"الاتجار بالأسلحة في مسقط. ١٩٠٨-١٩٠٩." [ظ‎‎٣‎٠] (١٢٨/٦٥)

24
' Our man arrived at tlie'ie figures in the
following manner : He made himself out to
be an agent from the Nawab of Dir, and
he said that he had been commissioned to
make purchases on a very large scale for
the a ming of the whole state. The firms
in Masqat appear to form small rings, each
composed of 3 or 4 merchants. The mer
chants in one ring mutually help each other
in making up deficiencies of stock, etc.
Our man went to Malcolm first. In his
ring are included Baijeot and Harun-bin-
Khamas. He then went to Muhammad
Abdulla, with whom are one Abdur Rahim,
Ali Khan-bin-Musa Khan and another
man (not known). He was not able to
enter into negotiations with each firm, as
he could not have kept it secret from the
others and by patronising rival establish
ments he would have been thrown over
by the people upon whom he was relying
for his information.
He did not approach Goguyer, but he
says that the Afghans nearly all work
through either Hamn Ali Khan-bin-Musa
Khan or Muhammad Abdulla, and that he
believes Goguyer go?s in mainly for the
Arab trade.*
The figures he gives are the totals he
got from the Malcolm and Muhammad
Abdulla rings, and were given him as the
number of rifles he could procure immedi
ately on the spot in Masqat.
Malcolm said that he could cable to
Europe and get out any particular sort of
rifle in any quantity required, also cart
ridges, within two months. The native
firms required three months’ notice.
Martini- Henrys.
1. Marked • 577-450. Picture of a Bee
on left side.
Price Rs. 38 with 100 rounds.
2 . Marked “Mashallah”
Price Rs. 38 with 100 rounds.
3. Marked picture of Lion on one side,
picture of Tiger on other. Price Rs. 60
with 100 rounds.
For quantities in which rifles can be procured
in Europe see letter ‘ G ’ and catalogue ‘ H. *
While looking through the files in Baijeot’s
shoo, our man saw receipts for one lot of
20,000 Werndl rifles and 5,000 Mausers from
some Belgium firm. Baijeot said that he had
bought these two job lots very cheap.
* But later reports state that Goguyer did a
large business with Afghans this last season.
Description of Rifles and prices at Masqat-
I He cannot quote numbers for sale for these,
but says that there are very large stocks of
these cheap Martini-Henry rifles.