'Persian Gulf - Turkish jurisdiction along the Arabian coast (Part I)' [‎131v] (3/30)

land, between Oman on one side and the Wahabee
power on the other. At one time the Chief ot
Ahoothabee is said to have exercised authority in
Guttur. Later the TJttoobees, having settled here
and at Bahrein, became paramount. T^ese
turn had to pay religious tithe to the Wahabee
Ameer, who established a Governor of his own at
Bl In a deep bay, formed by the peninsula spoken
of abgxe with the mainland, is the large island ot
From longitude 53° the coast as far as the pro
montory of Ras -ul-Kheimah, generally known as
the "Pirate Coast," is occupied by the s^- call( J d
t£ Trucial Chiefs " of Aboothabee, Debay, Shargah,
Ejman, Amulgavine, ^ and Eas -ul-Kheimah, )e-
longiiiff to the Beni Yas, Al-boo Felasah, El
Joasim, and Al-boo Ali tribes of Arabs These
ChMs are described by Aitchison* as all paying
tribute to the Wahabee Chief of Nejd, but as
u really independent." The first part of this
statement, however, seems to require verification.
It was no doubt true at one period of time,t but it
seems very unlikely that, at the present, the
position of the trucial Chiefs in regard to the
"Wahabees is at all different from that held by the
Sheikhs of Bahrein, who are stated by Colonel Ross,
oho Resident in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , in a letter dated
^ 20th January last,t to have been " practically
reed from their engagements regarding payment
' tribute (or black mail) to the Wahabees " by
Virkish occupation of El Hassa and attempted
gation of Nejd, resulting in the destruction of
ower and influence of the Ameers.
Ras -ul-Kheimah begins the territory of the
n of Muscat or Oman, which extends south-
5 to and beyond Ras-el-Had, the extreme
ern point of the Gulf.
ie British Government has treaty relations
M Bahrein, the trucial Chiefs, and Muscat.
Hje following concise account of the history of
Bahrein is extracted from Aitchison (Vol. /,
p # 39) § ; —The island, owing to the richness of its
" pearl fisheries, was long a field of contention
<{ between the different powers that have held
st supremacy in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . Erom the
" eleventh to the beginning of the sixteenth cen-
t( tury the inhabitants of Bahrein, to whom an
" Arab and Persian descent has been variously
" assigned, were subject to Chiefs of their own
race. In the time of Albuquerque the island fell
" into the hands of the Portuguese, and was
" retained by them till 1622, when they were
expelled by the Persians. After the death of
" Kureem Khan in 1799, the petty Chiefs of the
" Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , who had been kept in check by the
t£ strong hand of Nadir Shah and his successors,
" became involved in contests for supremacy, and
" in 1783 the Uttoobee tribe of Arabs, who had for
" some years inhabited Zobarah, on the mainland,
" and were virtually independent, made themselves.
Vol.
45.
t Colonel (Sir L.) Pelly, in his report, on
the Wahabee country, written in 1865 (Coll.
to Political Despatch to India, No. 11,
dated 22nd February 1866), remarks as
follows on this point:—"There are tribes
u independent within themselves, whose Chiefs
" the Ameer has not authority to remove, but
" who nevertheless pay him tribute, although
" they cannot claim protection or aid. Under
" this class fall the Sultan of Muscat, the
" maritime Arab settlements of the Pirate
" Coasts, and the Chieftain of the Bahrein
" Islands, all of whom pay tribute : Sultan of
" Muscat, ^6.000; Chief of Bahrein, ,$4,000;
" Maritime Chiefs, from Ras-ul-Khyma to
" Aboothabi, ,$12,000."
An agreement, concluded between Colonel
Pelly and the Wahabi Envoy in April 1866
(Coll. to Political Despatch to India, No. 61,
dated 23rd August 1866), contained an
assurance on the part of Imam Abdullah bin
Feysul that he would not " injure or attack
" the territories of the Arab tribes in alliance
" with the British Government, especially in
" the kingdom of Muscat, further than in
" receiving the ' zukat' (religious tithe) that
" has been customary of old."
It would appear from this that the
" tribute" mentioned in the first quoted
extract is identical with the " religious tithe "
referred to in the second.
x Enclosure 15 in Secret Letter, No. 127 of
1879.
§ For further particulars, see India Letter
^ 0 * I® (Secret) of 1879 ; also Memorandum
by Sir E. Hertslet, 23rd March 1874.