Page 139 - Travels in Arabis (Vol I)

100 TRAVELS IN OMAN. [CH.

The doors are also cased with brass, and have
rings and other massive ornaments of the same

metal.
A daily market for the sale of grain, fruit,

and vegetables is held here, to which the
Bedowins and inhabitants of the neighbour­

ing villages resort in considerable numbers.
The stalls at which the venders take their

stand are only occupied during the hours of
business. They are small square buildings,

surrounded by a low wall, roofed over, open
in front, and have a floor raised about two

feet from the level of the street. Adjoining
to Ibrah, within about two hundred yards,

there is another small town, but the inhabit­
ants are at feud with each other, and a crowd

which followed us from the former would not

enter within the precincts of the latter. On
the rugged and pinnacled heights in the
vicinity of this and the neighbouring towns

there are perched several round towers, which

serve as strongholds in intestine feuds or
against foreign invasion. In many of them

there are wells, and they are usually suffi­
ciently stored with provisions ; so that in a

country where artillery is seldom used, they