"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎٨‎٠‎٤] (١٧٨٢/٩٥٩)

804
vj
If ;
1876.
1876.
1879-81.
Shaikh Jasim of D5hah held the Bani Hajir to account for a piracy com
mitted near Khor Shaqiq, on a boat belong-ing' to 'Abdul FCarim of
Bahrain, in which more than §2,0n0 in cash, belonging to Shaikh Jasim
himself, was taken, besides goods belonging to British Indian subjects.
The Turkish gunboat " Iskanderia ^ made a cruise along the coast to
enquire into the misbehaviour of the Bani Hajir, and the result was
apparently to show that Shaikh Jasim himself was partly to blame for
the disorder that prevailed.
Lieutenant Fraser, Assistant Resident, who visited Dohah in 1875 in
connection with a British claim, found that the Ai Thani Shaikhs, who had
at first welcomed the Turkish occupation as a means of shaking off British
control in maritime matters, were now heartily tired of it ; but, for fear of
being deported to Constantinople, they concealed their dissatisfaction.
The Turkish representative, Jasim Agha, who was also Qadhi, not
withstanding the smallness of the force of only 50 gendarmes at his
disposal, insisted on being consulted by the Shaikhs in every matter and
recovered considerable sums of money from the inhabitants of Dohah.
In the autumn of 18/6, in the discharge at Dohah of an errand
relating to piracy, Captain Guthrie, commanding the B.M.S. " May
irere, obtained information that the town now paid from 9,000 to
10,000 Qrans per annum as revenue to the Turkish Government, but
that this amount was insufficient to cover the expenses of the small
Turkish detachment, whose duties were of a police and not of a military
nature. Ihe worst of the Qatar piracies in this year was one committed
in the Dohah harbour, close to the house of Shaikh Jasim himself, by a
party of seven Bani Hajir who attacked an Abu Dhabi vessel at night
while the crew were asleep, killing two men and carrying off a slave and
a quantity of other property; the total compensation due was assessed
at ^"2,679, but it was not apparently obtained, though a reference on
the subject was made by the British Government to the Porte. I n
this year Shaikh Jasim was appointed by the Turks to be Qaim-Maqam
or Deputy-Governor of Qatar, and thereafter his father Muhammad-
m- ham, who seems to have been better disposed to the British than
n- U ^ :S, an< ^ ^ W0 y ears l a ter in 1878, had no more voice
m public affairs.
In^May 1879 the Mutasarrif of Hasa came to Dohah in the " Iskan-
inw ■u'L .* n ^ en * ews various prominent individuals, includ-
D K w T' Wll0m 116 f0rmall y appointed to be governor over
some of thf^kl P ^ Vem ^ er there took place an exodus to Fuwairat of
Al Bu Kuwarah inhabitants of Dohah ; it was traced to