'File 35/134 III (A 54) Sur: Ja`alan- Amirs of.' [‎71r] (157/426)

( ~\l
8 .
14. The Council would let it be known that they had the
support of His Majesty^ Government, and a sloop would,
if necessary, be stationed at the mouth of the creek to
see that dhows did not come out.
lb. With regard to the Jenebeh. By far the greater
part of the large^ number of the dhows which "monsoon" in
Sur belong to the Jenebeh; the dhow A term adopted by British officials to refer to local sailing vessels in the western Indian Ocean. trade is their life,
and a threat to it is a threat to their existence. Short
of accepting the Council’s terms I see only one ’card’
that the Jenebeh can play: a threat to the lives or
property, or both, of the British Indian subjects - some
twenty Bannias - at Sur, but reply to that would be that
any outrages on British subjects would be met with the
severest penalties, fines or otherwise, and as the dhows
would be still in the creek these penalties would not be
difficult to enforce. From what I have been able to
gather, however, I do not anticipate much opposition from
the Jenebeh.
16. The Bani bu Ali are a different proposition, but can
be divided into two parts those at Aiqa: and those in
Ja’alan. The former are in much the same position as the
Jenebeh since they are seafaring folk, and own the balance
of the dhows, about a dozen in number according to present
iniormation, which do not belong to Jenebeh.
Bani'-bu Ali
17. The Ja’alan/are the crux of the situation. As
^/^i awar 5/ the y ? laim Aiqa. and it is this claim
which renders Customs contror^neffecfiv^A-fo^e^ffier /3
nand a lairly large quantity of dates is exported from
Ja’alan all of which goes via Sur, and the holding up of
these dates would undoubtedly bring pressure to bear on the
Bani bu Ali. Dates from Bani bu Hasan, and the Sharkiah
tribes under the Imam, are also exported via Sur, and we