"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎٥‎٠‎٦] (١٧٨٢/١٦٦١)

ai m
Muhammftd
disturbances,
1878-80.
Muntafik
rebellion,
1881.
1606
At this juncture Mr. W. S. and Lady Anne Blunt made an adveu-
turous journey through the Bani Lam country from the Tioris to
'Arabistan. They encountered great incivility on the part of Banaiyah
a son of Shaikh Mizban, whose manners were those of a barbarian and a
robber; and their property, if not their lives, were at one time in some
danger before they finally quitted the domains of the Bani Lam.
While the Bani Lam were thus at war among themselves, the adjoin
ing Al Bu Muhammad addicted themselves to robbery on the Tio- r i s .
In their case the trouble began with the retirement into the marshes of
the Shaikh of the tribe, taking with him a year and a half* revenue
which ho had collected from his fellow tribesmen but had no intention
of paying to the Government. The rupture between him and the
Turkish officials was the signal for a crop of outrages upon river-borne
traffic, which he probably did not instigate, but which the perpetrators
cunningly calculated would be set down to his account. In March 1878
nine persons were murdered on board a boat which the Al Bu Muhammad
plundered; and it became necessary to organise the native sailing
vessels on the river into larger fleets, which were convoyed through the
dangerous zone by Turkish steam vessels. The Turkish, but not the
British, river steamers were themselves threatened with attack; and,
as the country was denuded of troops owing to the war, no operations
against the Al Bu Muhammad could be undertaken at the time.
In 1880, the Shaikh of the Al Bu Muhammad being then Saihud,
robbers of that tribe attacked the British river steamer " Khalifah" on
the Tigris ; but this incident and the proceedings to which "it gave rise
will be related more fitly in another place.
In 1881, Nasir Pasha, Shaikh of the Muntafik, being then in hon
ourable detention at Constantinople, the Muntafik tribe rose in open
rebellion against the Turkish Government. They had been giving
uble to the authorities for a year or more, and the ill-success of strong
measures taken by the M ali of Basrah against them had led to the sup
pression of that ilayat. Consequently it now rested with the Wali
of Baghdad lo restore order.
At the middle of June the situation was serious. Telegraphic com-
munication between Basrah and Baghdad had been interrupted by the
re els. Theie were only 1,500 Turkish troops at Nasiriyah, the princi-
p p ace in the Muntatik country, and the difficulty of reinforcing
em was extreme, for the garrison of Baghdad, the military head-
quaiters of the whole province, was already reduced to 850 men, viz.,