Page 295 - Travels in Arabis (Vol I)

256 TRAVELS IN OMAN. [ch.

can be placed on the testimony of the chiefs,

who are ever desirous of enhancing the power
of their own, and depreciating that of other

tribes ; while, from their maritime pursuits,
and their connexion with the pearl fishery,

the amount of actual residents is constantly
fluctuating. The number of their huts af­
fords no surer guide, for, being built of the

branches of the date palm with little trouble,
when old and damaged by the wind, they are

often deserted and left standing. The mean
of my several inquiries induces me to fix
their number at twenty thousand, exclusive

of women and children. The principal tribes
are the Johasmi, Menasir, Beni As, and

Mahama : the former is the most powerful.
They not only possess all the chief ports of

the Arabian coast, but have also established
themselves on the Persian shore, where they

have several large towns and flourishing vil­
lages. Their name is derived from a Saint
Johdsmi, who resided on a low tongue of land,

and the tents of his followers, which were
pitched around, gave the name of Ras el Kha'i-

mah, or “ Cape of Tents,” to the promontory
on which a town bearing the same designation