"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎٣‎٧‎٤] (١٧٨٢/٥١٧)

S74i
Britain and The attention of the British authorities was necessarily engaged, from
Jibal pro- an ear ly stage of the strategical discussion, by the great inlets of the Ruus-
montory. al-Jibal headland. The question of pract ical measures was in this instance
complicated by an uncertainty, not finally dispelled until 1905, as to the
political status of the territories concerned and the action taken was in
consequence not free from inconsistency.
The principal indentation in lluus-al-Jibal is Khor-ash-Sham or Elphin-
stone Inlet, which opens into the peninsula from the Persian Gulf and is
divided from Malcolm Inlet, a corresponding arm of the Gulf of 'Oman,
only by a slender isthmus known as Maqlab. From 1864 until 1868,
under the Masqat telegraph conventions of 18G4 and 1865, a land line of
the Indo-European Telegraph Department had traversed the isthmus of
Maqlab and a British telegraph station had existed upon a small island in
Khor-ash-Sham. In 1902 it was regarded by the Government of India as
uncertain whether the Ruus-al-Jibal tract pertained to the Sultanate of
Masqat or was connected with Trucial 'Oman, and whether its rude inhabit
ants, the Shihuh and Dhahuriyin, were legally as well as virtually
autonomous. If Kuus-al-Jibal were a part of the Sultan of 'Oman's
dominions, it must be treated as subject to the Anglo-French Declaration
of 1862 and action by Great Britain inconsistent with that declaration must
be avoided ; if^ on the other hand, it belonged to one or more of the Trucial
Shaikhs, or were completely independent, the British Government would
be free to take such steps as they wished without risk of international
complications.
The first recommendations of the Government of India, made in 1902,
weie compatible with all possible views as to the ownership of Ruus-al-Jibal.
They weie that Telegraph Islet in Khor-ash-Sham should be re-occupied,
the British flag being hoisted and a Native Agent stationed there as at
Basidu, and that the strip of littoral from Dibah to Khor Kalba on the
eastern side of the'Oman promontory should be recognised by the British
Government as a dependency of Sharjah, and therefore as subject to the
agreements existing between the Shaikh of Sharjah and the British
Government. Both recommendations were accepted by His Majesty's
Government.
In 1904, shortly after Lord Ciirzon's cruise in the Persian Gulf and
examination of the various inlets of Ruus-al-Jibal, the Government of
India, who at this time inclined to the view that the district did not belong
to the Sultan of 'Oman, suggested that, under arrangements with the
neighbouring tribes, flagstaffs should be planted on the Maqlab isthmus
and on Ghanam Island as well as on Telegraph Islet, the British flag be
ing hoisted on them when required. The proposal was in the first instance