'History of the Indian Navy. (1613-1863).' [‎25] (44/622)

HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY. 25
tended from Hawlool (lat. 25° 40' N., long. 25° 25'% E.) through
the island of El Kuran—the most southerly of the Biddulph
group, (lat. 27° 39' N., long. 49° 50' E.)—to Ras el Zaur (lat.
28° 44' N., long. 48° 25' E.), on the mainland ; to this measure
the Uttoohee chief, Abdoola bin Ahmed, gave his assent in a
letter dated the 26th of March, 1836. Two months later,
Sultan bin Suggar and Sheikh Shakboot, the father and repre
sentative of the Beni Yas chief, being at Bassadore, a cruiser
was despatched to Debaye, to induce Obin bin Saeed, one of
the Sheikhs of the place, to join the conference which the
Resident had convoked for the establishment of a peace between
the hostile tribes. This chief returned in the cruiser, and was
immediately followed by the Sheikh of Ejman, but notwith
standing all the arguments he could employ, Captain Hennell
could only induce the chiefs to agree to a maritime truce for six
months, which was duly signed by the contracting parties, who
were given to understand that any infraction of its provisions
would be treated as piracy. Owing to this truce, the season of
the pearl fishery* passed over with unusual tranquillity, and it
was renewed first for eight months, on the 13th of April, 1836,
with undisguised satisfaction by the chiefs, and again on the
15th of April of the following year.
In 1838, on the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. making the tour of the
Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. in the Commodore's ship, Sheikh Sultan bin
Suggur, the Joasmi chief, at one time considered the firebrand
of the Gulf, was induced not only to express his earnest desire
for a renewal of the truce, but added that it would afford him
sincere pleasure if the suspension of hostilities could be changed
to the establishment of a permanent peace upon the seas. This
was going rather too fast to please the other chiefs, so the
annual truce of eight months was extended for one of a year.
In July, 1839, the ' Hugh Lindsay,' Lieutenant C. D. Campbell,
embarked Captain Hennell on his tour round the piratical
ports, and the chiefs came on board to pay their respects to
the British representative, and sign the truce. Lieutenant
* The pearl fishery yields to the chiefs of Bahrein a revenue of 100,000
tomauns. The fishing boats number fourteen hundred sail, of which seven
hundred are of large size, three hundred intermediate, and four hundred of small
size. Besides the master, the larger are manned by fourteen divers and fourteen
assistants, the intermediate by nine divers and nine assistants, and the small craft
by seven divers and the same number of assistants. The master receives four
portions, the divers two, and the assistants a settled pay of from five to six
tomauns; the crews borrow from the bankers at a rate of thirty or more per cent.
The Grovernor of Bahrein provides an escort of seven war baghalahs, for which
he levies a convoy duty of two tomauns yearly from each boat. So valuable
is the fishery that the principal merchants of Shargah, in a private communication
to the British Agent at that place, offered to guarantee to the Indian Government
the sum of twenty dollars per annum for each boat if one of the Company's ships
of war was deputed to guard them from aggression; but of course the proposal
was declined. For a full description of the pearl fisheries, see "Wellsted's
Travels," vol. i., chap. 6, p. 114.