Page 180 - Travels in Arabis (Vol I)

IX.] TRAVELS IN OMAN. 141

chain. After rain at this season, they have

not unfrequently ice and snow, but the latter
rarely remains on the ground longer than a

few hours. As far as inquiries enabled me
to judge, the climate in the summer season

must be very temperate, the natives say, not
warmer than in the plains below; and at pre­

sent, the hot and parching winds, which are
there of such frequent occurrence, seem

wholly unknown here. I could not, there­
fore, but conclude this must be a delightful

residence when everything was in bloom.
Water, which gushes from numerous springs,

never fails them. At Shirazi they have a
copious stream’, which, after being led into a

deep and capacious reservoir, in sufficient
quantities to irrigate the whole of the culti­
vated part of the valley, flows down in a yet

considerable body, and supplies the small vil­
lage of Birket el Moge at its extremity.

In some of the valleys on the south-east
side of the range, where brambles and dense

thickets are very numerous, wild boars,
foxes, and hyenas are said to abound. The

two latter we saw, but were never sufficiently
fortunate to obtain a glimpse of the former.