Page 57 - Travels in Arabis (Vol I)

18 TRAVELS IN OMAN. [CH.

strangers, no European having been able to

live there hitherto, and many fatal cases oc­
cur in such of our ships as are compelled to

remain but for a few days. The lower
classes are stout, with remarkably muscular

limbs, and some of them afford the most per­
fect models of strength and symmetry. So

little variation is to be found in the habits,
disposition, and moral character of the Arabs

who occupy the maritime towns, that I have
preferred treating of them generally in a se­

parate section. It remains to notice two
other classes of foreigners in Maskat.

There are more Banians here than in any

other city of Arabia. At the period of my
visit it was calculated that they amounted to

one thousand five hundred, and, under the
mild administration of Sayyid S’aid, they

were supposed to be rapidly increasing.
They possess a small temple, are permitted

to keep and protect a certain number of

cows, to burn the dead, and to follow, in all
other respects, the uninterrupted enjoyment

of their respective religious tenets, without
any of that arbitrary distinction of dress

which they are compelled to adopt in the