"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎٦‎٠] (١٧٨٢/٣٠٣)

160
the ship, from the excessive heat; now every man on board can very
" well bear, and indeed does wear a cloth coat or waistcoat/'
From the time of the Seven Years^ War with France the route
between India and Europe by way of Basrah and Aleppo had been
highly prized and much used by the East India Company, and even by
the British Government, as a safe and speedy line of commnnicatioD.
This overland post, or " Desert Mailas it was called, seems to have
been managed by the Compan/s representative at Basrah and the
British Consul at Aleppo jointly; and, in the troubled close of the
eighteenth century, its efficient maiMtenance was regarded as one of
the most important duties of the former of those officers. Dnnno- the
Persian occupation of Basrah in 1776 -79, and again during the
sojourn of the Basrah Residency at Kuwait from 1793 to 1795, the
eastern terminus of the line was located at Kuwait instead of Basrah;
and the working, for various reasons, was not so satisfactory as under
the ordinary conditions. The friendly relations which were generally
maintained by the British Agent at Basrah with the chiefs of Arab
tribes, such as the Muntafik, and even with the Wahhabis of Central
Arabia, whose rise had already begun to have a politically disturb
ing effect, sufficed as a rule to ensure the safety of the British des
patches.
The alarming prevalence of piracy in the Gulf in the years that
followed Mir Mahauna^s successful defiance of the British and the
Persians in 1705 and the unfortunate expedition by the British and
the Turks against the marauding Ka ab tribe in 1766, stimulated after
17(i9 by the war between Karim Khan and the Imam of ^Oman,
obliged the representatives of the East India Company to consider
various expedients for the protection of sea-borne traffic in general.
In 1707 the Agent and Council at Basrah, whose heads had been
turned by the location of a strong squadron in the Gulf under theip
orders, actually introduced, without reference to superior authority, a
system of granting British colours and passes to all owners of native
vessels who applied for them and agreed to pay Rs. 100 a year per
vessel; it was evidently anticipated by the local officers that these
passes would, without occasioning serious inconvenience to the Company,
give sufficient protection against the depredations of the subjects of
petty nuritime chiefs and bring in a considerable revenue. The Eesi-
dent at Bushehr, on being ordered to do his part in establishing this
s) stem, a \ ent further and proposed that the duties payable to the
Ccmpanv by British merchants should be realised also from such native