Page 208 - A Hand book of Arabia Vol 1 (iii) Ch 6 -10

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DISTRICTS 281

The place stands on a bay facing E., with Ras Risut (200 ft. high)
on the S. side of it; the beach is sandy.
7. Rakhyut, or Reikhut, on the coast, about 13 miles W. of Rets
Sajar, is a village of 00 or 70 mud houses at the mouth of a ravine.
8. KharifSt, 4 miles W. of Rakhyut, is a village of about 30
houses, and the westernmost settlement in Dhofar. It possesses
a stream of running water and a date-grove at the mouth of a ravine.

B. INDEPENDENT OMAN

There are two small independent tracts between the Oman
Sultanate and Trucial Oman, to which the Sultan of Oman has
never laid claim ; these are described in the following sections, which
also include an account of the Kuria Muria Islands, ceded b}r the
Sultan to Great Britain in 1854.

1. Jau and the Bireimi Oasis

The more important tract is Jau, pronounced locally Jo, a plain
which includes Jebel Haflt and the villages near the S. end of that
chain. Its principal settlement, the Bireimi Oasis, lies to N. of Jebel
Hafit, and is nearly circular in form, with a diameter of about
6 miles ; total population about 5,500. The oasis contains a group
of villages, scattered among the date plantations and orchards ;
the dwellings are mainly huts, constructed of mats and date-leaves,
but they include a few mud houses.
Bireimi, the village which gives its name to the settlement, is
near the centre of the oasis, and consists of eight quarters. Here
is a fort of sun-dried brick, with a tower at each corner 40 ft. high,
the whole surrounded by a ditch 25 ft. broad ; there are two wells
in the interior, giving good water in sufficient quantity for a large
garrison. Of the remaining nine villages and hamlets in the oasis,
the more important are Jlmi, a village of about 200 houses not far
from Bireimi and nearly in the centre of the oasis ; Qatdrah, about
120 houses, a mile and a half NW. of Bireimi; Ma'ataradk, about
200 houses, 3 miles SW. of Bireimi; and lAin Dhawahir, known
also as' ‘Ain, about 280 houses, some 3 miles S. of Bireimi. -
The inhabitants of the oasis belong chiefly to the Dhawahir, but
they include some Na'im and a few Beni Yas. The NaTm are the
original owners of the oasis, and their possession of the fort in
Bireimi village gives them local prestige. The population subsist
mainly on dates, coarse bread, rice, and salt fish, the last named

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