Page 170 - A Hand book of Arabia Vol 1 (iii) Ch 6 -10

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262 THE SULTANATE OF OML-N

300 houses of the Beni Bu ‘All tribe. Opposite is Muqreimatein,
a large quarter of 1,500 houses inhabited by Jannabah, who arc
perpetually at feud with the Beni Bu ‘Ali of ‘Aiqa. The houses in
both quarters are mostly mud and stone, with stuccoed roofs, but
some aro merely huts ; the best houses and the largest number of huts
are in Muqreimatein. There are no date-groves in the neighbourhood
of these two quarters, which together compose the town of Stir and
have an aggregate population of about 9,000. A mile and a half to
the W. of Muqreimatein and half a mile from the sea is Saneiscilah,
a village of some 200 houses, with Shdghi, another village, half its
size, on the coast to the N. of it ; both these may be regarded as
component parts of Sur. On the plain at the back of the ridge,
between it and the bed of Wadi Fuleij, is Bilad es-Sur, a stone-
built village of some 250 houses divided into seven quarters, with
extensive date-groves and lucerne cultivation ; it supplies the
town of Sur with vegetables and fodder, and part of it is known as
Suq Sur. A mile to the NW. of Bilad es-Sur is Jindh, a small
village of about 40 houses, mostly huts, with an old fort. The
inhabitants of Muqreimatein obtain their drinking-water from
Bilad es-Sur, from Jinah, from Sakeikarah, a walled enclosure with
date-palms at the head' of the Sur creek, and from Shdmih, a spot
on the E. side of the creek to the S. of ‘Aiqa ; the inhabitants of
‘Aiqa depend chiefly on Shamih.
Sur is the port of the whole district of Ja‘lan and nearly all
Sharqlyah; the celebrated dates of Badlyah are shipped here.
Imports consist of rice, piece-goods, wheat and other grains,
coffee, kerosene and other oils from Bombay and various Indian
ports, ghi from Dhofar, and tortoise-shell, shark-fins, and dried fish,
for re-export, from Maslrah. From Sur and Hadd together the
Sultan of Oman does not secure more than 86,000 a year as customs
and 82,000 as Zakdt, the whole of which is absorbed by the local
administration. It has been estimated that, if his authority were
more firmly established, the customs of Sur alone would yield
••• . a sum of 850,000 a year.
•--
:f\.w-Vv; - The Vali of Sur maintains no garrison either in Muqreimatein
or in ‘Aiqa ; but a total force of about 135 men is, in normal
times, stationed in a number of forts and smaller posts in the
neighbourhood, partly for the protection of the town and partly
to control it by commanding its water-supply. The most important
garrisons are two stationed at Bilad es-Sur, consisting of 40 and
15 men respectively, and one at Saneisalah of 30 men. There
is a gaiTison of 15 men at Burj el-Mur abba', built in 1902 between
the ridge and Bilad es-Sur ; and posts of 10 men are stationed at

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