Page 91 - Travels in Arabis (Vol I)

52 TRAVELS IN OMAN. [cil.

freedom as if they were on the Desert.

Scarcely a day passed during my stay that I

did not hear of some transaction of this na­
ture. At 3 30 we halted amidst the dwell­
ings of the Beni-Abu-Hasan Bedowins,

which are mostly huts, erected beneath their

date groves. They are very straggling, and
we were three quarters of an hour passing
from one extremity to the other. As soon as

the intelligence of our arrival had spread,

they crowded around us in great numbers.
Their curiosity was unbounded, and they ex­
pressed their astonishment at all they saw

in the most boisterous manner, leaping and

yelling as if they were half crazy. My small
tent (notwithstanding the presence, and re­

peated desire of their Sheikh) was soon com­
pletely filled, and I felt heartily glad when

the approach of sunset sent them all to their
houses.

The Beni-Abu-Hasan Bedowins are esti­
mated at one thousand two hundred men,

exclusive of women and children, but they
cannot muster more than seven hundred

matchlocks. With no other employment
than tending their date trees, which occupies