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‘Report on the Administration of the Persian Gulf Political Residency and Muskat Political Agency for the year 1878-79.’ [‎110v] (27/146)

The record is made up of 1 volume (72 folios). It was created in 1880. 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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16 administration report OF the persian gulp POLITIC \r
banked is some 22 yards across by 40 long, is as clear as crystal o
slightly green tint and very beautiful.
It holds a shoal or two of large fish and many water-tortoises. It is
, „ ,, .. not .Perfectly sweet, and applies to
L a ' ly nn allthe d ™ k ^ water
cliffs. connoisseurs being brought on camels
. . ; from the wells of the Umm Koefih and
Hanaim, said to be 20 fathoms deep, in the hills of Rifa-a*
The water is conducted from these various wells by ordinary unbanked
channels, the larger of which have come to look like natural streams
Where it is necessary to raise it, this is done from wells by the ordinary
skin-bucket let down oyer a pulley, and walked up to the cistern level by
cattle pulling down an incline from channels, generally by leverage of a
date-trunk lightly swung by ropes to a frame and balanced at one end
by a basket of earth, into which it is inserted, so that little exertion is
required to lift up the water.
The Jebel Dukhan, as I said above, seems to be of a sort of lime
stone. I found some fossil shells upon it. The surrounding cliffs were
where I saw tiiem, I think, of sandstone j but they are generally limestone
and this stone was enormously quarried from here, I take it to build the
dead houses under the tumuli.
On nearing the coast, white dusty ground, the cerecloth of dead
t I append a sketch of one group races and habitations, intrudes every-
hLmd Se ' the largesfc on tlie wbere as if to enforce attention, and
. ' , .. . mighty mounds,t bare of vegetation,
tower above the palm groves.
The map gives a very slight idea of this most noticeable feature.
Mass upon mass, mound upon mound, these mounds stretch on in endless
chains all round the slope that falls from the cliffs to the sea, clino-inc
more particularly perhaps to the higher ground, but found in separate
clusters near the coast itself.
Ihe parent group is perhaps that at Ali,J a modem village, but
J See map. other large ones are to be found at many
Tz ,. ' places, noticeably those in the Bilad-i-
Kadim, the red ones on the left of the high road to Rifa-a, and the chain
ot five or six large ones facing the northern sea near the village of Sirabe,
which are only some out of very many groups, all more or less worthy of
notice. 1 shall have to recur again to these monuments later on.
Salt in considerable quantity is said to be obtainable at the southern
§ P ^ n .Y-—Houses built of " fossil end of the island, (as also, I am told, on
s;; ^ ^ d „ j r n ArT land - ) s
on Bahrain, which is strongly im- account Ot the houses built of salt§ ID
pregnated with salt). 0 these parts and "mended with-salt water
douches.^
On this subject an Arab from the mainland assured me that in one
place, where they now quarry salt, the remains of old buildings and
pillars are often seen.
2'rees and Plants.— Poremost amongst the trees is, of course, the date,
ana some ot the date-gardens are extremely fine. Many however are
^? ir !^. a11 f^ n j ruin; the result of bad government on the part of the
ai , and indeed in some places that were once flourishing gardens
not a bearing tree remains.

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Content

Administration Report of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. Political Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. and Muskat [Muscat] Political Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. for 1878-79, published by the Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India (Calcutta), forming part of the Selections from the Records of the Government of India, Foreign Department, and based on reports sent to Government by the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. 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. at Muscat.

The report is divided up into a number of sections and subsections, as follows:

Part 1, is a General Report (folios 102-107) written by Edward Charles Ross, Resident in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. that gives a summary of developments in the region during the past year. It is divided up as follows:

1. 'Oman;

2. Arab Coast;

3. Bahrain;

4. Nejd, El Hasa [Al Hasa], El Katr [Qatar];

5. Southern Persia;

6. Bassidore [Bāsa‘īdū];

7. Establishments;

8. Slave Trade.

Part 1 contains the following appendices (folios 107v-115):

Appendix A: contains a number of meteorological tables in Bushire and Shiraz during the previous year.

Appendix B: 'Description of the Bahrain Islands' by Captain Edward Law Durand, First Assistant Resident, Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. .

Appendx C: 'Memorandum on the Topography, &c., of Khuzistan or Persian Arabia, by P J C Robertson, Esq., Assistant 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. , Busrah [Basra].

Part 2 , is a Report on Trade of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. for 1878 (folios 116-119) written by Edward Charles Ross, Resident in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . It also contains a Memorandum on the Opium of Persia written by George Lucas, Uncovenanted Assistant to the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. , Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. .

Part 2 contains the following appendices (folios 119v-159):

Appendix A: Memorandum on cultivation of a village in one of the Boolooks (districts) of Shiraz.

Appendix B: Three tables related to the number of vessels engaged in trade in Oman, Bahrain and from Lingah to Dayer.

Appendix C: A series of 29 tabular statements relating to numerous aspects of trade in the region.

Part 3 , is an Administration Report of the Political Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. Muskat, for the year 1878-79 (folio 159v-160) written by Samuel Barrett Miles, 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. and Consul, Muskat. The report provides a summary of developments in Muskat and the surrounding region during the previous year.

Part 3 contains the following appendix:

Appendix A: 'Memorandum on Geography of 'Oman' by Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel Barrett Miles, 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. and Consul, Muskat.

Part 4 , is a Muskat Trade report written by Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel Barrett Miles, 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. and Consul, Muskat (folios 162v-169). The report contains a number of tabular statements related to trade to/from Muskat during the previous year.

Extent and format
1 volume (72 folios)
Arrangement

The report is arranged into a number of sections and subsections, with statistic data in tabular format directly following written sections. There is a contents page at the front of the report (folios 100-101) that lists the report's contents and uses the report's own pagination sequence.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: There is a foliation sequence, which is circled in pencil, in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. of each folio. It begins on the first folio, on number 98, and ends on the last folio, on number 169.

Pagination: The volume contains an original typed pagination sequence.

Written in
English in Latin script
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‘Report on the Administration of the Persian Gulf Political Residency and Muskat Political Agency for the year 1878-79.’ [‎110v] (27/146), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/V/23/36, No 165, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100023578314.0x00001d> [accessed 19 April 2024]

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