Page 81 - The Pirate Coast (By Sir Charles Belgrave)

iously together. The customs were farmed to a rich Hindu
merchant. One of the characteristics of the Muscatis was their
tolerance and friendliness towards strangers and people of different
religions.
Preceded by Gaulaub, the party walked through the town;
everybody went on foot in Muscat, for the congested little town,
squeezed between the cliffs and the shore, was unsuitable for
riding. During the time he spent there, Buckingham never saw
a horse or a camel. They passed the slave market which was then
a flourishing concern. About 4,000 slaves were sold every year
and taken to other places in the Gulf and to Iraq. They were
exposed for sale in groups in the open. Women from Dongola
and Darfur in the Sudan, and copper-coloured beauties from
Abyssinia, sold for about 150 dollars, ncgrcsscs from Central
Africa fetched about 80 dollars. It was not until 1822, when the
Sultan made an agreement with the British, that the slave trade
ceased in Muscat.
The bazaar streets were narrow and crowded, roofed with
ragged matting, through which shafts of sunlight lit on the goods
exposed for sale in front of the cavern-like shops. The passage
between the shops was filled with boxes, bales and baskets of
dates, so that Loch and his party had to walk in single file. The
Muscatis whom they met were similar in appearance and dress
to the inhabitants of Muscat today. The pure bred coast Arabs
are small, light complcxioned, sinewy men, with scanty beards
and hawk-like features: those with negro blood are of heavier
build. Their appearance is deceptive: they do not look as stalwart
as in fact they are. The men wore white shirts and trousers,
girdled round the waist, turbans of blue check cotton, with silk
and cotton borders of red and yellow, which were woven in
Sohar. Some of them had swords slung over their shoulders, and
carried small round shields, like a Scottish targe, made of wood,
leather or rhinoceros hide, decorated with silver bosses. Many
of them had their eyes darkened with kohl (antimony) which is
thought to preserve the sight, a habit to which Muscatis are still
addicted. They met a few wild-looking Arabs from the interior,
with great masses of hair, wearing only a loin cloth and carrying
spears and shields, who spoke a different language and seemed to
be almost as much strangers in Muscat as the Englishmen.
Buckingham comments on ‘the equality of value between the
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