GOVERNMENT OF ARABIA. 151 



during the season is chiefly fish, dates, and a small 

 allowance of bread, rice, and oil. Their earnings are 

 barely enough to support them through the winter, 

 which they pass in a state of indolence and dissipa- 

 tion. They use the precaution of oiling the orifice 

 of their ears, and placing a horn over the nose when 

 they dive, to prevent the water from entering by 

 these apertures ; but when they have been long 

 engaged in this service, their bodies are subject to 

 break out in sores, their eyes become bloodshot and 

 weak, and all their faculties seem to undergo a pre- 

 mature decay.* 



The coast from Cape Mussendom to Bahrein has 

 been, from time immemorial, occupied by a piratical 

 tribe of Arabs called Joassamees, already alluded 

 to. Their local position necessarily engaged them 

 in maritime pursuits, either as traders in their own 

 vessels, or as pilots and sailors hired to navigate 

 the small craft of the Gulf. From their superior 

 skill and industry, and fidelity to their engagements, 

 they maintained a high reputation, until subdued by 

 the arms of the Wahabees, after a resistance of three 

 years. Their principal town, Ras el Khyma, with 

 all its dependencies along the coast, suumitted to 

 the yoke, and embraced the new doctrines of the 

 conquerors. 



This revolution wrought a total change, not only 

 in the faith but in the character and habits of these 

 refractory tribes. Instead of living quietly on thej 

 scanty productions of their own soil, and the fish 

 of their own waters, the Joassamees directed their 

 views to war and plunder. Their first captures were 

 the small coasting traders which, from their defence- 

 less state, soon fell an easy prey. Imboldened by 

 success, they directed their efforts to higher em- 

 prises, until their prowess was felt and dreaded from 

 the mouth of the Euphrates to the Indian Ocean. 



* Buckingham's Travels in Assyria, chap, xxiii. Morier's 

 Travels through Persia. 



