Page 207 - PERSIAN 3 1883_1890

RESIDENCY AND MUSCAT POLITICAL AOENCY FOE 1884-85. 39

Tlic sicgo was prosecuted vigorously by him, and Hormuz would no doubt soon have fallen
ngain into the band* of the Portuguese bad not a fiecl of ten English and Dutch ships arrived to
relieve it. This clanged the aspect of affairs, and Ruy Frere was a second time compelled to
withdraw his hand when the fruit was almost within his grasp. lie retired first to Larek,
and from thence to Khor El-Shem, intending to wait for the expected main body of the flee
from Goa. He was doomed to disappointment. The European enemies of the Portuguese were
now too powerful in the Gulf to permit them to regain their old supremacy, and all hopes of
the re-conquest of Hormuz bad to be abandoned.
Dot although Hormuz was lost, Muscat still remained, and no cflbrts were spared by the
Portuguese to force the trade of the Gulf to this place and to raise it to the same commercial
grandeur as Hormuz. It was all in vain; for their reputation was against them, and while
the native merchants feared to trust them, the English, who were rapidly gaining the asccnd-
nncy in the Gulf, did their beet to concentrate the trade at Basra and Gombroon. The popu­
lation of the town, however, became at once largely augmented, and the Arab tribes in the
vicinity, who had always been kept on good terms by the payment of subsidies, were further
propitiated. By the fall of Hormuz the connection existing between that island and the
Oman coast which had existed for three and a half centuries came to an end, though it is related
that Muhammad Shah, the nephew of the old King of Hormuz, was brought to Muscat by the
Portuguese, who endeavoured to compel the coast Arabs to recognise him as tbeir king.
Among the improvements undertaken at this time in Muscat were the rebuilding of the town
wall extending from Booma Salih to Bab Methaib, and the excavation of the fosse beyond; a
new customs house and a landing-place and dock at the creek. Further protection also was
afforded to the town by the erection of the towers at the passes of Kalboos, Riam, and Sedab.
In 1G23, the Governor of Muscat was Martino Alfonso dcMello; this officer resided for the
most part of the year in the factory or u Gareyza,” but during the hot weather be occupied
Fcrt Capitan, which was at Ibis time deemed of more importance than Fort Sara Joao (Jelali),
the former citadel. There were two churches, one of which was the 6ee of the Vicar,
generally an Augostinian friar and dedicated to the Virgom del Rozario; and the other, called
Ddla Gratia, was the property of the Augustiniaus, four of whom resided in it.
As Hormnz bad been lost to Portugal during the vigorous reign of a great king. Shah
Albass, so Muscat and tho Omfm coast were wrested from her grasp by the force of a national
impulse, engendered by the rise of a new dynasty.
After ten years of anarchy, Nasir-bin-Murshid-el-Yaareby, oue of the strongest rulers
Om&n ever bad, was elected Imam in 1624. He soon made himself master of, and traDqnillised,
the interior, and then set to work to expel the Christians. He first sent his troops against
Muscat, but was defeated and obliged to retire. Shortly after, the Portuguese assisted the
Chief of Laws, Saif-bin-Muhammad, with troops and stores against the Imdm's forces. In
this affair the allies of the Portuguese were worsted and the Imam captured the fort. The
Iirdm then collected another army, in command of which he placed Mesood-bin-Ramzan,
whom be ordered to march against Muscat. The author of the annals of Oman states that
the Arabs captured and demolished the high towers of Muscat, and that the Portuguese sned
for peace and agreed to the conditions imposed on them. But it is clear that the Arabs were
in fact repulsed.
After driving the Persians and the Portuguese from Ras-el-Khyma, the Imfim ordered
Hafiz-bin-Saif to erect a fort at Sohar against that held by the Portuguese, which he vigor­
ously besieged for some time with a force composed of the Beni Khalid, Beni Lam, and El
Amoor tribes, but apparently without success, for the Kdzi, Khamis-bin-Saeed, soon after pro-
cetded to Muttrah to treat for peace with the Portuguese Governor, and agreed to abandon the
siege of Sohar. This was in July 1633.
In the same or following year the Imdm attacked 8oor and Kooriyat, and recovered both
those places, by wLich be made himself master of the whole of Omdn, except Muscat and
Schar. Even the latter town, however, fell ultimately to the arms of thisenergetio prinoe, and
at his death, in April 1640, Muscat alone remained in the hands of the Portuguese.
The Imdm Nasir was succeeded by the Inrim Sultan-bin-Saif, who is said to have waged
war on thie Christians in Muscat, and to have personally conducted the operations against them
until God gave him the victory. It seems, indeed, that he undertook the campaign immediately
on his accession, and that he was engaged in it for about two years. The circumstances and
date of the struggle, howovor, do not appear to have been recorded by the Arab cbronioler j
and aa the Portuguese historians are also silent on the subject, they remain matters of
v