Page 214 - Travels in Arabis (Vol I)

XI.] TRAVELS IN OMAN. 175

was beautifully clear, and in some places
twenty feet across, with an irregular chain of

pools six or eight feet in depth, and a line of

date groves extending on either hand. We
next ascended a small eminence, and beheld
the sea ; and continuing our journey over the

maritime plain, at 3.50 arrived at Sib, where
we took up our quarters in a small round fort,

near the sea-beach. This rude tenement was,
however, so infested with cats, rats, and other

vermin, that I shifted our quarters to my tent,
which, in order to enjoy the delicious coolness

and freshness of the sea-breeze, we pitched
beneath some trees near the beach. The

climate of Sib had not been exaggerated, for
after recovering from the immediate fatigue of

the journey, the whole of the party rapidly
recovered. To insure ourselves against the

possibility of a relapse, which in these fevers
is more to be dreaded than the original dis­

ease, I delayed my intention of moving until
the 20th; and finding we were all then suf­

ficiently recovered, wrote to the Imam at
Maskat, requesting he would furnish a guide

to conduct me to Bireimah, the frontier sta­
tion of the Wahhabis. From hence, though