'Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf. Vol I. Historical. Part IA & IB. J G Lorimer. 1915' [‎260] (403/1782)

etand, very favourably on the productive powers and facilities for trade of the regiomit
the head of the Gulf.
12. There is in prospect, also, the opening of some line, whether of rail entire, or of
rail combined with river and canal communication, between the head of the Gulf and
the Mediterranean, and I have recently had an interesting convemtion on this subject
with the Turkish Director of Public Works in the Pashalik of Baghdad.
13. No one who has observed and studied the development of trade and progress and
®f political events since the time when i first served in Sindhin 1841, can be blind to
the great potential importance of the line connecting Kurrachee with Europe via not
the so-ealled Euphrates line without deviation, but vta some line connecting the Persian
Gulf with the Mediterranean by the Tigris or Euphrates, or by canals, or by one or other,
or by all of these combined, with connecting intervals of rail.
14. I forbear troubling Govemment with statistical statements, because I know
how figures mislead, unless they are based on reliable accounts, and such are not at
present available in these regions for the general trade.
15. But the constant increase in the number of steamers, the comparative small
falling-off in native craft, the contentment of the merchants, the increased rate of mule
hire, the increasing number of solid houses at the ports, and the inconvenient rise in
house-rent and general prices, while they do not constitute statistical statements, are
yet facts which could not, perhaps, exist, unless the statistics of trade were favourable,
whether tabulated or not.
16. On the other hand,' it should never be forgotten that this line is, perhaps,
singular in one respect, viz., that while, on the one hand, civilization and trade are in
creasing more than we could have expected, we have, on the other hand, constantly to
watch on the Arab littoral tribes who have immemorially been accustomed to dwell in i
condition wherein every man's hand was ever prone to be raised against his neighbour.
To keep the maritime peace along the strongholds of these littoral Chieftainships isuc
child's play. It is not alone by the sudden and occasional appearance of a man-of-war
that this can be thoroughly done. What is required is uniform vigilance and pressure.
The position of the Resident as arbitrator of the maritime truce may be aptly compareJ
with that of an officer holdingla civilized frontier against lawless borderers. Those bord
erers would never be kept quiet or reduced to order and industry by intermittent
sallies from a garrison, accompanied by|tardy retaliation ; what is wanted is the conitant
pressure of watchful outposts ready at any moment to put down raids, and uphold tfif
peaceful and well inclined. The tribes so dealt with gradually come to perceive thatt e
object of the civilized Power'in patrolling is not vengeance, but the general good at
the maintenance of peace and progress. The tribes thus come to learn also that rai ^
and piracy are unsuccessful in practice. Our light gun-boats are such outpostb an
patrols for the Arab coast; and my respectful and earnest recommendation to the I
Honourable the Governor in Council is to keep the small sea force available for «
Gulfs of 'Oman and Persia under one head, and to permit that head to patrol, e •
or concentrate it as he may deem the necessities of the moment to dictate. The tee^
graph runs through these regions, thus giving the Resident instant intellig® 11 ^
whatever happens; although, as a rule, the littorals of Mekran and Muscat are entiK
peaceful, and it is only along the A.rab Coast of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , between ap
Mussendoom and Koweit, that the maritime Arabs require habitual watching. ^
that I could write on the principle involved in this agreement {tic) ma y ^ „
better expressed in the writings of the General who first taught to meditate
problems. I allude to thosa of the late Colonel John Jacob.