"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎٧‎٠‎٣] (١٧٨٢/٨٤٦)

703
who was no other than the former Wahhabi representative Sa'ad-bin-
Mutlaq, was allowed by Shaikh Sultan-bin-Saqar to remain at Sharjah,
where, on his arrival in March 1839, a fortified house and tower had
been placed at his disposal by the Shaikh ; and from this point of
vantage Sa'ad at once began to intrigue, calling on the Na'im tribe
through Shaikh Sultau-bin-Saqar to surrender Baraimi for occupa
tion by a gairison of Wahhabis, whom he had brought with him, and
opening a direct correspondence with the Shaikh of Abu Dhabi, whose
co-'Operation with themselves, in view of his previous steady opposition to
Central Arabian influences, had been confidently anticipated by the
British authorities. On the Na'im, who had but recently obtained or
recovered possession of Baraimi, the threats of the Egyptian agent
produced no effect, and the NVirn were encouraged in their defiant attitude
by Saiyid Hamud-bin-'Azzan of Sohar, who immediately sent his own
brother Qais with 200 men to their assistance; but by Shaikh Khalifah-
bin-Shakhbut of Abu I habi the advances of Sa'ad-bin-Mutlaq were
cordially received.
The situation vis a vis of the Egyptians was now so unsatisfactory Counterac-
that Captain Hennell, the Political Resident, resolved on a personal visit t ' ive i mea81ires
by the
to Bahrain and Trucial 'Oman; he arrived off the coast of the latter on British
the 1st of July 1839 in the H.E.I. Company's Steamer "Hugh VulyTsstf'
Lindsay," of which the novel and surprising evolutions were not without
their influence on the disaffected Shaikh of Abu Dhabi.* Captain
Hennell's enquiries showed that the Shaikhs of Dibai and Umm-al-
Qaiwain were unfavourably disposed towards the Egyptians, but that
the Shaikh of Abu Dhabi was using every endeavour to supplant the
Shaikh of Sharjah in Sa'ad-bin-Mutlaq's favour, which Sultan-bin-
Saqar on his part was doing his utmost to retain. From each of these
/our chiefs the Resident obtained a general written agreement to sup
port the policy of the British Government and to resist that of the
Egyptians • and in the case of Sultan-bin-Saqar a further clause was
added, by which the Shaikh bound himself not to enter into any corre
spondence or treaty with Muhammad 'Ali of Egypt, his dependents, or
any other foreign power without the consent of the British Government,
and to regard the friends and enemies of the British as his own. The
Shaikh of Sharjah was also furnished, at his own request, with letters
from the Resident to himself and to Sa 'ad-bin-Mutlaq representing the
• The "Hrsh Lindsay, " Lieutenant Campbell, drew only eleven feet of water, and
the power of the vessel to advance up a narrow channel against the wind greatly
imprefsed the Arabs.