'Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf. Vol I. Historical. Part II. J G Lorimer. 1915' [‎1667] (184/1262)

1667
lat
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Muhammareh and Fallahiyah bj the murder of Haji Muhammad wag
irremediable; a blood feud was declared, or at least existed; and former
secret suspicion gave place to open enmity.
Muhammareh, as it existed in 1843, was a quadrangular enclosure about
350 yards long by 300 yards broad. The mud wall which surrounded
it was of the most ordinary kind ; its defences were destitute of artillery.
It contained only one caravanserai A roadside inn providing accommodation for caravans (groups of travellers). for the accommodation of merchants ;
and it consisted, for the rest, of rude Arab huts of mud and reeds. When
Major Eawlinson, the British Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. at Baghdad, visited
Muhammareh in that year, he found about a dozen vessels which had re
cently discharged their cargoes anchored at the place. To avoid a Turkish
brig of war that had been stationed at the mouth of the Karun to prevent
vessels with Indian goods from entering the port, boats from the sea now
ordinarily approached Muhammareh by the Bahmanshir instead of by the
Shatt-al-^Arab, or else landed their cargoes on ■'Abbadan Island below the
embouchure of the Karun, whence the goods were conveyed by land to a
point opposite Muhammareh. There were no customs duties at the port,
which was a main cause of its prosperity ; but it seemed probable that, in
consequence of the extension of either Persian or Turkish effective control
to it, that advantage was likely before long to be lost.
A contemporary writer The lowest of the four classes into which East India Company civil servants were divided. A Writer’s duties originally consisted mostly of copying documents and book-keeping. gives the following account of the political
distribution of the tracts about Muhammareh in 1843 ; but"^ for the reasons
noted below, it must be received with caution :
1 Sli # wr * ter course Ma i 01, Rawlinson, Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. at Baghdad, in his Memo-
an( ^ randum on the Dispute, etc., 1844. With the greatest respect for his high authority
m TurW it may be pointed out that his reiterated statements regarding payments to the Turkish
3 him U«^ over nment at Basrah on account of the tracts disputed between Persia and Turkey
the chleli seem s ^ an< ^ a ^ 0Ile official correspondence, and that he gives no indication of the
evidence on which they were based. See foot note on page 40 ante. From his
t transposition of Nahr Yusuf and Shakhsreh, of El Khagin (evidently Khaiyain) and
lo'taMdjfflP^rband, it may be inferred that he had not himself any very close acquaintance with
tilarly mai the tracts in question. His " Boojidee " is, doubtless, the modern Failiyeh which
ground®'stands on the Abu Jadi Canal; the " Eawa Arabs" must be the Bawiyeh; and his
tons of ^ Tamar-El-Jadeed " may be another instance of defective information, as there are two
it of the tii^ s ti nc t tracts, Tamar and Jadid, more than a mile apart and separated from each other
nson for ^ ^humaisen, Nahr i r usuf, and another tract. Haffar, which Major Eawlinson
isli officii Eeeinin ^ r 8u Pposed to be near the Shatt-al-'Arab, is in fact a tract on the Kartin some
£ . /* ta - e al30ve Muhammareh town : see Volume II of this Gazetteer, articles " Haffar"
1 ^ ^ u ^ ammare h District." The question of the relative positions of the disputed
aymen tracts has now been cleared up by Lieutenant A. T. Wilson's admirable map and report
•omtlie Mated 4th and 5th May 1912.
to tltf 31 It must be remembered that, at the beginning of the discussions which resulted is
so e Second Treaty of Erzeroum (1847), the British authorities favoured the Turkish
« im to Muhammareh. They may have been unconsciously influenced by the fact that
supported the claim of Persia, who had recently shown herself (1836-41) sub-
115 A
Muham
mareh in
1843.
Possession of
Muham
mareh and
immediately
adjacent
tract , 1843.