Page 150 - A Hand book of Arabia Vol 1 (iii) Ch 6 -10

252 THE SULTANATE OE OM/

exports, drawn from the .surrounding districts, are c/hi, dried limes,
cow-hides, and goat-skins. The town’s principal customer is
Muscat, where there is also a ready market for the silk turbans and
lungis of local manufacture ; cloth, flour, and rice are imported
from the capital. The Sohar bazaar contains about 200 shops.
The Vali, with a force of about thirty men, resides within the town
in the fort, a huge brick construction, square in ground-plan and
four storeys in height.
2. Shinas, some 30 miles NNW. of Sohar, and the capital of the
Shinas division of the Sohar Vilayet. There are some 400 houses
in the town, and a bazaar of 7 shops ; population about 2,000.
The water-supply is from wells; and the inhabitants depend on
their date plantations and on fishing. The fort is held on behalf
of the Sultan of Oman by a garrison of ten men under an 'Aqid.
3. Liwa, a town about 3 miles inland from a point on the coast
about 14£ miles N\V. of Sohar ; population about 3,500. It is the
chief trade centre of the Liwa sub-Vilayet, and is the seat of a
deputy-governor, under the Vali of Sohar, with a garrison of ten
• men. The town is divided into seven quarters, a considerable
proportion of the houses being owned by Baluchis and Persians.
The most numerous Arab section is the Beni Hina, Ibadhis by
religion and belonging to the Hinawi political faction.
4. Saham, a coast town some 15 miles SE. of Sohar and a mile ox-
two (half an hour) to the east of the mouth of Wadi 'Ahin ; the
dwellings are mostly huts, and the town is divided into six quarters ;
population about 3,800. It is the capital of the Saham sub­
division of the Sohar Vilayet, and after Sohar is the largest port
of the district ; the sub-governor has a gan-ison of ten men. The
town owns 30 boats (badan-s) trading with Muscat, Shinas. and the
Persian Gulf, in addition to munerous fishing-boats and smaller
craft. The inhabitants are mainly Bayasirah, Baluchis, and
Za'ab, the last-named a tribe of Trucial Oman, Hinawi itx politics
and Hanbali Sunnis by religion ; a few of the houses belong to the
Shihuh. Date cultivation and fishing are the principal industries.
5. Khaburah, a large coast town, some 19 miles SE. of Saham,
at the mouth of the Wacli Hawasinali, which passes the east side of
the bazaar ; the dwellings consist entirely of huts ; population
8,000. Three-quarters of the inhabitants are Hawasinali ; there'is
a Khojah settlement (see p. 258) of about 25 families, Khaburah
is the port of the Wadi el-Hawasinah and in part of the Wadi ‘Ahin.
The Vali has a detachment of ten askaris. The revenue is onlv
about S2,000 a year, collected as Zafecit; the whole is spent on local
administration.

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