IOR/L/PS/20/C158A/2

Two copies of a bilingual publication entitled ‘Treaties and Undertakings in force between the British Government and the Sultans of Maskat [Muscat; also spelled Muskat in the publication] and Oman 1845-1919’. No publication information is present. Stamps on the front covers indicate that both copies were enclosed in letter No. 97M from the Foreign Secretary of the Government of India to the Secretary of State for India dated 22 December 1916, and were received at the India Office on 27 January 1917.

The publications contain copies of various treaties and agreements between the British Government and the Sultans of Muscat and Oman and related correspondence, dated between 2 October 1845 and 11 February 1914. The Sultans named in the publication are:

• Syud Saeed bin Sultan [Sa‘īd bin Sulṭān Āl Bū Sa‘īd] in the years 1845-56
• Thoweynee bin Saeed [Thuwaynī bin Sa‘īd Āl Bū Sa‘īd] in the years 1856-66
• Syud Toorkee bin Saeed [Turkī bin Sa‘īd Āl Bū Sa‘īd] in the years 1871-88
• Seyyed Feysal bin Turki [Fayṣal bin Turkī Āl Bū Sa‘īd] in the years 1888-1913
• Taimur bin Faisal [Taymūr bin Fayṣal Āl Bū Sa‘īd] in 1914.

The agreements cover issues including:

• The trade in enslaved people
• Arbitration by the Viceroy of India between the Sultan of Muscat and the Sultan of Zanzibar [Mājid bin Sa‘īd Āl Bū Sa‘īd] in 1861
• Telegraphs
• Cession of territory in to powers other than Britain
• Commerce
• Arms traffic, including the export of arms from Muscat to British and Italian colonial Protectorates in Africa, and copies of forms and licenses relative to the import and storage of arms
• Coalfields in Sur.

The texts contained in the publications are printed in both English and Arabic. English copies begin at the front of the publications (f 56 and f 91); Arabic copies begin at the rear (f 86 and f 121).