مجموعة ٣٩/٦ "إدارة جزر الحلانيات (خوريا موريا) ووضعها الحالي" [و‎‎٢‎٢] (٢٩٦/٤٤)

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No .C/118.
From
To
Sir,
jr 33
ip*
v
OFFICE OF THE POLITICAL RESIDENT,
PERSIAN GU;
aboard H.M.S,
At Sea, dated the 8 |th April
Jo- ^
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The Hon 1 hie Lieut.-Col. ft’.H. «ay, CSlJ, C1E.,
Political Resident, _PersianjGulf,
His Majesty*s Secretary of State for India,
^Tije India Office, London•
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A^tT-Av sfc
I have the honour to report that by the ,
courtesy of the Senior Naval Officer Persian Gulf
on the 7th April I paid a visit to the Kuria Muria
Islands in H.M.S. ,f Wildgoose tl during my return journey
from Dhofar. Major Stewart Political Agent Muscat was
also on board.
k
2. A full geographical description of the
islands is given in Volume II of Lorime^s Gazetteer
of the Persian Gulf at pages 1043-1046. We passed
close by Haskiyah and Jibliyah islands which are still
white with guano, cruised all round Suda and landed
on Hallaniyah.
3. We examined Suda closely owing to a report
that a woman and her four sons were living on the
island, but saw no traces of human habitation and were
later able to confirm from the people on Hallaniyah
that Suda is uninhabited. When we approached Hallaniyah
a few men and boys appeared on a beach at the western
end of the island and I went ashore withjthe Senior
Naval Officer Persian Gulf and the Political Agent. We
were greeted by two men and four or five boys. They
were all poor specimens physically and the boys were
miserably thin. They informed us that there are about
70 persons living on the island. They have been settled
on the island for a very long time and the oldest man
in the party who was about 60 said he was born on it.
They do not know to what tribe they belong but say their
language is Shihri, and that it is the same as is
spoken at Murbat. They also speak Arabic. They live
by fishing, but own no boats and catch their fish
mostly in basket-traps. The chief fish they catch is
the ^afi* which they dry. Boats from Murbat come from
time to time to buy their fish and give them millet and
other necessaries of life in exchange. Fishing-boats
also come from Masirah to catch shark. They own about
60 goats but there has been no rain on the island for
three years and the grazing is very poor. We were taken
to their village which is a small collection of stone
huts inside some low hills at the western end of the
island. Drinking water is said to be plentiful and we
saw one well near the beach. No inhabitants appeared
except the party who first met us and we were told they
were all fishing. The women had probably been hidden
in the hills. The best house in the village was said to
belong to one Nasir of Sur who had gone off with a cargo
of