162 CIVIL HISTORY AND 



been dignified by travellers, but improperly, with 

 the title of kings. The city of Doan is said to be 

 more elegant than the capital of Yemen, from which 

 it is distant five-and-twenty days' journey. The 

 most powerful of these sovereigns is the Sheik of Kes- 

 hin, whose dominions composed the imaginary king- 

 dom of Fartach, as laid down in the older maps ; an 

 error which may, perhaps, have arisen from his occa- 

 sional residence in the town of that name. He pos- 

 sesses the island of Socotra, of which the heir-pre- 

 sumptive of the reigning family is always the gover- 

 nor. Dafar and Shibam have their resident sheiks. 

 Aidan used to be celebrated for its annual fair, and 

 the pilgrimage to the tomb of Kahtan. 



The province of Oman is governed by an imam, 

 but contains a number of petty sovereigns, of 

 whom the princes of Jau, Gabria, Gafar, Rank, 

 Gabbi, Dahara, Makaniat, and Seer, have the title 

 of sheik. Seer, which the Persians call Julfar, ex- 

 tends from Cape Mussendom along the Gulf, and 

 is ruled by a chief of considerable maritime power. 

 It is one of those districts which withdrew from 

 the authority of the imam. Of the cities and towns 

 of Oman little is known. Rostak was formerly the 

 capital of the sovereign. Sohar and Kalbat were 

 once flourishing cities, but now greatly decayed. 



The modern capital, from which the sovereign 

 takes his title, is Muscat. The Portuguese made 

 themselves masters of it in 1508, and built two 

 churches, one of which was afterwards converted 

 into a magazine, and the other into the residence 

 of the wali, or governor. From this possession they 

 were driven by the Arabs about the middle of the 

 seventeenth century, through the treacherous aid 



