Page 198 - A Hand book of Arabia Vol 1 (iii) Ch 6 -10

27G THE SULTANATE OF omaisT

the Baldan el-Habus division ; population, 3,500 or more, belonging
to the Habus, Hajriyln, Al Wahlbah, and Hirth tribes. There are
extensive date-groves and a fine spring.
3. Sana’u, town in the Baldan el-Habus division, about 4 miles
E. of Mudheibi; population nearly 3,500. The town stands on
a hill with date-palms below ; the houses'are of mud, some of them
with upper storeys. The most numerous elements in the population
belong to the Beni Rashid and Suwawifah tribes.

4. Ibra, the largest and most central town of Sharqlyah, about
35 miles ESE. of Samad ; population, 4,000-5,000. The town lies
partly in the Baldan el-Hirth, partly in the Baldan el-Masakirah
division. It is divided into two quarters, the upper town to the
N. and E., consisting of about 300 houses and occupied byMasakirah,
the lower town to the S., comprising some 500 houses inhabited by
Hirth. The upper town is unwalled, but a part of the lower town
is walled and possesses a fort; each town has its own bazaar, and
there are extensive date-plantations.
5. Mudheirib, small town of about 300 houses in the Baldan
el-Hirth division, inhabited by Hirth. It possesses a small bazaar
of about 20 shops, and some date plantations.

IX. Ja‘lan

A district to the SE. of Sharqlyah, extending for about 50 miles
from the border of Badlyah to the coast at Lashkharah. On
the N. it is partly bounded by, and partly includes, the foot-hills
of Eastern Hajar, and to the S. it is bordered by the desert ; its
length of seaboard is not accurately determined, but it certainly
includes the strip of coast between Ras er-Ruweis and Lashkharah.
The fixed population of the district is estimated at about 12,000,
and belongs to the Beni Bu ‘Ali, Beni Bu Hasan, Hishm, and Beni
Rasib tribes ; the numbers of the Bedouins who frequent the
district have not been ascertained.
The principal towns are Wafi, Kamil, and Lashkharah. Of these
Kamil is described under Route No. 70, vol. ii, p. 314; Wafi and
Lashkharah, with the intermediate villages and settlements, are
described under the Branch Route, vol. ii, p. 317.

X. The South-East Coast a>jd Dhofab,

The strip of country from, the S. border of Ja'lan to Ras Nus
which marks the eastern limit of Dhofar, has no general title but
falls within the area of the Oman Sultanate. It is a barren stretch

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