58
1878.
1882.
1884.
1885-1886.
Slave trade,and furtherEngagement(1856) relating to thesame.
Government of India ordered that the whole of the Qāsimi coast on the Gulf of'Omān from Dibah to Khor Kalba, as also the coast of Ruūs-al-Jibāl, so far asmight be convenient, from Dibah to Musandam, “should be deemed subject to theoperation of the maritime truce,” which was not applicable to the coasts of the'Omān Sultanate.*
In 1878 Shaikh Hashar of Dibai, a man of quick and impetuous temper evenfor an Arab, refused to satisfy three claims established against his subjects, theplaintiffs in two cases being Persians and in the third an Indian; and Colonel Milesfound it necessary to visit Dibai in H.M.S.“ Teazer.” Compensation and a finewere exacted and an offending boat was burned, after which the Shaikh apologisedfor his conduct and friendly relations were resumed.
In June 1882 it was discovered that boats belonging to 'Ajmān had beenimplicated in an attack, some time previously, on the “Fath-al-Karīm," a vesselunder Turkish colours in the Red Sea, and that part of the booty had been landedat 'Ajmān. H.M.S. “ Arab” was accordingly sent to 'Ajmān, where a quantityof the goods was recovered and nine of the boats implicated were publicly burntas an example.
In June 1884, a dispute about diving stations having taken place on the pearlbanks between a boat of 'Ajmān and another of Shārjah, Saif-al-Adham, amischievous 'Omāni who had been living on Sirri Island for several years since hisexpulsion from 'Omān, sided with the Shārjah boat and fired upon the other. Inconsequence of this offence H.M.S.“ Philomel” was sent with the Residency Agentto Sirri, where Saif's own boat was publicly destroyed.
In 1885 or 1886 the Shaikh of Bakhah moved by sea with an armed force,apparently to assist the Shaikhs of Rās-al-Khaimah and Shārjah in some operationsagainst Sha'am; he escaped with an admonition from the Resident.
At the beginning of the period the slave trade continued almost unabated,especially at Shārjah, Umm-al-Qaiwain and 'Ajmān. The Shaikhs professed themselves extremely willing, but quite unable, to suppress the traffic; it wasascertained however that the Shaikh of Shārjah, who was the most obsequiousof all in his protestations, habitually levied a tax of $4 upon each newly importedslave. In 1856 a further Engagement was obtained from the Trucial Shaikhs, inwhich they undertook, among other things, to seize and deliver up to the Britishauthorities any slaves whose importation into their territories should be proved.
The Ruüs-al-Jibāl tract having been crossed at the isthmus of Maqlab by theIndo-European Telegraph Department's line and a station having been establishedon an island in Khor-ash-Sham, it was considered advisable, as the jurisdictionover the district was asserted by some of the inhabitants to belong to Shārjah,to obtain a written guarantee for the protection of the line in and near theirterritories from all the Trucial Shaikhs. An Agreement in this sense, in the formof an additional article of the Perpetual Treaty of Peace of 1853, was accordinglyconcluded in 1864.
We have already adverted, in connection with the Ten Years' Maritime Truce,to a principal cause of such minor disturbances as still occurred at sea-themigration, namely, of debtors engaged in the pearl fishery or pearl trade from onejurisdiction to another with a view to evading their liabilities. The evil was afar-reaching one, and in 1868 Colonel Pelly, the British Political Resident, tooksteps for enforcing the duty of extradition upon harbouring chiefs; but they werenot, apparently, efficacious. At length, on the 24th of June 1879, an agreementfor the mutual surrender of fraudulently absconding debtors was accepted andsealed by the Trucial Shaikhs in the presence of Hāji Abdur Rahmān, the ResidencyAgent at Shārjah, and of Hāji 'Abdul Qāsim, Residency Munshi, who had beenspecially deputed from Bushehr to explain to the Shaikhs the views and wishes ofthe Resident; it provided that in future every runaway of the class in questionshould be at once surrendered; that, if on the contrary he were harboured, theharbouring chief should be liable to a fine of $50, or in the case of the absconderbeing allowed to proceed to the pearl banks to a fine of $100, besides incurringliability for the just debts of the runaway; that the facts, if disputed, should besettled by a Majlis or council of arbitration; and, finally, that no fine should be
TelegraphAgreement,
1864.
AbscondingDebtorsAgreement,24th June,1879.
* Such was the form of the order, but it appears somewhat inappropriate. The GeneralTreaty of Peace of 1820 and the Perpetual Treaty of Peace of 1853 do not apply to particularwaters or coasts, but to the subjects of the signatories wherever they may be. It would have beensufficient, and more strictly correct, to have recognised Shamailīyah as belonging to Shārjah, aswas actually done later in 1903. Nor can the inhabitants of Ruūs-al-Jibāl, who are Masqat subjects,be properly regarded as subject to the treaties quoted above, to which their Sultān is not a party.
