Page 173 - Travels in Arabis (Vol I)
P. 173
134 TRAVELS IN OMAN. [CH.
contrast to the bleak and barren appearance
of the general surface of the range. Water
seems plentiful; and some of the fruit-trees
are very large. The natives make incisions in
several of the pomegranate fruit, which cluster
together on the same branch, and place under
them large calabashes, into which the juice
for some time continues to flow. It is after
wards mixed with that of the grape, for
making wine.
After descending another pass of about
seven hundred feet, we arrived at a third
town called Shirazi. But the ground in its
neighbourhood was so uneven and rugged,
that we found no place where our small tent
could be pitched; and as the nights at this
elevation are excessively cold, I was very
desirous to obtain the shelter of a house.
After being led from one to the other, the in
mates of all refusing to admit us, on the plea
of having no room, we were at length shown
into a low, confined, filthy apartment, and our
baggage lodged with us. We had not been
seated here very long, before an old woman
made her appearance with a flock of sheep
and goals, to whose tenement we now dis