Page 155 - Arabian Gulf Intellegence

HOOFOOF. 113

Hoofoof.
Hoofoof is the capital of Lalisa, and is a town of considerable extent.
It is surrounded by an outer wall, seven or eight feet in height, and one
or two in thickness, with several towers at intervals. Entering by the
eastern side of the town, and passing through the suburbs by very
narrow streets, you arrive after a short distance at the fort.
The fort is a square of about six or seven hundred yards each side,
except to the north-west, where the wall takes a direction to the
north, and thus commands the north face. The walls are built of
small stones and clay. They are about twenty or twenty-five feet
in height, by seven or eight feet thick, with towers forty or fifty feet in
height, at intervals of forty or fifty yards. The wall is surrounded
by a dry ditch fifteen or twenty feet deep, and of the same breadth.
Between the ditch and the wall is a level space, with a breastwork of
mud and stone, commanding the ditch and ground in front, and going
all round the fort.
There are two entrances to the fort, one on the northern, and the other
on the eastern side. The walls of the fort are open on the northern and
western sides, but suburbs approach to the eastern and southern faces.
The gateway to the north leads into a considerable square, or open
space, on the eastern side of which is the citadel. It has high walls,
with towers at intervals, similar to those of the fort. Within are numer­
ous houses, and a mosque, the dome of which is the most conspicuous
object in the whole town.
The houses of Hoofoof are built of stone and clay, and are flat-roofed.
The streets are narrow.
There are date groves close to the walls on the western side. To the
north, these are three or four hundred yards in front. The ground
beyond the suburbs on the other two sides is clear.
A market is held at Hoofoof every Thursday, to which people from
the neighbouring villages bring their goods for sale.
Next in importance to Hoofoof is Muburrij, which is situated between
two and three miles to the north of the former. The fort which defends
it is to the west of, and detached from the town; it is surrounded by a
dry ditch.
Hoofoof and Muburrij, with their dependencies, are said to contain a
population of 16,000 men capable of bearing arms.
About two miles to the north-west of Hoofoof is the Aeen-ool-Nujm.
This is a hot spring, of very abundant and most translucid water : it
possesses no peculiar smell or taste, and is said to be most beneficial in
cutaneous-disorders. | There is no vegetation near this spring. It is
covered by an ancient dome.