"الملف 35/64 III المعادن في عُمان. أبحاث علماء جيولوجيا مدرساي" [ظ‎‎٢‎١] (٢٧٦/٥١)

yi
fall in wi-bh the wishes of Government in any way desired,but
he personally thought that to bring British troops on to the
scene would only be to revive and increase the hostility of
the disaffected Hinawi,who would think that the contingency
of "British occupation" of Soor and the vicinity which the
French Consul and, French papers had promised them had actual
ly come to pass.
In this view I am disposed, to concur. If any sepoy escort we're
taken at all SO or 30 men would in my opinion be of no practi
cal use,their presence would rather tend to disturb the in
habitants and encourage opposition. To be of service such an
escort would have to be sufficiently strong to cope with any
possible opposition that might be met with and I should put
the necessary strength at not less than 200 men with 8 machine
guns. I do not think that the tribes would in any case meet
us in open fight but the country is a difficult one to move
in and offers facilities for ambuscading which would no doubt
be taken advantage of. It may be presumed also that the land
ing ,of any troops under circumstances which could be exaggera
ted and misrepresented by French emissaries would afford ma
terial to Aysa bin Saleh and, the Hinawi Shaikhs for preaching
a religious "Jehad" and 5 thus rousing most of the Hinawi tribes
men to take arms against us.
If there was a little more time at disposal I would ask Gov
ernment to allow me in the first place to go down and pay the
Beni Abu Hassan a quiet visit of a month or so in their villa
ges in the hope of being able to disarm suspicion and prepare
the way for a subsequent leisurely survey and investigation,
"
but it is difficult for me to get away just now and leave Mus-
'' ■' ~ . ' , ■ ' , , ■ „ ■ oi
cat to take care of itself for any considerable time. The al
ternative which I would propose is this. That the Musharifeh
and Beni Abu Hassan should pay their wished^vi'sit to the Sul
tan as soon as practicable and that we should inform the Sul
tan that we expect him t(!f make efficient arrangements with the
help