Page 261 - Travels in Arabis (Vol I)

222 TRAVELS IN OMAN. [CH.

a part of the Imam’s dominions, and he was
the only protection we had.
Old ’Ali, who had an awful opinion of our

new acquaintances, declared that he could
not sleep ; that they were prowling about the

tent, and we should inevitably be robbed or
murdered before the morning. My inter­
preter, a Persian, six feet high, and stout in

proportion, was so perfectly unmanned by his
fears, that he went into fits. There was some

ground for his fears, as I believe the Wah­
habis have a more thorough detestation of the
Persians, as sectaries of ’Ali, than any other

class of Mussulmans. When the Sheikh
came and presented me with the letter for the

Imam, I knew it would be vain to make any
further effort to shake his resolution, and
therefore did not attempt it ; in the mean

time news having spread far and near that
two Englishmen, with a box “ of dollars,”

but in reality containing only the few clothes
that we carried with us, had halted in
the town. The Wahhabis and other tribes

had met in deliberation, while the lower
classes of the townsfolk were creating noise

and confusion. The Sheikh either had not