'History of the imâms and seyyids of 'Omân by Salîl-ibn-Razîk, from A.D. 661-1856; translated from the original Arabic, and edited with notes, appendices, and an introduction, continuing the history down to 1870, by George Percy Badger, F.R.G.S., late chaplain in the Presidency of Bombay.' [‎56] (89/612)

] v i introduction
dignity was still nominally held by his brother Said at er-
Rastak.
It was probably about this time that the East India Com
pany entered into political relations with thornier of 'Oman.
The first treaty on record was made with Sultan, and is
dated the 12th of August, 1798. Its object was to secure
his alliance against the suspected designs of the French
and the commercial rivalry of the Dutch in that quarter,
and to obtain his sanction for the establishment of a British
factory An East India Company trading post. and garrison at Gombroon, since known as Bunder-
el- ; Abbas. The second, which is dated 18th January, 1800,
and signed on the part of the company by John Malcolm,
Envoy," provides that an " English gentleman of respecta
bility, on the part of the Honourable Company, shall always
reside at the port of Maskat, and be an agent through whom
all the intercourse between the states shall be conducted.
In these documents Sultan is styled "Imaum," as well by
his own as by the British representative. I can only ac
count for this fact on the supposition that both parties be
lieved him to be virtually possessed of the implied autho
rity ; but it is certain, nevertheless, that the title is never
given to him in the author's narrative of his regency. Ho
is uniformly referred to as " the Seyyid Sultan.
After seizing the coast towns of es-Suwaik and el-Mas-
naah from his brother Said, Sultan turned his thoughts to
foreign conquest, and captured Shahbar (Charbar) on the
coast of Mekran, and the islands of el-Kishm and Ilormuz
from the Benu-Main. He also took the island of el-Bahrein
from the el-'Uttub tribe, who had invaded and occupied it
a few years previously. In this instance he appears to
have acted in concert with the aboriginal inhabitants, whom
the author styles " Shiaahs," probably because most of
them, owing to the repeated occupation of the island by the
Persians, belonged to that sect. The el-'Uttub, however,
i See Bombay Government Selections, No. xxiv. pp. 248-250,