Page 131 - Travels in Arabis (Vol I)

92 TRAVELS IN OMAN. [CH.

centrical. For their relative position I must

refer the reader to the map, which, being
originally constructed on a large scale, ena­

bled me, as I proceeded, to fill up a descrip­
tion of the face of the country on it. One

striking feature in the appearance of these
towns is their low situation. They are erected

in artificial hollows, which have been exca­
vated to the depth of six or eight feet, and the

soil thus removed is left in hillocks around
their margins. These were the first oases I

had hitherto met with, and my attention was
consequently forcibly drawn to them. I found

that these, and nearly all the towns in the
interior of Oman, owe their fertility to the

happy manner in which the inhabitants have
availed themselves of a mode of conducting

water to them, a mode, as far as I know, pecu­
liar to this country, and at an expense of

labour and skill more Chinese than Arabian.
The greater part of the face of the country

being destitute of running streams on the sur­

face, the Arabs have sought in elevated places
for springs or fountains beneath it; by what

mode they discover these I know not; but it
seems confined to a peculiar class of men,