IOR/R/15/1/56

The volume contains copies of letters, many with copies of their enclosures, sent by the Resident in the Persian Gulf, Captain Samuel Hennell, to Charles Norris, Chief Secretary to the Government in Bombay. The letters deal with a range of subjects, as follows:

• The extent of the slave trade between Mauritius and Muscat, and in the Persian Gulf in general (folios 1-5);
• Relations between the various rulers on the Arab coast and Oman, including a siege led by the Imam of Muscat’s forces against the town of Sohar, the failure of the siege and renewal of peaceful relations between Muscat and Sohar (folios 10-13, 30-33, 38-43); hostilities and subsequent peaceful relations between Shaikh Sultan ben Suggar [Sultan bin Saqr] of Ras el Khymah [Ra’s al-Khaymah] and Shaikh Tahnoon ben Shakboot [Tahnun bin Shakbut] of Aboothabee [Abu Dhabi] (folios 44-45, 48-52), relations between the Joasmee [Āl Qāsimī] Shaikhs and the ruler of Sohar, Humood bin Azan (folios 64-65). Many of these letters enclose translated reports from the British Agent at Sharjah, Moolla Hussain, and the translations of letters from Shaikh Sultan bin Saqr, Shaikh Tahnun bin Shakbut and others;
• Reports on the ambitions of the Wahabee [Wahhābī] ruler Toorky bin Saood [Turki bin ‘Abdullāh bin Muḥammad Āl Sa‘ūd], and in particular to his demands on and relations with Bahrain (spelt Bahrein throughout), his desire to be on good terms with the British Government, and his diplomatic overtures to the Arab Shaikhs (folios 6-9, 16-20, 46-47, 53-56);
• Report of the proceedings of the Brig of War Euphrates during February 1831, signed by Acting Commander Denton. The report lists its orders received shown alongside actions taken, in left- and right-hand columns (folios 14-15);
• The dispatch to Bombay of tobacco seeds, with instructions for their propagation (folios 26-29);
• The dispatch to Bombay of silkworm eggs, with a description of how silkworms are raised in Persia (folios 60-61);
• The establishment of the first lithographic press in Shiraz (folios 62-63).

As a result of the volume having been significantly weeded in the past, there are multiple instances of truncated letters throughout the volume, most of which are identifiable by them having been crossed out in blue and occasionally red pencil.