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'Selections from the Records of the Bombay Government' [‎93] (135/733)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (364 folios). It was created in 1856. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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CHARACTER AND SUBDIVISION OF THE TRIBES.
93
materially their own condition, and, by an easily deduced corollary,
the safety of the Gulf, might be affected by the failure of a single
season. The attention with which this point has been considered by
the Government, in framing its policy, marks the anxiety and care,
attended with great expense, which have been devoted to the main
tenance of perfect tranquillity and security on the pearl banks to the
subjects of the several petty chieftains who, however inimically
disposed, are bound there to forget their quarrels, or suffer them to rest
in abeyance.
The manners and religion of the Arabs of the piratical coast, being
those appertaining to the Soonee sect of Mahomedans, are already
too well and generally known to call for any further description in
this paper.
Of a character deceitful, vindictive, and treacherous, but brave and
independent withal, they hold in utter contempt all other nations^ pro
fessing whatever creed 5 the conviction of the irresistible power of the
British Government, whose weight they have in two instances been
collectively brought to feel, together with its subsequent occasional
exercise or demonstration in individual cases, have alone reduced them
to succumb to its will, and restrained them from acts of piracy. They
do not at the present time hesitate to admit, that the restraints imposed
upon them once withdrawn, their boats, now, in their own phraseo-
logy, ignobly employed as beasts of burthen, to carry about dates and
merchandize, would again, as in former days, overrun this Gulf and the
Indian Seas in search of booty.
The inhabitants are divided into a number of large tribes, acknow
ledging each its feudal superior, which are, again, sub-divided into
branches or clans, composed of the relatives and dependents of
some connexion of the general head, or of a powerful and wealthy
individual.
The superior of the tribe collectively has the general control of all;
possesses the right of claiming at his pleasure their military services }
and appropriates the small taxes that are levied.
dates, grain, and other necessaries of life, which they purchase with the price of those pearls.
Their dates are chiefh' brought from Bahrein and Bussora, grain and cloth from Muskat and
the Persian ports. They are very poor, and, perhaps, can never find much employment in
commerce, unless in carrying for others, although it is said they at one time possessed a very
extensive trade." The same holds good for the tribes in general to the present day, except
that their own boats are now engaged in the Indian trade.
Such was the original object of the Maritime Truce, guaranteed by Government, and enter
ed into for the six months including the season of the pearl fishery.
At the request of some, and with the concurrence of all the Chiefs, its time was extended to
eight and twelve months, and finally to ten years, during which all hostilities at sea are
forbidden.

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Content

The volume is Selections from the records of the Bombay Government , compiled and edited by Robert Hughes Thomas, Assistant Secretary, Political Department, New Series: 24 (Bombay: Printed for Government at the Bombay Education Society's Press, 1856).

Extent and format
1 volume (364 folios)
Arrangement

The volume contains an abstract of contents on p. iii, a detailed list of contents on pp. vii-xx, an alphabetical index on pp. xxi-xxvii, and a list of maps etc on p. xviii.

Physical characteristics

Pagination: two separate pagination sequences are present in the volume. The first sequence (pp. i-xviii) commences at the first page and terminates at the list of maps (p. xviii). A second pagination sequence then takes over (pp. 1-688), commencing at the title page and terminating at the final page. Both these pagination sequences are printed, with additions in pencil, and the numbers are found at the top (left, right or centre) of each page.

The fold-outs in this volume were not paginated by the publisher. As a result, these have been foliated using the nearest page number. For example, the fold-out attached to p.51 has been numbered as 51A.

Pagination anomalies: pp. 15, 15A; 45, 45A; 49, 49A; 51, 51A; 531, 531A.

The following pages need to be folded out to be read: 15A, 45A, 51A, 327-328, 531A.

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English in Latin script
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'Selections from the Records of the Bombay Government' [‎93] (135/733), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/R/15/1/732, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100022870191.0x000088> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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