Page 33 - History of Arabian Mission 1926-1957

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iki bis factory recovery, and a stay of ten days was made In Tenoof, and
• high up on one side of the mountain. Groups of villages were vicit-
towno, long closed, were now rc-vioitcd. Dr. Thorns was as charmed with th. for ure vaccinations were done and patients treated, and likewise Sonar, one
cd,
Green Mountains an ho had expected to he - mountain villages of stone houses
with terraced date gardens, green fields of young wheat and verdant lucerne, of the largest of the garden towns along the Batina coast farther north. From
abundant maidenhair fern growing on the walls of ravines through which lush­ the topmost tower of the fortress here one looks out over miles and milc3 of
ing brooks cascaded; cooler and fresher air a3 they climbed, and more plenti­ date palms extending inland ns well as along the coast.
ful and varied vegetation, including cedar trees and wild olive. From the top Sur and Ja'alan were frequently visited. In 1944 Dr. and Mrs. Thoms
they had a wonderful view of the sea eighty miles to the north, and from made what they called a tour de luxe to Dhufar, where they went by plune on
another point, green patches on the plain below them marked four of Oman's the invitation of the Sultan of Muscat, who also rules over Dhufar Province,
largest inland towns.
lie gave them a big house in town for their living quarters, in the midst of a
coconut grove, and left a car at their disposal. They spent a month here, and
with the co-operation of the government doctor and his staff added to their
The Gracious Omanis own, did a prodigious amount of medical work, surgery, and eye work, and Dr.
Thoms was able to prepare a detailed report of the Medical Survey which was
In 1943 Dr. Mylrea, who was visiting the Mission after his retirement, the reason for the Sultan's request that he make the tour.
made several tours with Mr. Dykstra and Dr. Thoms and has recorded a graphic
description of them. The first was to Jenna. "Jenna lies far up the Wadi In 1947 the Ruler of the Green Mountain was trying to persuade Dr.
Somail at Its extreme limit, and Is not accessible as yet by motor car. We Thoms to settle there for summer work, and promised to build new roads to make
drove by car as far as Sib along the coast, had lunch there and then wont on it more accessible, and to help the Mission secure land for a small hospital.
by camel. This was my first experience of the Qnan camel, famous for its
beauty and speed among all the camels of Arabia. There is no doubt that the
Oman camel is a very handsome little beast, but it is little - far smaller The Frankincense Country
than the big animals of the north. It Is too small to carry the big saddle
of the northern type, on which one can sit with one knee curved around the In 1950 the Sultan of Muscat asked Dr. and Mrs. Thoms to come again to
) cantle and change position to avoid fatigue; on the Oman camel one sibs Dhufar, the frankincense country, as his guests and to treat his people, and
astride, on one's bedding, with legs hanging down, and quickly tires." since he said, "Bring the children, too," Peter, Norman, and Lois Thoms, then on
vacation from school in India, had the unique experience of being the first
They travelled through a garden town called Fenga, then to Somail, Western children ever to visit this isolated country.
and so to Jenna, where they had a cordial welcome and spent five days "with
never a dull moment" comments Dr. Mylrea, who added, "One of the things that The Sultan provided them with three houses in Salala - a guest house in
impresses the visitor to Oman is the extraordinary friendliness of the people. the midst of a coconut grove on the beach, where the Thoms family lived; a
Most travellers to Oman have stressed this point, and to me, coming from the house of four rooms and courtyard at the other end of town to be used as a
dour Wahhabi north, the reception we received everywhere was delightful." clinic, and a three-story building in the center of town where the helpers
lived and the whole party ate breakfast and lunch, and where they iraprovised
He and Dr. Thoms did some mountain climbing, as Jenna lies at the foot .an operating room and accommodated Inpatients, A jeep wagon and driver were
of the Green Mountain, and on the way back to Muscat again passed through mag­ put at their disposal, "It took all Friday and Saturday to condition the town
nificent gorges, canyons, ravines, and valleys. building," related Mrs. Thoms. "Sunday we had our own services and in the
afternoon drove to Ras Risut. Monday we started clinic at eight-thirty. All
Another journey Dr. Mylrea made with the Dykstras, driving along the of us worked. Wells saw all the patients, four hundred of them, Lois and I
Batina coast fifty miles north to Barka. This place has special memories for treated eyes and ears in a corner of hi6 office, Peter and a helper did dress-
the Arabian Mission, for It was here that George Stone, one of the pioneers, ings. Norman and Khoda Rasoon gave injections, dispensed medicines and col-
died of heat apoplexy in June, 1899. Dr. Mylrea wrote: "At Barka, Mr. Dykstra lectcd fees. MalaUah did the laboratory examinations and sterilized instru-
lias built a charming house of date branches and mats and this house serves them inents for afternoon surgical operations.
as a convenient center from which to radiate in several directions.
"Surgery went on after lunch until after sunset, Peter and Kalallnh
"The Dykstras devote a good share of their time to touring, and their and sometimes Norman assisted at the operations, while Lois and I made house
faithful, well-cared-for car has carried them over thousands of miles of calls and prepared supper. Giving treatments in their homes gave me a fine
country. In some places there are roads of a sort, In others one drives opportunity to learn how they lived and to tell them something of our way.
across country. In others again one drives along wadi beds which are some-
The town houses were two or three-story structures of mud and sun-
O times a mass of boulders varying from the size of a baseball to lumps of rock dried brick; goats and cows were kept on the first floor of each house, and
Sometimes the wadis - "e
so big that they must be carefully circumnavigated,
floored with nice small round pebbles and then the going Is excellent. the dirt and odors in some of them had to be seen and smelled to be believed.
times again the boulders are so large and so close together that it i3 in>
sible to use a car." From Barka they visited Hazm, one of the most rem­ "We saw a good cross section of Dhufar in clinic," continues Mrs.
old fortresses in all Arabia; Rustaq, at one time the capital of Oman, Thoms. "The people fall roughly Into three categories - the Oman rulers, 1
is far up a deep rugged wadi lined with boulders, with the impregnabi African slaves, and the tribesmen• • • The Negro community is almost self-co*«

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