"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎٣‎٤‎٣] (١٧٨٢/٤٨٦)

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interception, and at the beginning of 1004, a few copies still occasioilally
found their way to Masqat.
The origin of the " Fath-al-Basair " was discovered in 1902, through
the strange experiences of an Arab named Salim Qamri, the son of a
Zanzibar merchant. Salim Qamri, who in 1902 was about 30 years of age,
had been at one time employed as a clerk in the service of the Sultan of
Zanzibar, and had subsequently visited Jibuti, Hodaidah and the Persian
Gulf on his own account. Eventually in 1900 he settled at Lahaj near
Aden under the protection of the Sultan of that place, and in 1901, he
became a student in the school of the United Free Church of Scotland's
Mission at Shaikh 'Othman; here he was converted to Christianity and
in 1902 was baptised. In March 1902 he received through the French
Wfi" Consul at Aden an advantageous offer of employment at Paris, which he
accepted; it emanated from a M. Piat, formerly French Consul at Bushehr.
Salim Qamri reached Paris about the beginning of .J une and found that he
was to be employed there as native editor of the " Fath-al-Basair " under
i\!. Piat, who was then working in the French Foreign Office. The minute
account which he gave of the modus operandi and of the contents and
distribution of the paper, tallying as it did in every respect with what was
already known from other sources, was enough in itself to place his veracity
beyond suspicion. After falling in for a short time with the wishes of his
employers, who kept him under close surveillance, Salim Q,amri struck work
from conscientious motives ; and on his persisting in his refusal to assist in
the production of the paper, he was medically examined, pronounced insane,
and consigned about the middle of July to the Sainte Anne Lunatic
Asylum in Paris. Meanwhile, however, he had succeeded in communicat-
ing by post with the Bevd. Dr. Young, head of the Scottish Mission at
Aden, and with the Revd. Mr. Brechin, a Scottish clergyman in Paris;
and in August he addressed an appeal for help to the British hanbassy in
Paris. Eventually Dr. Young, who came to Paris for the purpose, succeeded
with official assistance in obtaining Salim Qamri''s release from the asylum
nifi® —where he had been confined on the ground of u erotic mania, piostiation
^ and depression ''—and brought him back to Aden.
liii t# His formal deposition taken by a Magistrate at Aden on the 15th and
16th of December 1902, added something to what was known of the
" Fath-al-Basair " bureau and its operations. According to his statement
a letter had been issued to the Somali Mulla in the name u all Muhamma-
dans and their teachers " promising him aid in arms and ammunition, from
Jibuti, in his struggle against the English; a second from all Muslim
teachers ;J had been sent to the Shaikh of Kuwait, urging him to break off