Page 154 - Arabiab Studies (IV)

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144 Arabian Studies IV
men and rather more women. Perhaps one-third of them arc
slaves. All men carry arms, cheerfully for their own Shaykhs
but unwillingly for the Imam who has only a paid Baluch
bodyguard of 300 men. Local Governors receive no salaries:
indeed they pay the Imam unless strong enough to resist him.
The Imam is despotic and only kept in power by British
support. Lists are given of his opponents, of his fleet and of
exports and imports. The following account of Sayyid Said’s
revenues is given in thousands of Maria Theresa Dollars:
Muscat customs 188; Muscat internal 15; Muttra 50; Sohar
24; Zore 10; Suak 7; Massema 5; Burka 5; Nakal 5; Rustock
7; Samoy 4; Budbud 4; Zachari 5; Nigzuda 4; Deba 4;
Calliate 3; Zib 3; places farmed from Persia 8; Meckram 5;
Zanzibar 120; African coast 20; tribute from Bahrein 7;
various 20—a total of MTD 522,000.
As. Jml., December. The Imam launched his 28-gun ship
Mustapha at Muttrah. She was the first large warship ever
built entirely of Asiatic materials with timber from Malibu
and iron from Bombay: ‘As a first effort she exhibits no
despicable specimens of skill in naval architecture.’
1827 As. Jml., May. Sayyid Said, at war with Bushire over a
Persian princess, captured the Shaykh on his way back from
the Haj. He has such a good reputation that we are certain
that he will treat the prisoner decently.
1828 BETH HILLEL, Rabbi David, Travels, Madras, 1832. In
Muscat there are four families of Jews with a small
synagogue. They are very well treated by the King who calls
them ‘the children of Sarah’. They lend money at interest and
have the same customs as Yemeni Jews. There are about
1,000 Banyan families and 6,000 Muslim families in fine
European-type houses. An hour’s journey away is the burial
place of the Kings. The people are like all those between
Aleppo and India, proud, liars, lazy, greedy, rude and dabble
in sorcery. Off the coast there are very large fish which can
swallow a boat holding five people: it can be frightened off by
tapping the boat and shouting ‘oory oory’.
1830 WELLSTED, J. R., Travels to the City of the Caliphs,
London, 1840, 45-59. This is the narrative of Lieut. Ormsby,
but edited by Wellsted (see below) and it is impossible to say
who wrote what: many of the same phrases occur in
Wellsted’s Travels. Ormsby was there in May and June,
staying in a caravanserai with Bokhara merchants who had
come to buy slaves: a Dongola woman or an Abyssinian cost
$150 and a negress less than $80. He also heard stories of
Looteanas who appear to have been some sort of gypsies.
Fruit is so plentiful that often only a tenth of the crop is
picked. The following quotations may be either Ormsby or
Wellsted: *a romantic hollow. . . perhaps unequalled in any