Page 168 - Arabiab Studies (IV)

158 Arabian Studies IV
often answered by an application for leave. There is a fine
Consulate but no garden and riding is impossible.
1897 STIFFE, Capt. Arthur, Muscat, Gcog. /., 1897, Dee., 608-19,
with drawings. All the forts arc very ruined. There is a busy
suq outside the walls with barastis built of dwarf palm which
is brought from Makran and called pish. Auctions are
conducted by the vendor walking around saying what the last
bid had been. Wells situated half-a-mile outside the walls, are
worked by bullocks and defended by a square tower loop-
holed for musketry. A small cemented aqueduct, usually out
of repair, takes water to the landing place. There is a
water-course draining the valley which passes through a
culvert under the town wall and into the sea. It is quite dry
except after rain. The author gives a history.
1898 MA1NDRON, Maurice, ‘Mascate’, La Revue Hebdomadaire,
Paris, 1898, one issue in April and four in May, totalling over
100 pages, including a potted history. Muscat gives the
impression of being at the bottom of a giant’s well with sooty
walls. Everything is dust-coloured, but it has remained one of
the most interesting places on earth. The streets are narrower
than a writing desk and he resolved to walk as little as
possible after seeing a Banyan hit by a falling gable. There are
many ruins. There is no stable for the royal horses which are
kept on an open square with people moving around. The wall
is 15 feet high and shows signs of recent repair. The West gate
is Bab al-Kabir, massive with acacia growing round it. The
East Gate is Bab al-Saghir and its bastion, Burj al-Ghileh
defends the place where the wall goes into the sea. Buij
al-Naubeh is to the East and is known as ‘Three Shots’
because of the nightly gun. He was received by the Sultan in a
gallery on the first floor full of Bombay furniture in which the
only thing hanging was a Remington rifle. His old Minister,
Muhammad b. Azzan, looked like a Rembrandt painting. The
writer saw a sword procession led by a large drum and
negroes dancing to drum and fife and waving their khanjas.
He saw a very elegant 20-litre coffee pot. The British Consul
is a tyrant and determined to be master in town: he wanted to
pull down a street because it was blocked by beds.
1899 COX, Percy Zachariah, in Graves, Philip, The Life of Sir
Percy Cox, London, 1941, 76-7. The harbour is a never-failing
source of interest. In hot weather it is visited by small parties
of Socotran fishermen who camp and make a living fishing
from catamarans and diving for jetsam: they often pull up
civilized fishing rods. Firewood is so precious that it is sold
almost by the stick. Every well wheel has its own wheeze and
its owner can recognise if his employee is slacking: The
chorus of wheezes is phenomenal, but one almost gets to like
it—in the distance.’ In an article, ‘some excursions in Oman’