"دليل الجزيرة العربية المجلد II" [‎١‎٤‎٤‎٢] (٦٨٨/٥٠٣)

1442
OKS-OQA
the main by two agreements, each of which has been signed by, and is individrally bind
ing upon, the five Shaikhs of 'Ajman, Abu Dhabi, Dibai, Umm-al-Qaiwain and Sharjah,
The earlier in date of these agreements is a perpetual truce, concluded in ] 853, which
provided for the entrie cessation of hostilities at sea among the signatories, and imposed
on the British Government the duty of enforcing peace and obtaining reparation for
maritime aggressions committed incontravention of the arrangement. It is in virtue
t)f this treaty that the Shaikhs of the principalities are styled Trucial Shaikhs and that
their country may appropriately be styled Trucial 'Oman.
By the second treaty, signed in 1892, the Trucial Shaikhs bound themselves not to
enter into any agreement or correspondence with a power other than the British Gov
ernment ; not to permit, without the assent of the British Government, the residence
within their territories of the agent of any other government; and not to cede, sell,
mortgage or Otherwise give for Occupation any part of their territories save to the
British Government.
The exact international effect of these two agreements is a matter for publicists to
determine, but taken together they evidently create preferential and almost exclusive
"relations between the British Government and the Trucial Chiefs,—relations which
might be held to imply the dependence of the Shaikhs on the British Government in
foreign' affairs and a moral obligation on the part of the British Government to protect
the Shaikhs in so far as they may be endangered, or disabled from defending themselves,
in consequence of the treaties of 1853, and 1892. The existence of some such position
has been in a sense recognised by the Government of the French Republic. During the
years 1909-10 it became necessary to warn some of the Trucial Shaikhs regarding their
connivance in the Arms Traffic ; see Dibai.
British subjects in Trucial 'On an are distributed as follows and include at each place
a proportion of w r omen and children :—
Town. Hindus. Muhammadans.
Dhabi (Abu)
65
Nil
Dibai
61
23
Qaiwain (Umm-al-).
11
Nil
Khaimah (Ras-al-)
Nil.
33
Sharjah
51
158
Total
194
214
If some Persians from the opposite coast and their concerns are left out of account,
Great Britain is still the only foreign country which possesses any moral or material in
terests or subjects in Trucial 'Oman : for the protection of these a Native Agent of the
Persian Gulf Residency is maintained at Sharjah Town. The subjects in question are
the Indians, Hindus and Khojahs, who are settled in the larger ports.
ONSURAT (A l ) {Island)—
See Farasan (Islands and Bank); bank, western side.
'OQAIR (B abr-al)—
The name is very frequently pronounced 'Ojair. A coastal tract in the Sanjaq of Hasa
containing the port of 'Oqair; it falls naturally within the main boundaries of
Biyadh and should perhaps be regarded as forming part of that division.
Boundaries. —Barr-al-'Oquair extends upon the sea from Tall-az-Zabanat, on the
south side of the entrance of Dohat Ruhum, to Ras-as-Sufairah, a promontory of the
mainland opposite the south end of Zakhnunlyah island ; its length from north-north
west to south-south-east is thus roughly 38 miles. Its depth inland is undefined but
small: possibly however the easternmost of the wells which are enumerated in the article
on Biyadh (division VI) should be regarded as belonging to Barr-al-'Oqair, in particular
those of Dannan, Rughwan, Mijama'ah and Suwad.
Physical cMraciemiics.—Barr-al-'Oqair is similar in character to Barr -adh-Dhah-
ran, from which it is divided only by Dchat Ruhum ; like its congener it is inferior to
the Dabaisi and Hushum areas, but superior to the rest of Biyadh, and it contains
many wells and numerous small date plantations owned and tended by the Bani
Hajir. l