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'Report on the Administration of the Persian Gulf Political Residency and Muscat Political Agency for the year 1877-78.' [‎252r] (49/165)

The record is made up of 1 volume (81 folios). It was created in 1878. 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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AND MUSCAT POLITICAL AGENCY An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. FOR THE YEAR 1877*78.
27
Appendix A to Part II.
Notes on the Pearl Fisheries of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , prepared by Captain E. L. Duband,
1st Assistant 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. .
The origin of the fisheries in the Gulf of Oman is lost in the
mists of a pre-historic period when no doubt the beauties of Niniveh and
Babylon were wont to deck their hair with gems drawn from the same
pregnant shoals that to this day largely supply the markets of the old
world.
2. We see from the accounts of travellers and historians that as
time went on a high value was set upon the pearls of Oman on account
of their peculiar beauty and lustre.
Pliny says distinctly “Those are most highly valued which are
found in the vicinity of Arabia in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , ” but here Ids
geography is at fault as he goes on “ which forms a part of the
lied Sea”.
3. If we are to judge by the number of times that the Islands
of Bahrain have been taken and retaken, their importance as the heart
of the fisheries has never been undervalued. Even from the time when
Tylos* and Arathos were Phoenician colonies. These islands have
changed hands more often than the Koh-i-Noor and are now in equally
safe-keeping.
4. It is a matter of great difficulty to arrive at anything approach
ing to a correct estimate of the amount and value of the pearls that
are now yearly harvested, as they are carried to many different markets to
suit the varying tastes of the nations.
* Some go to the Courts of Europe, whilst others, failing in this
“purpose of their high creation,” are reduced into aphrodisiacs that
may stimulate the energies of the worn out Sybarites of Hindustan.
These latter are however usually small, or at any rate are of no
intrinsic value, as it would fall to few to be able to concoct as rare a love
potion as the one in which the Egyptian Queen pledged her Imperial
Lover. This heirloomf from the Kings of the East was so large that
its fellow was deemed worthy to deck the Venus of the Roman Pantheon.
Between these best and worst there are many varieties which will be
separately noticed hereafter.
* The ancient names Tylos is still preserved in the name of a village (against the
statement of Rawlinson). Vincent had thrown doubt upon the very derivation of the
names which Rawlinson upholds.
These islands have been claimed as the birth place itself of the Phoenician race;
that they had colonies there is certain. Itrabo, who wrote before A.D. 20, quotes Eratos
thenes, (one of Alexander’s Historians) who says that Tyrus and Aradus are occupied
by Phoenicians. Uosselin says they first moved from Sidm, or Sidodona, a city visited by
March us to people Bahrein, and from thence established themselves on the shores of the
Mediterranean. Hureu in 1854 states positively that traces of Phoenician workmanship
and buildings have been found, and is himself convinced of Phoenician occupancy, and
Rawlinson, in his most critical 2nd essay on Phoenician emigration, in the 7th chapter
of Herodotus, gives all the arguments for and against the supposition. A comparison of
most of the authors quoted, and the belief of Political Officers now serving in the Gulf,
would lead one to the conclusion that there had most certainly been a Phoenician occupa
tion though there is only a possibility of these islands having been the cradle of the founders
of Tyre and Sidon. Herodotus himself however records his belief and the grounds of it.
f It was supposed to be worth 10 million Sesterces.

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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 1877-78, published by Authority at the Foreign Department Press, Calcutta [Kolkata], 1878. The 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 Edward Charles Ross) 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 Ross to Alfred Comyn Lyall, Secretary to the Government of India, Foreign Department, dated 8 July 1878, which enclosed the submission of the original reports.

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

Part I: General Report, signed by Ross, and arranged under subheadings as follows: Oman; Arab Coast; Bahrein [Bahrain]; Nejd [Najd]; Province of Fars and the Persian Coast and Islands; Bushire; Coast from Bushire to Lingah [Bandar Lengeh]; Lingah; Bunder Abbass [Bandar Abbas]; Persian-Baloochistan [Baluchistan] Coast; Bassidore [Bāsaʻīdū]; Establishments; Slave-Trade; Appendices (including meteorological tables, notes on the Kara Aghach River by Dr Friedrich Carl Andreas*, the route from Bushire to Lar and Shiraz, and the route from Lar to Shiraz, the Persian Post Office and Foreign Postage, and tables of Persian money and measurements).

Part II: Report on trade of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. for the year 1877, signed by Ross and arranged under subheadings, as follows: Effects of late war on the trade; Steam communication; Grain harvest; Scarcity of coin; Opium; Pearl fisheries; Impediments to development of trade in Persia; and appendices (including notes on the pearling industry by Captain Edward Law Durand, notes on date palm cultivation by James Charles Edwards, and 31 tables of trade statistics covering imports/exports from/to the various ports and settlements of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , and between the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. and India).

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 1877-78, prepared by Miles and arranged under the following subheadings: Political; Official changes; Slave Traffic.

Part IV: Trade statistics for Muscat, prepared by Miles, and comprising of six tables covering imports, exports, and number and tonnage of vessels entering and leaving the port.

* Folio 246 - a map has been temporarily removed and replaced with a green sheet of paper noting its removal.

Extent and format
1 volume (81 folios)
Arrangement

The report is arranged into four parts (I-IV).

Physical characteristics

Pagination: The report has a pagination system which uses numbers printed in the top-left corner of versos and top-right corner of rectos.

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 year 1877-78.' [‎252r] (49/165), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/V/23/32, No 152, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100026446897.0x000032> [accessed 4 October 2024]

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