'Book No 253'.

The volume contains copies of correspondence sent and original correspondence received by the Political Residency in the Persian Gulf, Bushire, relating to Bahrein [Bahrain] and the Wahabees [Wahhabis]. The Political Resident in the Persian Gulf throughout the period was Captain (James) Felix Jones. The main correspondents are Hajee Jassem [Ḥājjī Jāsim], British Agent at Bahrein; Henry Lacon Anderson, Secretary to Government, Bombay, and Acting Secretaries to Government, Bombay; Herbert Frederick Disbrowe, Assistant Resident in the Persian Gulf; Commanders of the Persian Gulf Squadron; Arnold Burrowes Kemball, Political Agent in Turkish Arabia, Baghdad; Mahomed ben Khuleefa, Sheikh (or Chief) of Bahrein [Muḥammed bin Khalīfah Āl Khalīfah]; Mahomed bin Abdullah [Muḥammad bin 'Abdullāh], Sheikh (or Chief) of Demaum [Dammām]; and other local rulers and officials. Correspondence from local rulers and officials is mostly translated into English, but there are two letters in the original. The papers include: reports of relations between the Sheikhs of Demaum and Bahrein; infringements of maritime peace; rules observed by the Resident in registering British subjects in Bahrein, and in defining their privileges of exemption from taxation, June - August 1861 (folios 23-27); account of 'vexatious' behaviour by the Sheikh of Bahrein towards the British Agent and British subjects trading in his territories, September 1858 - March 1861 (folios 103-127); moves by the Ottoman Empire and Persia to obtain influence over Bahrein, March 1859- January 1862 (folios 150-187); and the removal of Mahomed bin Abdullah from Demaum, and the first visit to the backwaters and shallows south of Bahrein by the steam gunboat Hugh Rose, June 1861 - January 1862 (folios 169-220).

The correspondence is divided into separate subject groups numbered 1-15 (excluding 11), each with an introductory page entitled 'Head IV. Bahrein & Wahabee', followed by a subject number and title, e.g. 'Subject 15 Miscellaneous' (folio 222). Within each subject group, the correspondence is recorded in chronological order from the front to the rear of the volume.

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