"كتيّب الجزيرة العربية. المجلد I. ١٩١٧" [‎٣‎٨] (٧٤٨/٤٧)

38
SOCIAL SURVEY
In name, however, the Sultan claims and, if strong enough with
British support, exercises territorial authority over a very long
coast and hinterland, beginning on the south of the pemnsula west
of Rakhyut (on about long. 53° E.), and running round to Khor
Kalba, just south of Fujeirah (on about lat. 25 N.), a stretch
not far short of 1,000 miles. The western half of this to about
50 miles from Ras el-Hadd, is the narrowest of strips, backed by
uninhabited desert, and itself at intervals desert down to the wave-
line The rest, Oman Proper, broadens out between sea and desert
to a maximum of about 80 miles, and tapers again as it runs up into
the Ras el-Jebel promontory. Except in the latter region, halt
of which is recognized territory of the Jasimi Chief of oharjan
and the other Trucial Chiefs, the Sultan of Oman claims all the
habitable hinterland up to the central desert. The former African
possessions of the house have been detached under an allied
dynasty since the recognition of Majid, the great-uncle of the present
Sultan, in 1860, as independent ruler of Zanzibar.
The direct relations of the Oman Sultanate with tne iintisn
Government in India began in 1798. A treaty was then framed to
exclude the influence of France, with which Great Britain was at war.
Since that date a state of semi-dependence has gradually been forced
on the dynasty by circumstances, no Sultan haying been able to con
solidate and maintain his position without British help and support.
In return for a considerable subsidy, a British Resident's advice is
to be treated as paramount; and in 1891 the predecessor of the
actual Sultan entered into a binding agreement which subjected
the external relations of the dynasty to exclusive British control.
French and German efforts to obtain a footing, and restrictions
which we have been compelled to impose on the transit of arms
and munitions through Oman ports to both the interior and the
opposite shore of the Gulf, have raised constant difficulties; but
our position has been maintained.
The Sultan keeps a force of regulars, sufficient to hold and preserve
order on the coast, but rarely adequate when operations on any
scale are necessary inland. On such occasions the help of the
Indian Government is usually required. But in all other attributes
of sovereignty the Sultan acts for and by himself. There is no
British occupying force, and there are no British officials in the
administration.
4. Sultanate of Koweit (British Sphere).—The Sheikhs of the
Pirate Coast, of El-Qatar, and of Bahrein are all mediatized inde
pendent rulers ; but their respective ranges are so restricted that
they can be treated adequately in the subsidiary sections of the