'Selections from the Records of the Bombay Government' [‎472] (514/733)

472 BENIYAS.
was inflicting upon his people by withdrawing them from the pearl
banks before the season had half elapsed, the probability of his in-
volving himself with the English and the Wahabees, and the ad
visability of permitting the Beniyas to destroy themselves, without his
interference.
On the 7th September the united forces, consisting of seven hundred
men of the Boo Felasa and Humsha Tribes in eighty boats, and five
hundred and twenty men in twenty-two boats, under the command of
Sultan bin Suggur and Hussein bin Rahmah, set sail for Aboothabee,
in the full conviction that the place was deserted, and would be taken
without difficulty.
The threatened attack, however, had had the effect of settling the
disputes between Shaikh Khaleefa, Sultan, and the father Shakboot,
and a force of 3,500 men of the Beniyas and Monasir Tribes had been
assembled in Aboothabee. On the afternoon of the 10th, the
Joasmee force landed at Khore Suffan, about four miles from the Beni
yas capital, where they intended to pass the night, and make the
attack on the following morning. At sunrise they were aston
ished to find themselves surrounded by a much superior force, support
ed by cavalry and camel-men, and a panic seizing them, they broke at
the first discharge of firearms, and fled towards their boats, the greater
portion of which, owing to the ebb tide, were now high and dry.
Shaikh Sultan bin Suggur, with four of his slaves, got into a small boat,
which sank under their weight, and he had a narrow escape from
drowning. His loss amounted to thirty men killed, including the
brother of the Shaikh of Lingah, and a Buteel and five boats taken;
that of his allies to fifteen men killed, and sixty boats taken; besides
two hundred and thirty-five men made prisoners, who had no other
resource but to return to their families at Aboothabee.
The three Beniyas boats mentioned under the head " Joasmees" as
having evaded the blockading squadron now before Aboothabee and
put to sea, proceeded to Cape Bostana, where they captured an Ejman*
Buggarah carrying eight men, seven of whom they killed. They after
wards fell in with a Muskat Buggalow Large trading vessel. to the westward, out of which
they took some kharas of dates, 3,000 dollars, and all her guns, and
killed five of her crew. The Joasmee fleet in pursuit now heaving in
sight, they deserted the Buggalow Large trading vessel. , and, making all sail, escaped from
their pursuers, and returned in safety to Aboothabee. Shaikh Khaleefa
bin Shakboot made a foray upon the Ghuflah Tribe, who had assisted
the Debaye people in cutting off the supplies by land ; and, surprising
one of their villages, killed thirteen men and wounded eleven, and
*
The people of Ejman were acting as allies to the Joasinees, and consequently declared
enemies of the Beniyas.