Page 361 - Travels in Arabis (Vol I)

322 TRAVELS IN OMAN. [ch-

which they turn out of hand appear not well
finished: the metal they use seems of the
purest kind.

As regards their religious tenets, the people
of Omtin belong to the sect of the Khuwari­

* ,
jites a class of Mohammedans found also in
other portions of the East, widely distant

from the country I am now describing. The
cities of Nafusti and Jarba, in Northern Africa,
formerly subject to the Grand Signior, and that

of Jebel Musib, a dependency of the Emperor
of Morocco, still profess the peculiar doctrines

of the Khuwarijites. These heretics the Sool-
tan has made many efforts to chastise; but

from the utter scarcity of water which prevails
in the country intervening between him and
them, his attempts have been in every in­

stance unsuccessful. Like the Moravians of
Christendom, the Khuwarijites highly value

themselves on being followers of the pure tenets
of their prophet, unalloyed by any intermixture

with the heresies which at different periods
have sprung up in the Mohammedan world.

We must, however, consider this to apply
chiefly to the inhabitants of the Desert, and
small inland towns; for as to the Arabs resi-

* Called also “ Biazi.”