'Precis Containing Information in regard to the First Connection of the Hon'ble East India Company with Turkish Arabia, as far as the Same Can Be Traced from the Records of the Bombay Government, together with the Names of the Several British Residents and Political Agents Who Have Been Stationed at Bagdad [Baghdad] and Bussorah [Basra] between A.D. 1646 and 1846, accompanied by Other Information' [‎108v] (220/226)

[ xlviii
It must be held in recollection that the increase here exhibited upon
the revenue is merely calculated on the districts and canals already in
partial use as that which would be the almost immediate consequence
of the presumed improvement in the Government of this country, and
inviting the royals or Fellahs Arabic for ‘peasant’. It was used by British officials to refer to agricultural workers or to members of a social class employed primarily in agricultural labour. to re-occupy what has but lately been
abandoned, first from the effects of plague, and next from the exactions
of the existing Government. No expense to Government is here contem
plated, and no cutting or cleaning out the canals, although the advantage
and experience of such work would soon force themselves on the attention
of Government, and the increase of revenue in that case would be incal
culable. In proof that the above Statement is not over-charged, the
following particulars elicited in conversation with several respectable
natives of the country are worthy of attention.
One of these, Aga Meenas, for more than 30 years a servant of
the British 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. , and after acting British Agent, has, after stating
several reasons for his assurance that it only required security and justice,
freedom from oppression, to render this country equal to the richest parts
of India, summed up his opinion by saying : were this Government strong
enough to protect the ryot and just enough not to oppress him, the
amount now received of Raij Piasters would become Aeen (that is,
twenty-five times the sum) within five years, and within 10 they would
be rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. or nearly double of the Aeen.
Another, Aga Khacheek, also long in the Resident's employ, in con
trasting the present with the former state of this country, observed that
for long he remembered it a common remark that the country from Soogu
Shiook, on the Euphrates, to Bussorah was once so thickly inhabited and
cultivated as to leave no interval between the villages and gardens.
That travellers proceeding in those days from one place to the other
required to make no provision for the journey; they went each day such
distance as they pleased, sure of meeting everywhere the necessaries or
conveniences they wanted.
The ruins of these villages and town still exist to attest the truth
of this statement. Even of late years Bussorah, Bushire, Bahrein, and the
whole Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , even to Muscat, far below it, depended on the rice
of Semavah, Soogu, Shiook, &c., which was sent down in immense quan
tities. Such is the change to-day, and so completely has this supply failed
from the disappearance of cultivation in those districts, that last year not
less than 15,00,000 Morabs rather more than 200,000 Ads. of rice were
sent up the gulf from the Malabar Coast of India for the supply of
these places, and of these 10,000 Morabs reached Bussorah itself.
In proof that the Montifick Sheikh is perfectly able to furnish a large
revenue to Government, and as a specimen of the manner in which these
Arabs oppress the country, it is a fact that the duties he levies (with the
permission of Government) upon all boats going down the two rivers are
rented at 48 lakhs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees of Raij Piasters, independent of the enormous dues he
collects of the trade in butter, grain, fiour, dates, &c., below the above-
mentioned custom posts in the districts about Bussorah.
Mahmood Aga, a farmer and lately Governor of Ilillah, in speaking
the other day regarding the condition of the Pachalic, observed an instance