Page 55 - Travels in Arabis (Vol I)

16 TRAVELS IN OMAN. [CH.

others hire themselves as porters, an occupa­

tion for which their athletic forms well befit

them, while some few engage as mariners on
board bagaids * or ships, where they are

much esteemed for their cheerfulness and ac­
tivity. In consequence of the difference in

their faith, the Oman Arabs and Persians
seldom intermarry, but with the Beluches

the Arabs are less fastidious, since they not
unfrequently obtain Arab wives, and reside

here permanently, which they also frequently
do, in the event of any of their slaves becom­

ing mothers. It is only very recently that
the former treachery of the Persians has been

overlooked by the Arabs. During Imam
Saaf’s reign, a garrison of the latter were ad­

mitted into the town; but taking advantage of

that prince’s habitual vice of drunkenness, they
on one occasion seized upon the forts, deposed

him, and usurped the government. After
they in their turn were dispossessed, they were

not allowed in any considerable number to re­
side within the town ; but since the marriage

* A rude description of vessel of various burthens, from fifty to
three hundred tons. The term is, most probably, from bagala or
bagla, a kind of heron. (Ardea Torra.)