Page 253 - Travels in Arabis (Vol I)
P. 253
214 TRAVELS IN OMAN.
voured to record faithfully my impressions of
those amongst whom I have been thrown,
whether for good or evil. It has never oc
curred to me that the reader would consider
their merits and demerits otherwise than ab
stractedly, and not as furnishing a national
portraiture, which, in the instance I have just
given, would be as unjust as if an estimate
of the English character were formed from its
hackney or stage coachmen.
March \Qth. At 12-30 we left Muskin for
Makiniyat, and at five hours baited near the
castle, where the chief of the Beni Kalban,
Sheikh Wasser, resides. In the course of a
few minutes, though he appeared to be suffer
ing from ophthalmia, he made his appearance
to welcome us ; but when I presented Sayyid
S’aid’s letters, which were very strongly
worded, and contained an urgent request
that he would pass us on, he seemed sorely
troubled. “ Almost daily,” said he, “ are in
dividuals proceeding alone to Obri robbed
for the sake of the tattered clothes on their
backs ; and I am required to conduct you in
safety, where the very name of an English
