‘File 4/3 (1.a/51) Propaganda’ [‎44r] (89/194)

i
■4
Shot of ship's
name (close-
up).
Omit in film
ing.
Picture of a
manumission
certificate.
Sloop under way
£3
Launches coming
alongside pass
enger ship. Doc
tor mounting
gangway.
Bazaar scenes
(Bahrain)
Scenes of Per
sian coast.
-3-
are there; and even one Russian ship, the Zhemchug
fitly named the Pearl, to sail those pearl-bearing
waters.
8. It was not enough to have peace for man on the high
seas. Ke must have liberty on land also; and as the body
ox treaties between tiie i^rab rulers and the Crown grew,
each in turn outlawed the slave trade. They did not, of
course agree to abolish domestic slavery; that was too
deeply rooted in the custom of their states, and in fact
it is not. even now certain that the house-born slave alv/ays
desires his liberty, a story v/hich is a "chestnut" in
Gulf circles may perhaps be permitted here, ^n old man
was talking to the Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. Surgeon in one of the Shaikhdoms
and mentioned that he had a certificate to prove that he
v/as the slave of so-and-so, granted him by the " Baliuz".
,l Bal]Luz"is the universal Gulf word for a Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. ,
probably derived from the Greek or Vasilevs,
which was the title of the Genoese envoy in the 16th - 17th
century at the Sublime Porte® Several people interrupted
protesting that the "baliuz" could not possibly have given
him such a certificate. The old man flew into a rage.
"Your lieif I have a certificate that I am the slave of
so-and-so, and he is bound to feed and clothe me". Proudly
he produced his manumission certificate with its crossed
Union Jacks and the Political agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. 's signature that he
was a freed man.
9o Furtively and spasmodically, a few slaves are still
kidnapped, mostly from Persian Baluchistan, and run ashore
to be taken to Ibn Saud's dominions and sold. The men
who dabble in this trade have taken advantage of the pre
occupations of the Royal Indian Navy and the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
Division of the Royal Navy with more deadly foes, to revive
a traffic which before the war was almost stamped out. In
Bahrain, indeed, even domestic slavery has been formally
abolished; but everywhere else where there is a Political
Agent, nobody need ba a slave who chooses to apply at the
Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. for manumission, and no-one from the Shaikh down
ward dare disregard a manumission certificate.
10o After man* s freedom, his health, and the important
task ( in a maritime society) of quarantine. All posts
nov/ have doctors of the Indian Medical Department, who
look after the British and Indian communities and their
local servants, board ships to grant or refuse pratique,
advise the rulers in urban hygiene and sanitation, and dlo
magnificent charitable work among tJbe local populations.
11. Perhaps I have talked long enough about the impact
of the Gulf of civilizing influences from without, and
ought to have given attention earlier to the indigenous
peoples of the Gulf. I do not propose to delve into
ethnological history. The important thing to remember is
that a navigable stretch of sea like the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. is a
bond of union between its two shores rather than a dividing
barrier. Se we have a larg^ Persian trading community
in Bahrain, and a considerable leavening of Persiais on the
Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. . Similarly on the South Persian littoral
from a point midway between Bushire and Lingah, down to
and beyond Lingah itself, the coastal tribes are of Arab
origin, speak Arabic, and have " Shaikhs" instead of "Khans"
In this area, the Persian gendarme or customs official
looks an outlandish stranger. Round Bushire itself are
j
;u
f
if
•••