Page 430 - Travels in Arabis (Vol I)

XXIV.J TRAVELS IN OMAN. 391

tended to servants in Europe. When pur­

chased young, they are brought up in the pro­
fession of the Mohammedan faith, are taught

to read and write, and, when they arrive at a
sufficient age, are often placed in command

of ships or boats, and intrusted with most

valuable cargoes.
During my stay in Oman, I made repeated
efforts to obtain information which would en­

able me to draw up an historical account of

the province ; but the difficulties in a coun­
try where no one commits passing events to
paper, are insurmountable. I give the result

of my inquiries as far as they went, observ­

ing, in passing, that the silence of the
Arabians themselves, the natural conse­

quence of their unlettered condition, may,
perhaps, be supplied from the annals of their

neighbours the Persians * . In a summary
of the religious tenets peculiar to this people

already given, the reader has seen the motives

* After all, I do not think that my want of success in these re­
searches will be deemed of much consequence. It will be seen, by
what I have laid before the reader, that the history of the province
presents nothing but a series of petty wars and intestine broils,
and our attention is so divided by the number of personages who
figure on the stage, that we soon cease to feel an interest in any.