'File 14/115 VII Annex (B 9) Abu Musa oxide: collected background material on the case' [‎53v] (117/1904)

liad been obtainable from Sir Abu Nuair for Sheikh Salim, mention of the island was
omitted and his pension remained at the previous figure of 400 dollars, but I now
agreed to the return of Sheikh Salim to Shargah, and I took him into my service.
Then, later on in the year 1315, I went on the Mecca pilgrimage and appointed
Sheikh Salim to act for me in the Shargah Government, and on my return Sheikh
Salim informed me that he had been afforded an opportunity, and had seen it to our
interest, to lease the mines of Abu Musa to three persons subject to the British
Government. I did not repudiate it, and saw nothing objectionable in it, and so I
acquiesced in it; and seeing that Sheikh Salim had ceased not to complain that the
sum of 400 dollars was not sufficient for his subsistence, I voluntarily set aside the
amount of this rent for him, that it might make up his subsistence, so that the total
of what came in to him yearly might be 600 dollars as before, and over, and that no
cause of soreness might be left to him on account of the paucity of his allowance. I
have absolutely not given him any deed in connection with the island nor in regard to
the mines therein ;all I did was to relinquish the income to him. in the way of
financial' assistance' troiuT me "to 'Wm, and it was done voluntarily and at my own
discretion. And 1 have not ceased in the days of spring in years when there has been
lain and herbage to send my live-stock to the island for grazing purposes, as has
been our custom from of old ; and my flag ceases not to fly there.
Such are the facts of the matter*and I have recorded them for your information.
(Signature and seal of Sheikh Sagar-bin-Khalid-bin-Sultan.)
No. 6.
Memorandum showing the connection of the J
and SheikhSalim-bin-Sultan, respectively,
Archives of the Bushire 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. .
More than a century and a-half ago the Chiefs of the Jowasim Clan of Arabs, at
that time paramount in authority on what was known as the " pirate coast " of Oman,
"with head-quarters at Eas-el-Khaima and Shargah, crossed over to the Persian Coast
with their war craft and captured the port of Lingah and other places on the coast.
There they remained in occupation for upwards of a century, one of the ruling family
from llas-el-Khaima, acting as Chief of the branch of the tribe which remained onth e
Persian Coast; having its seat of Government at Lingah, but remaining subject to the
overlordship of the ruling Chief of the head-quarters of the tribe, then at 11a s - el-Kb ai ma.
At that time as now practically all the islands in the Gulf were permanently or
at certain seasons tenanted by Arabs tribes ; and several of them, including Abu
Musa, by the Jowasim. In the pearling season the tribal fishing-boats would have
recourse to these islands for water or for refuge from stress of weather; in the spring,
after rain, the various Sheikhs would send their horses and flocks for grazing, and in
the winter parties of their subjects habitually sojourned in the islands for fishing
purposes. Time went on and the sections of the Jowasim on the Persian Coast
after some generations became as it were permanent settlers there and quarrels
began to arise between parties of them and their kinsmen from Oman sojourning on
the islands, when their grazing interests clashed. In order to put an end to this
recurrent friction the Chiefs of the Clan came to a friendly understanding under
which particular islands were henceforth to be used exclusively by different portions
of the tribe. Under this understanding Abu Musa fell to the Shargah branch, and
the arrangement then made has never been disturbed.
While not ordinarily intervening in the internal politics of the Jowasim or other
Arab tribes in Treaty relations with them, the British authorities have in practice
recognized this position, and, in pursuance of their time honoured policy of
maintaining the " maritime truce," the principles of which, as we have specifically
notified to the tribes, are held to apply to the islands of the Gulf as well as its waters,
we have interfered in the present instance in so far as that when alien tribesmen from
Debai and elsewhere have attempted to send their flocks for grazing, or otherwise to
meddle with Abu Musa Sir Bu Xnair Islands, they have been directed either to
desist or first obtain the acquiescence of the ruling Sheikh of Shargah in their
proceedings.
It is true that on one or two occasions the Persian Government, a pparently from
ignorance or misconception of the history of these islands generally, have attempted