HARBOUR OF MUSCAT, IN THE PERSIAN GULF. (FROM THE UNPUBLISHED TRAVELS OF In illustration of the beautiful little print, reduced from the painting of Witherington, and faithfully representing a spot so little known in Europe, I have great pleasure in extracting from my Manuscript Journal, such observations on this mart of Arabian commerce, as were made on the spot, and which, whatever may be their defects in other particulars, possess at least the merit of accuracy and fidelity to recommend them. The harbour of Muscat, which lies in Lat. 23° 38′ N. and Long. 59° 15′ E. is formed by a small cove or semicircular bay, environed on all sides, except at its entrance, by lofty, steep, and barren rocks; and extending not more than half a mile in length from the town at the head of the cove, to the outer anchorage in the mouth of it, and not more than a quarter of a mile in breadth from fort to fort, which guard the entrance on the east and west. The town of Muscat is seated near the shore at the bottom of the hills, and in the south-western quarter of the cove. It is of an irregular form, and meanly built, having apparently no good edifices in it excepting the residences of the Imaum, and a few of the chief of his relatives, and others holding the first posts of government. It is walled in, with some few round towers at the principal angles, after the Arabian manner; but this is only towards the land side, the part facing the sea being entirely open. For its defence towards the harbour, there are three principal forts, and some smaller batteries, all occupying commanding positions, and capable of opposing the entrance into the harbour even of the largest ships. The walled town is certainly less than a mile in circuit; but the streets being narrow, and the dwellings thickly placed, without much room being occupied by open squares, courts, or gardens, the estimated population of ten thousand, given as they say here by a late census of the fixed inhabitants, may not exceed the truth. Of these about nine tenths are pure Arabs, and Mahometans ; the remainder are principally Banians and other Hindoos from Guzerat and Bombay, who reside here as brokers and general traders, and are treated with great lenity and tolerance. Beyond this walled town, there is an extensive suburb formed of the dwellings of the poorer class of the people, who live in huts of reed, and cabins made of the branches of trees, interwoven with mats and reeds in the same way as at Mocha, Jedda, and other large towns on the western side of Arabia in the Red Sea. The population of this suburb may amount to three thousand, a portion of whom are by origin Persians, and settlers from the opposite coasts near the mouth of the gulf. The government of Muscat is entirely in the hands of the Imaum. The power of this prince extends at the present moment from Ras-el-Had on the southeast to Khore Fakan near Ras-el-Mussanudem on the north-west; and from the sea shore on the northeast to from three to six days' journey inland on the south-west. The whole of this territory is called Amān; implying the Land of Safety or Security, as contrasted with the uncivilized and unsafe countries by which it is bounded. On the north, as before observed, it has the sea-on the south are the Arabs of Mazeira, who are described as a cruel and inhospitable race, and whose shores are as much avoided, from a dread of falling into the hands of such a people, as from the real dangers which it presents to those who coast along it. On the east the sea also forms its boundary, and on the west are several hostile tribes of Bedouins, who dispute among themselves the watering places, and pasturage of the desert, and sometimes threaten the borders of the cultivated land. The southernmost of these Bedouins unite with those of Mazeira, and still retain their original indifference to religion; but the northernmost are by degrees uniting with the Wahabees, and being infected as soon as they join them with the fanaticism of that sect, they are daily augmenting the number of the Imaum's enemies, and even now give him no |