GOVERNMENT OF ARABIA. 163 



of a Banian, who had been robbed of his daughter 

 by the Portuguese commander. In 1746, Oman was 

 invaded by Nadir Shah, who subdued all the coun- 

 try as far as Muscat, which he also took, with the 

 exception of two forts. On the death of that war- 

 like prince the Persians abandoned their conquests. 

 The ancient reigning families, the Gaflfri, the Ha- 

 mani, and the Arrabi (the latter pretended to be the 

 descendants of the Koreish), again resumed the su- 

 preme power. It was at this period that Ahmed 

 ibn Said, ancestor to the present imam, succeeded 

 in establishing his independence, after a feeble re- 

 sistance from the Gaffri. Several years ago, when 

 the government of India was engaged in suppress- 

 ing Arab pirates (the Joassamees) who infested the 

 Persian Gulf, this prince acted in alliance with the 

 British ; and it is to this circumstance that we owe 

 much of our recent information as to the state of his 

 capital, and the resources of his government.* 



The town of Muscat is romantically situated, 

 being built on a small sandy beach, and lying in 

 a sort of glen or recess behind the bay. On 

 either hand it is surrounded with bleak and rug- 

 ged cliffs ; without a tree, a flower, or a blade of 

 grass to break their uniformity of nakedness. Oc- 

 casionally their tops are shrouded in mist, with 

 here and there a hoary waterfal dashing from rock 

 to rock until it reach the ocean below. The har- 

 bour, the best and almost the only one on that part 

 of the Arabian coast, has a singular appearance. It 



* Buckingham's Travels in Assyria. Eraser's Journey. Sir J. 

 Malcolm's Sketches of Persia. An interesting account of Seid- 

 Said, who mounted the throne in 1807, is given by his physician, 

 Vincenzo, a native of Italy, under the name of Sheik Mansour. 



