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is little contact between Saudi Arabia and Oman and/or Muscat. 1 he Saudi
Government hardly pretend to have any knowledge of what goes on in the
debatable land, or of where the frontier is.
Trucial Sheikhs and Q.atar.
56. A three-cornered dispute which centred upon Zubara, at the north of
the Qatar Peninsula, was not without interest to Saudi Arabia. The affair began
in April in an attempt by the Sheikh of Qatar to compel the Naim tribe living
at Zubara to declare their loyalty to him. The Sheikh of Bahrein has an ancient
claim to Zubara, and the Naim are reported to have said that if they did not
receive support from the sheikh they would “adhere to Ibn Sand. I he
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. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. reported that the Governor of Hasa had
recently sent a party of seventy camelmen towards Qatar for some purpose
unknown, but he did not think that they would enter Qatar territory. He was of
the opinion that His Majesty’s Government should not interfere if the Naim
emigrated to Saudi territory, but he asked His Majesty’s Minister whether he
could ascertain to what extent the Saudi Government were interested or involved
in the situation.
57. His Majesty’s Minister replied that he shared the opinion of 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. that the Naim should be allowed to emigrate to Saudi Arabia
if they wanted to. He also thought it unlikely that the party from Hasa would
enter Qatar territory. In view of the general attitude of Ibn Saud and of the
warnings given to him about Qatar, Sir R. Bullard did not think that he would
allow his tribes to interfere even with Jabal Nakhsh and Khor-el-Odeid, still
less with a tribe in the extreme north of Qatar Peninsula, though doubtless he
would be glad if a Qatar tribe took refuge with him and possibly the tribe had
ascertained from the Governor of Hasa that they would be welcome. To ascertain
to what extent the Saudi Government were interested was, however, hardly
possible at the moment: there was no Foreign Affairs official at Jedda at the
time, and to deal with the matter in writing or to ask for an official to be sent
down from Taif would invest the question with an importance which the
vagueness of the enquiry would hardly warrant. He suggested that as we had no
ground to suspect underhand dealing by Ibn Saud or his officials we should
assume that their conduct was correct and say nothing to them about the matter
for the present.
58. The dispute ended in July when Sheikh Rashid of the Naim entered
into an agreement with the Sheikh of Qatar to obey him as long as he resided
in, Qatar. There was, however, some fighting first, and Fuad Bey referred to
this when he and His Majesty’s Minister were at Hasa on their way from Riyadh
to Uqair. Fuad Bey received a telegram from Bahrein which apparently spoke
of the fighting and "mentioned rather high casualties, and he made some vague
remark to Sir R. Bullard to the effect that he wondered whether the King could
be of use in bringing about peace—apparently between Qatar and Bahrein. It
was all very vague and tentative and Sir R. Bullard gave a discouraging reply
which precluded pursuit of the subject, but it showed that Ibn Saud was
interested. On the other hand, there was no evidence whatever that there had
been any Saudi interference in the case, or even that Fuad Bey’s vague soundings Measurements of the depth of a body of water.
were authorised.
59. According to a report received by the 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 Bahrein the
Zubara question was mentioned in a conversation between the Sheikh of Bahrein
and the Amir Saud during the latter’s visit to the sheikh, and the Amir said
that, after all, the A1 Thani (the ruling family of Qatar) were “ no better than
animals.” This feeling of contempt for the Sheikh of Qatar doubtless helps
to exacerbate the bitterness with which Ibn Saud asserts his claim to Jabal
Nakhsh.
60. For the frontier question, see paragraph 94.
Bahrein.
61. Relations between Bahrein and Saudi Arabia have improved out of
recognition since the agreement about customs dues, &c., was concluded little more
than two years ago. In December the Amir Saud paid a visit to Bahrein, and
the handsome reception he received from his Highness the sheikh created the