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Amid the tension, a letter lands on the desk of William Bruce, Britain's Resident in Bushire, on the Persian Gulf.

Anyone with internet access will be able to search 475,000 pages from the two most important British outposts, at Bushire and Bahrain, along with 25,000 pages of medieval Arabic scientific manuscripts from the British Library's own collections.

The island is under the jurisdiction of the governor of the Persian Gulf ports who resides at Bushire.

Rain falls in January, February and March, and the annual rainfall is said to be about the same as that of Bushire, 12 to 13 in.

Bushire is the great starting-point of travellers from India who desire "to go home through Persia" by Shiraz and Persepolis.