Page 403 - Travels in Arabis (Vol I)

364 TRAVELS IN OMAN. [CH.

tivate the oases are again less healthy than
the hardy inhabitants of the Desert. In
order to supply these deficiencies, a regular

progressive migration must be kept up, or
when it fails, as it has done of late years,

large tracts of cultivated lands become aban­
doned. Several instances were, however,
related to me of those who had passed from a

pastoral to an agricultural state, but who
could never forget their Bedowin habits, and

frequently after a residence of many years in
the oases, would again flee to the Desert.
Facilities are afforded by those desirous of

employing themselves in the cultivation of
the land in Oman, which do not exist in

other parts of Arabia, since they are neither
kept in poverty nor ruined by the exorbi­
tancy of the taxes.

In the course of this narrative of my tra­
vels I have given an account of the Beni

Hasan, Beni-Abu-’AH, and the Beni Geneba
Bedowins; it only remains to notice a few

others. The Beni Gafari muster eight hun­
dred men: these, with the Yemani and
El Arabi, are the most ancient and illustri­

ous of the tribes of Oman. The latter boast