File 5301/1928 'Persia: Anglo-Persian Slavery Convention. Slavery in the Persian Gulf' [‎77r] (159/685)

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Sir R. Clive to Mr. A. Henderson.—(Received November 2d.)
j? r °' Tehran, November 9, 1929.
&1 ' I HA.VE the honour to enclose herewith copy of a despatch on the subject of
slavery from the Resident at Bushire which reached Tehran during my absence in the
south. ^ om t | 1 j 8 despatch it will be seen that there is a regular traffic, although
admittedly on a fairly small scale, across the Gulf and to the Muscat coast of Persian
Baluchis sold as slaves. ^ u ,
3 . Colonel Barrett gives as a very rough estimate the figure of 100 annually, but
he admitted to me in conversation that this was almost certainly an under-estimate.
A truer figure would be from 200—500 a year.
4 1 shall inform the Minister of Court of this and point out that at this rate
there is a steady drain of able-bodied men from Persian Baluchistan whom Persia,
with her very small population, can ill afford to lose. I propose to use this information
in a final attempt to induce his Highness to accept our original proposals for a new
Slavery Convention before acting on the instructions contained in your despatch
No. 503 of 24th October last. , ^ c ^
Copies of this despatch, without enclosure, have been sent to the foreign Secretary
to the Government of India and to His Majesty’s consul-general, Bushire.
I have, &c.
R. H. OLIVE.
Enclosure in No. 1.
Consul-General Barrett to Sir R. Clive.
Sif 0 Bushire, October 15, 1929.
’ 1 HAVE the honour to inform you that the three slaves mentioned in my letter
No. 115/1859 of the 13th August, 1929, were repatriated from Muscat to Bunder Abbas
on the 28th August, but I have been unable hitherto to trace the ot.ier wo men
mentioned by the Governor of Bushire. n * • i m
Enquiries made at Muscat show that there is a steady, thoug sma , ri
slaves from Persian Mekran to the Arab coast along two mam routes. re noi lem
route is from Bungi and Sirik to Katar, Abu Dhabi, Khor f ak mn an i )a ; u 1 i
the southern is from the Mekran ports of Sudaich, Ghallaq, Gohurt, arag, uzim
Kunerak to ports on the Batinah coast of the Muscat coast ... r
The principal slave supplier in Mekran is Barkat Ivhan. e is a man o &
generosity and is said to repay any present from the Oman shei is our 0 •
Katar and the Trucial sheikhs are reported to send him occasional presents of nfies
and ammunition and to receive slaves in return. i „ , . , , 0 j
Most of the slaves engaged in the Trucial coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. pearl fjsnenes aie 8 ave ,
live in Arabia, but a limited number of both Mekran slaves an cap !ves
enslaved is brought to Oman. The captures and enslavements in 1 ersian Beltran are
carried out entirely by the inhabitants themselves. The information ^ i
shows that Barkat Khan, against whom the Persian Government is san 0 P
to act, is the chief offender. His practice is to take a son or daughter irom a
defaulting member of his following in lieu of the payment of c ues.
Barkat Khan’s territory lawless brigandage secures the slave supp \. , dpalpr^
There is no doubt that the magnet of the pearl fisheries attrac s e shifted
W the supply area which used to be centred in Africa now appears to have
to Persian Mekran. It must be emphasised, however, that the numbers of neHy
made slaves imported by sea are very small. As a very roug es ima
IdU annually is given.
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