.
lat., and from the 55th to the 60th degree of E. long., comprising what
is usually termed the Kingdom of Oman, and has a sea coast of near
five hundred miles.
The island of Zanzibar, on the Coast of Africa, some small places on