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‘Report on the administration of the Persian Gulf Political Residency and Muscat Political Agency for the years 1876-77.’ [60r] (118/125)
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. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
AND MUSCAT POLITICAL
AGENCY
An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent.
FOR THE YEAR 1876-77. 105
The principal streets are narrow, but generally even and free from
dirt. The streets in the bazaar opposite the Banya quarter are covered
over with matting so as not to admit the rays of the sun; and in conse
quence the ventilation in the bazaar is hig-hly defective. Owing to the
narrowness of the streets, and the closeness of most of the houses, the
ventilation is generally very indifferent, and light is sparingly admitted
into some of the by-lanes. The heat during the hot weather is very
oppressive, and walking, even a short distance, in the middle of the
day becomes an unpleasant task.
At Muttrah, and in the Khojia quarter in particular, the lanes are
very dirty, and unpleasant and offensive smells are not uncommon.
Prevailing diseases. —The general type of disease observed at Muscat
and in the surrounding country is what may be supposed to be peculiar
to the zone of tropical disease realm, being more or less characterised
by the great prevalence of malaria and its effects. In this respect a
close resemblance may be seen to exist between the principal diseases
of India, and those that prevail here, although the degree or intensity
of the malarial poison in the two places differs to a great extent.
Malaria and malarial fevers. —The cold season, which extends from
October to about the end of March, may also be termed the malarious
season, from the great prevalence of ague, and other diseases dependent
on malaria for their cause. The poison as known by its effects is either
of a milder nature or much less in its intensity than that observed to
prevail in most districts in India; thus ague, the most common form of
disease it causes, is generally observed here to be of a mild type, lasting
on an average about 48 hours (including the period of intermissions) ;
most easily yields to treatment and is least liable to be complicated with
other diseases. Although itself an uncomplicated disease, it seems,
however, to stamp other diseases with its own nature; thus inflammatory
fever as the result of a wound often assumes a periodic type. No class
of people seems to be altogether exempt from it during the malarious
season, although the Sedee, the Beloochee, and the Bedouin Arab seem
to suffer less from it than others. The Khojia and the town Arab, on
the contrary, suffer most from it and its effects. Remittent fever is
rather uncommon; but when it does occur it is generally uncomplicated
and of a mild type. Bilious remittent and remittent with typhoid
symptoms are almost unknown.
Hypertrophy of the spleen does not seem to be so common as
might be expected; a few cases occasionally present themselves, but they
are more of the nature of temporary congestion, yielding rapidly to
large doses of quinine. Brow ague, observed principally amongst the
ancemic Arabs and Arab women, is rather a common disease.
Considering the physical appearance and geological nature of the
country, it would not seem easy to account for the prevalence to such
an extent of malarious diseases. The atmospheric conditions that seem
to be most favorable for their production and prevalence, are a low
temperature of the air, and a wind blowing from the north-west, both of
which must be combined to produce the greatest amount of influence
they thus exert. It has been almost constantly observed that ague
begins to prevail at the setting in of the cold season, when the wind
o
About this item
- 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 View the complete information for this record
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/V/23/29, No 138
- Title
- ‘Report on the administration of the Persian Gulf Political Residency and Muscat Political Agency for the years 1876-77.’
- Pages
- front, front-i, 2v:62v, back-i, back
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence