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HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY. 35 ;
After the occupation of Ormuz by the Portuguese, says
Fraser, the King retained only the insignia of power, and was
some stratified rocks, forming the cliffs at the south-east angle, but the whole of
the rest are probablj of volcanic origin, and consist chiefly of rock salt, which is
raised to a height of 300 to 400 ft., and presents the most fantastic outline
conceivable, owing to the dissolution of the salt. They ai-e encrusted with briglit
coloured earths, red, purple, and yellow, and are almost impassable, owing to
the ruggedness of the surface. With these salt hills are associated several peaks
of white or light grey -coloured rock of trachytic character, the highest of which
rises to 700 ft., and all are of sharp precipitous outline. A view from the top
of the high peak presented a perfect wilderness of pointed and rugged ridges,
separated by abrupt valleys and singular funnel-shaped holes of various sizes,
some of very large dimensions, possioly 200 ft. in depth, and others only a few
feet deep, but all at a very steep slope. The trachytic rock is studded with ii'ou
pyrites and other minerals, often in most beautifully developed crystals.
" The valleys or ravines opening out of this mass of hills, and carrying off the
rain-water which is not absorbed in the funnel-shaped pits, have in their course
through the plains all the appearance of frozen rivers winding down to the sea.
I walked about a mile up on the salt incrustation and the illusion was perfect,
except as regards the temperature. This salt incrustation is collected and ex-
ported to Bandar Abbasi and Maskat.
'• The plain on the north point terminates in a low sandy point on which stands
the old Portuguese fort, and near it is the modern village, consisting chiefly of
mat huts, and coutaiuiug possibly two hundred men, who have a few boats and
export salt fish, salt, and a red earth called bv them gairn, which is used for
staining and seasoning wood, and is sent to Maskat and thence to Calcutta. A
few soldiers or armed men hold the fort as a sort of mihtary post for the Grovemor
of Bandar Abbasi. The place is rarely visited by a Emopean vessel.
"The fort is a qnacb-ilateral bastioned work, about 750 feet long by 620 broad.
It has casemates under the ramparts, and the two Southern or landward
bastions are built with orillons ; the entrance gate is in one of these recesses,
and leads successively into two small com'tyards before giving admission to the
body of the place. In the enceinte is a tine, large, underground water cistern
with a groined roof, supported by two rows of pillars. The south-west
bastion, and west face ax-e much undermined by the sea and partly ruinous
many of the arches and vaults inside the fort have been blocked up with
stone to prevent then' falling. It was separated from the island by a moat now
filled up ; the remains of a bridge across the moat are visible. Many rusty
old iron guns lie about the interior of the fortress ; the mortar used was excel-
lent, and much more durable than the stones. The only other remains of the
Portuguese town are the foundations of buildings along the sea-shore, and the
ruins of a sort of outwork in the landward face of the town, which has em-
brasures and has been defended by a moat. The space occupied by the town is
about half a mile by a quarter of a niile, as far as can be judged by the appear-
ance of the ground. The most important ruin is a minaret about 70 feet
high. It is of brick, and has been coated with glazed tiles, in a manner which
renders the mosques of Bagdad such striking objects. It has two spiral stair-
cases inside, much broken at the foot, and the whole structure is in a tottering
state, the lower courses of bricks, to a height of six or eight feet, being much
weathered away, thus undermining the building.
" Of the rest of the city nothing remains except mounds strewn with broken
pottery, and a vast number of water cisterns, mostly choked with earth, in many
of which small crops of vegetables are now raised. At about half a mile to
three quarters of a mile to the southward of the minaret, are a number of Arab
tombs of some pretensions to arcliitecture, some of which have been of two
stories. They are all more or less ruinous. In addition to the ruins of the
Portuguese town already mentioned, there are the remains of a chapel with a
zigzag road up to it, on a peak of the nearest range of salt lulls ; also of a small
chapel or hermitage, on a little hillock on the north-east coast. One other ruin
of the Arab city remains to be mentioned, viz.—the King's palace, orTurun-hagii,
in the south-east corner. This is described as ' fairest of all : tliere, upon a
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