"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎٢‎٥‎٧] (١٧٨٢/٤٠٠)

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6th.—If fpracticable, a serviceable road* should be made from the settlement along
the coast line to the so-called Pirate Towns and F orts. A good'oaravansarai should be
erected at the settlement terminus of this line, for the convenience of all travellers, and
I believe that the free, frequent, friendly, and beneficial interchange of visits which
would then ensue, as between the maritime Arabs and the settlement, Trould do more to
civilize the former and to open up Arabia to commerce and progress, than would do all
the menaces that a Resident might fulminate from Bushire, and than all the annual
visits of state that could be made before the year 1900 ; a little leaven leaveneth the
whole lump ;'and strong healthy life expels disease by its very nature.
7th.—Notification should be made of the freedom of the port, and all people should
be invited to settle there without any other condition than that of paying rent or pur
chase money for the ground they might secure, and of becoming subject to any munici
pal rules which the community might impose on itself.
8th.—No Turkish wall, no works with plunging fire would |be required. Persons
entering the settlem ent must come unarmed, and if any outrage occurred, punishment,
severe but pro mpt, should be administered, and no further altercation or retaliation
dreamed of.
9th.—'The officer entrusted with the charge of the settlement should have full powers
until all was settled. He could never have a fair chance of success if subordinates,
whether afloat or ashore, were allowed to cavil or offer the vis inertiae.
10th,—The Naval force should consist of two handy screw steamers. Vessels on
the more recent plan as to engines, would be most efficient and cheapest in the long run.
The title of Commodore or Senior Naval Officer (which in practice is only another
name for Commodore, with the extra inconven ience of the officer by reason of his real
want of rank being more than commodorely jealous of his dignity)|should have no place
in tUs little armament. The vessels should be attached to the chief of the settlement,
and should be wholly at his disposal whether for anti-slave work, telegraph communi
cation, suppression of piracy, conveyance of the chief to other points of Gulf, and for
miscellaneous cruising and maintenance of peace along the pearl bank. As a general
rule, one vessel should be on the move, the other in harbour ready to relieve or to meet
accidents.
11th.—The functions of Government, and the actions of Government servants in
the settlement should be limited to the removal of obstacles, to the maintenance of the
peace, to the protection of commerce, in so far as to render its development really free
and unmolested, and to the erection of remunerative public works, such as telegraph
office, a post office, bridges, wells, etc. For the rest, the settlement should be allowed
to grow of itself.
12th.—Muscat, whose interests and territories are thoroughly interlaced with those
of its neighbours about Mussundoom, should form part of the Mussundoom charge ;
there might be a Native Agent in the town of Muscat; and the one now at Sharga
might go there.
13th.—There should be a Vice-Consul under the Minister at Bushire, and who,
though directly subordinate to the Foreign Office, might correspond upon Gulf affairs
with the chief at Mussundoom.
5. The proposed settlement would flourish, I think, under any officer who would use
common sense on its administration, and leave commerce andpeople in general to manage
* From the hasty glimpse I had of this coast in 1857,1 fear that a road could not
be made between the Elphinstone Inlet and Eas-al-Khyma. But the distance is short
by sea ; and,from Ras-al-Khyma northward, along the Pirate Coast itself, the coast
is low and easily traversed.