Page 179 - Travels in Arabis (Vol I)

140 TRAVELS IN OMAN. [ciI.

last are smaller than those brought from the

Eastern Islands, but in richness of flavour,
are fully equal to them. The figs {Ficus

Carica of Linnaeus) taste sweet and plea­
sant, but are very small, being inferior both

in size and flavour to those brought from
Turkey. They are dried and sold in large

quantities in all the towns. A small quan­
tity of coffee is grown; but owing, in all pro­

bability, to the little care bestowed on its
culture, it is considered to be of inferior qua­

lity to that brought from Yemen. In addi­
tion to these, all the fruits and grain common

to the plains below, are produced in large
quantities. Maskat and other ports on

the sea-coast of Om<in, together with Ras-el-
Khaimah, Sharga, and many others on the

southern shores of the Persian Gulf, receive
their supplies from this range.

By a tried thermometer, I found that water
boiled at Shirazi at 200|°, which gives an

altitude of about six thousand one hundred
and eighty-seven feet. This I ascertained

by several other observations to be from
eight hundred to one thousand feet below the

level of the summit of the greater part of the