Page 357 - Travels in Arabis (Vol I)

318 TRAVELS IN OMaN. [ch.

through the hands of the merchants at Mas-

kat; and I have given in my account of that
city all the necessary details. Its several
branches at Sur, Burka, Sohar, and Sehi­

nas, are of minor importance, being princi­
pally confined to the exportation of dates, for
which they receive in exchange grain, Indian

cloth, and fire-wood. The existing state of
learning, the arts, and manufactures, does not
in Oman rise superior to the low ebb at which

they are found in other parts of Arabia: in­
deed, in all these respects, they are far infe­

rior to their neighbours of Yemen. Though
I purposely sought amidst the most intelligent
persons, I found but one who had any know-

lege of astronomy, or indeed of literature or
of the sciences generally; nor do they pos­

sess a wish to cultivate them. We must not,
however, on this account conclude that there
is any want of capacity or intellect. One

individual in particular, named Sayyid Ibn
Kalfan, who had been educated in Calcutta,

was sufficiently versed in nautical astronomy
to be able to take the sun with a sextant and

artificial horizon, to calculate his observa­
tions, and to rate chronometers. He had