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‘Report on the administration of the Persian Gulf Political Residency and Muscat Political Agency for the years 1876-77.’ [‎48r] (94/125)

The record is made up of 57 folios. It was created in 1877. 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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,» « & •. i- ^
AND MUSCAT POLITICAL AGENCY An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. FOR THE YEAR 1870-77.
Jebel Akhdhar and beyond, the risk and expense of carriage cause the
exclusive use of metal in lieu of earthenware, the women even being 1
necessitated to bring- water from the wells in copper vessels.
The jewellery and gold and silver work of Muscat is mostly done
by Cutchees and Sindians, and is very superior, the mode of ornament
ing dagger and sword sheaths, especially, being peculiar to Oman. These
men make large profits, as the Arabs generally are too simple and un
sophisticated to comprehend the value of the work done for them. In
the interior the gold and silversmiths are Arabs or Baisurs, but their
workmanship is much inferior.
Fisheries. —Fish are found in enormous quantities all along the
Oman Coast, and form a very important article of consumption, not only
to the coast dwellers, but also to the interior population; large quanti
ties of salt-fish being prepared at Muscat and other towns for home
consumption and exportation to India, the Mauritius, &c. The fisher
men are Arabs, Persians, Belooch and Socotraees, but though a successful
and independent race, are looked down on by the Arabs. They are quite
nomadic in their habits. In the pilgrim months many go to Jeddah in
dows to fish, being induced thereto by the high prices there prevailing,
and they usually return with a respectable sum as the fruit of their
labour. At another time they spread themselves along the Mekran
Coast salting their takes on the spot, and returning after two or three
months with large supplies. The Socotraees and Mahras come to Oman
for the autumn, and remain till about January. The nets used are
of many kinds, but the larger fish and sharks, saw-fish, sword-fish and
rays are taken with a line. In the Batinah the nets are nearly a
mile long, and form the chief wealth perhaps of a whole village. As in
Norway the rejected heads of cured fish are given to cattle, but they
are here boiled up with date-stones, remnants of mat-bags, and other
refuse ingredients into a palatable mess.
Trade. The annexed tabulated statements show the statistics of
the trade of Muscat and Muttrah for the past year, 1876-77. It must,
however, be repeated that these returns cannot be altogether relied upon
as correct. The books of the customs' farmer, from whom they are
obtained, are not kept in a way to show the exact quantities of goods
passing through the Custom-house, and it is to his interest to diminish
the apparent trade of the port to keep competitors out of the field. The
figures givon are undoubtedly much below the actuals, especially of the
imports. The exports may be accepted as fairly correct. No returns
are obtainable from the other ports of His Highness' dominions, where
foreign trade is carried on, such as Soor and Sohar, as the Government is
unable to levy taxes there. I estimate the value of the total imports
into Oman at about 30 lakhs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees of rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. . The value of dates alone ex
ported from all ports last year was probably about 20 lakhs One lakh is equal to one hundred thousand rupees . The trade,
prosperity and population of Muscat are rapidly declining, and the
town itself falling to ruins. This is due partly to the general insecurity
of the country, owing to the intestine commotions which have distracted
it of late years, by which trade is paralyzed, and merchants deterred
from sending orders for goods in large quantities, but more directly to the
operations of the Steam Navigation Company carrying the mails which

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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. 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 Muscat Political Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. for 1876-77, published by Authority at the Foreign Department Press, Calcutta [Kolkata], 1877, and forming part of the Selections from the Records of the Government of India, Foreign Department (no. 138). The administration report is based on reports sent by the Officiating 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. (Lieutenant-Colonel William Francis Prideaux) 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 (Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel Barrett Miles) to the Government of India. The report is preceded by a copy of a letter sent by Prideaux to Thomas Henry Thornton, Officiating Secretary to the Government of India, dated 15 June 1877, which enclosed the submission of the original reports to the Government of India (folio 8).

The report is organised in a number of sections and subsections, as follows:

Part I: Administration Report for 1876-77 – General (folios 8-10) signed by Prideaux, and arranged under subheadings as follows: 1. Oman; Petty independent chiefdoms (2. Oman Coast); 3. Bahrain [referred to as Bahrein throughout]; 4. Nejd [Najd]; 5. Bassidore [Bāsa‘īdū]; 6. Persian Coast; 7. Government of Fars; Bushire (Dashtee, Bunder Abbass [Bandar-e ʻAbbās], postal, judicial); Establishment (political, medical, naval); slave trade.

Part II: Administration Report for 1876-77 – Memorandum showing the number of Returns accompanying the Trade Report of the 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. , Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. (folios 11-45), comprising thirty statistical tables containing data on the import and export of commodities into and out of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. during the official year 1875-76. The tables contain data for Arabia, Persia and Turkey in Asia, and specifically data on vessels and trade at Bushire, Bandar-e ʻAbbās, Lingah [Bandar-e Lengeh], Bahrain and the Arab coast. There is an index of the statistical tables on folio 11.

Part III: Administration report of the Political Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. , Muscat, for the year 1876-76 (folios 45-48), prepared by Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel Barrett Miles, Her Britannic Majesty’s 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 at Muscat. The report is arranged under the following headings: political; resources and trade (production, agriculture, industries, fisheries, trade).

Part IV, prepared by Miles (folios 49-55) comprises six statistical tables containing trade data relating to Muscat: average tonnage of vessels entering and leaving the port of Muscat; imports and exports, listed by commodity; and contrasted statements on vessels and imported goods.

Part V, Medical Topography of Muscat (folios 55-62), by the Muscat Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. Surgeon, Atmarim Sadashiv Jayakar. Jayakar’s report is arranged under the following headings: geology; climate; water supply; food; sanitation; population; dwellings and streets; prevailing diseases; malaria and malarial fevers; typhoid fever; smallpox and measles; cholera; dysentery; scurvy; rheumatism; phthisis pulmonalis; bronchitis; purumonia; organic diseases of the heart; dyspepsia, colic and diarrhoea; hoemorrhoides [haemorrhoids]; diseases of the liver; hypertrophy; diseases of the kidney and bladder; diseases of the brain and insanity; diseases of the eye; diseases of the skin; leprosy; ulcers; dracunculus; venereal diseases; syphilis.

Extent and format
57 folios
Arrangement

The report is arranged into five parts (I-V). Part I is arranged into numbered sections (1-7) and numbered paragraphs (1-35). Part II is arranged into numbered tables (1-30). Part III is arranged by subject headings and subheadings, part IV by lettered tables (A-F), and part V by suhheadings. There is a contents page at the front of the report (folios 6-7), which lists the report’s contents by part and major headings, and refers to the report’s internal 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 1, and ends on the last folio on number 62.

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 Muscat Political Agency for the years 1876-77.’ [‎48r] (94/125), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/V/23/29, No 138, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100023676263.0x000061> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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