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‘Masqat Arms Traffic. 1908–1909.’ [27v] (59/128)
The record is made up of 1 volume (60 folios). It was created in 1909. It was written in English and French. 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.
18
It is very difficult to get any reliable and
comprehensive information as to the total
trades in rifles and ammunition with the
Persian shores of the Gulf.
The Masqat merchants, like most
tradesmen, exaggerated the amount and
value of their business, and, as trade rivals,
they did not know the statistics of other
firms, and 'were not inclined to impart the
truth about their own.
Number of rifles exported to Persian coast A,,*
ing winter season, 1907>08. QUf
[Malcolm put last season’s trade with
the Persian coast (Afghans, Baluchis, Per
sians,
North-West Frontier
Region of British India bordering Afghanistan.
tribes), down
at 200,000 rifles, but our man considered
this greatly exaggerated.]
To arrive at even approximately cor
rect totals, it would be necessary to have
men stationed permanently at Masqat^
Jashk, Chahbar, etc.
The Arab trade is particularly hard to
estimate, as the Arabs are buying rifles
in small lots of tens and hundreds all the
year round.
We have the following few points to
go on :—
A.—Mahi Khel and Kbarotis seen at
Bandar Abbas, Jashk and Karachi, and
questioned separately, all gave more or less
the same information with regard to the
big caravan they got through last year.
They say that this caravan reached
its full strength at Bazman, and from
thereon it consisted of over 1,500 camels
carrying 30,000 rifles with 200 rounds
per rifle (less one boat-load of ammuni
tion, probably about 100,000 rounds).
The distribution of this caravan they
give as :— ■
Murad Khel 6,000 rifles : Kharoti 12,000
rifles; Mahi Khel 12,000rifles : Total 30,000
rifles.
7 rom another source one of our men
heard that the Nasero tribe had imported
3,300 rifles, but it is probable that these
are included in the above 30,000.
B. If we try to arrive at the figures from
the number of camels taken, we get nearly
the same number.
About this item
- Content
Bound volume containing two secret reports, both authored by Colonel Wilfrid Malleson (referred to as Division of the Chief of the Staff in the first report, and Assistant Quarter Master General for Intelligence in the second), and both issued by the Division of the Chief of the Staff in 1909.
The first report is entitled Statistics regarding the Masqat [Muscat] Arms Traffic (Revised.) (ff 4-16), and contains several appendices and fold-out tables giving details of: caravan routes along which arms trafficking is carried out on the Makran coast; total values of arms and ammunition imported into Muscat and other Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ports; importers and (European) exports of arms.
The second report is entitled Special Reports on the Masqat Arms Traffic, Season 1908-09 (ff 17-60), and comprises a number of reports on the arms trade through Muscat, submitted by ‘secret agents’, and a map illustrating the arms traffic from Muscat to Persia, Baluchistan and Afghanistan (f 59). The report also includes two appendices, lettered G and H. Appendix G is a letter (in French) dated 28 October 1907, from M Pick to Messieurs Malcom and Company of Muscate [Muscat]. Appendix H comprises lists (in French) of arms for sale, with prices given in French francs.
The voluime includes a map illustrating the Muscat arms traffic, dated 1909, indicating routes taken by the Muscat arms trade from the Persian (Makran) coast and inland, into Persia, Baluchistan and Afghanistan (f 59).
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (60 folios)
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 62; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.
Pagination: this part also contains an original printed pagination sequence.
- Written in
- English and French in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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‘Masqat Arms Traffic. 1908–1909.’ [27v] (59/128), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/289/A, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100049315702.0x00003c> [accessed 25 April 2024]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/20/289/A
- Title
- ‘Masqat Arms Traffic. 1908–1909.’
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, 2r:35v, 38v:61v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence