Page 45 - Anglo Portuguese Rivalry in The Gulf_Neat

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A the English receipts from the Gombrun customs, as the Hollanders had been built by Ruy Freyre, and garrisoned by him on behalf of
noted with malicious satisfaction. The proposal never materialised, the titular King of Ormuz, whose son served for some time in Ruy
however, and perhaps was never seriously intended ; although the Freyre’s armadas. They were used as provisioning depots for the
local Persian Governor was anxious to make a definite peace with fleets, and for ports of refuge in case of necessity, but their value as
the Portuguese, whereby the coast would be free from the raids of such was substantially decreased when the new Imam opened
their flotillas the whole year round, and not merely for six months, as hostilities against the Portuguese after the death of Ruy Freyre.
had been stipulated by Ruy Freyre,1
■ - The chief importance of Kung to the Portuguese lay in the revenue KHOR FAKKAN (Corfocam).
! j derived from the neighbouring pearl fisheries.
The roadstead of Kung was an open one, and only protected to a The small triangular Portuguese fort at this place was constructed
1
alight extent against northerly, north-east and north-west winds, but by Gaspar Leite in 1620. It was garrisoned only by a small
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small ships could anchor within a musket-shot of the shore. The detachment of Lascarins, or Arab auxiliaries, under a captain of the
chief imports from Muscat were cloths and other goods from same nationality. Its only importance lay in the fact that it was
Cambay, Sind and district, indigo, spices, raw hides and gold. the first harbour north of Muscat, with a safe anchorage in all winds
t
The exports included Persian goods of all sorts, such as silk3, carpets for vessels up to three or four hundred tons, whilst the local wells
and rose-water, which were brought down on camels from the produced the best drinking water in all Arabia.
I interior. In addition, a good amount of silver bullion was obtained
in the form of Abbasis and Larins. The export of horses was SOHAR (Soar).
forbidden by the Shah under pain of death, but it was usually possible
1 to obtain some. The town, though composed of well-built stone The small, but strongly-built fortress of Sohar was garrisoned by a
I detachment of forty Portuguese soldiers under a captain, supported
and adobe houses, was only a small one with a resident population
of some two hundred Persians, Parsees and Arabs, but there were by some hundred and fifty Lascarins. There was an Augustinian
often large encampments of these latter in the neighbourhood. On church within the walls, and a Customs-house on the shore, which
account of Ruy Freyre’s destructive activities, the Portuguese were yielded an annual income of over 200 “ ftardaus of larins.” The
held in great respect by the Persians, save that they had always to chief products were date-palms and the seed-pearl fisheries along the
be prepared to encounter opposition at sea from the Nakhilau coast, but the cultivation of the former was frequently impeded by
hostilities with the local inhabitants. There was also a great deal
(Niquilla) pirates who were described as being a race of hardy
free-booters. A similar pirate clan, the Nautaques, had given the of game to be shot in the neighbourhood, and a plentiful supply of
Portuguese much trouble in the past, but had been practically birds which were hawked with falcons. On the site of the old
• exterminated as a result of Ruy Freyre’s punitive expeditions. ruined city, a large number of Roman gold coins of Tiberius Czesar
had been dug up in the year 1601, which afforded proof that the
place had been of considerable importance in Roman times.
DOBBAH (Doba).
The Portuguese fort at DoBbah was a small but strongly
constructed work, which served to dominate the neighbouring
walled town of the same name, whose population of about one
thousand Arabs included but few men at arms. Date-palms and
seed-pearls formed the principal product of the neighbouring land
and sea respectively, but the gathering of both was frequently
impeded by the raids of the local Imam. This fortress, together
with the others on the Arabian coast (except Muscat and Sohar),

i634^PP ^?o^ Batavia> i634j PP* *6i, 338. Diario do Conde de Linhares,

128 I29 I

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