I ox THE EXPLORATION OF SOUTHEKN ARABIA. 495 



rect ; as in many otJier parts of the Mohammedan world it would seem 

 that certain ancient cults and ceremonies have been retained, which the 

 Moslem has been unable to eradicate. 



The Gara tribe is divided into families, the chief of which is the Al 

 Kah tan family, and the head of the Al Kahtan family is recognised as the 

 Sheikh by all the Garas. These families have constant blood feuds 

 amongst each other, which they make up when war is on with their neigh- 

 Ijours, the Mahri tribe, or the Geneveh tribe. Wali Suleiman during late 

 years has done much to heal these feuds, and it was through his instru- 

 mentality that we were enabled to penetrate into the Gara mountains, 

 with an escort of the heads of the chief families, with comparative safety. 



(3) The archjeological interest in the plain of Dhofar centres chiefly in 

 its connection with the frankincense trade and tlie towns established in 

 ancient times along the coast by the merchants who provided the ancient 

 world with the odoriferous drugs. 



We have several classical authorities who refer to this district, notably 

 Claudius Ptolemy, the author of the ' Periplus of the Red Sea,' Pliny, and 

 ;i few others. From them we can gather certain definite points, that 

 beyond Pas Favtak and the Sachalites Sinus there stretched a fertile coast 

 line known as the Libaniferous coast. The capital of this district was accord- 

 ing to Ptolemy called the oracle of jWteinis (MoireToi' 'Ai>Tef.ucoi), and the 

 city next in importance was called AhyssajwUs, near which was the harbour, 

 the 'portus nobilis, or Moscha of the Periplus, where the merchants on their 

 way to and from India used to tarry during the violence of the monsoons. 



Along the whole line of the plain of Dhofar there are no less than 

 seven spots where ruins occur, all indicating towns of considerable size ; but 

 on close examination of all of them there can be no manner of doubt that 

 at Al Balad and Robat — which are about two miles from one another and 

 connected by a series of ruins — the capital stood. These places are close 

 to the coast, and nearly in the centre of the line of plain, and consist of the 

 remains of many temples, tombs, and public buildings. The acropolis is 

 well marked with the debris of buildings ; there is also a tiny little harbour, 

 evidently only for small craft, across which a chain was discovered, the 

 Arabs say, a few years ago. Then there is a moat round the outer edge 

 of this town, in which water is still found, and bulrushes. The columns 

 still standing form an interesting link, which connects these ruins archi- 

 tecturally with the other ruined sites of the Sabsean world ; they are square 

 and fluted at each corner, and with step-like capitals. A further development 

 of this is evidently of later origin, when they decorated the capitals with 

 floral and geometric devices. The columns at Axsum in Abyssinia, at 

 Ivoloe and Adulis on the coast of the Red Sea, and at Mariaba in Yemen 

 are all of the same character, and indubitably establish the Saba?an origin 

 of the ruins. One column at Robat we found with a capital decorated on 

 four sides, three sides with intricate geometric patterns, and the fourth with 

 the Sabftan letters ein and T alternately. No other ruins either in size 

 or architecture on the plains of Dhofar can compare with these, and we 

 can safely say that they formed the capital of the district, which Claudius 

 Ptolemy calls the oracle of Artemis (MoireTo)' 'Anref.uSoc:), and which in 

 later times was known as Mansura, where dwelt, Yakout tells us, the 

 Prince of Dhofar, who had a monopoly over the frankincense trade, and 

 punished the infringement of it with death. In later times the Persians 

 occupied this spot, in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries of our era. To 

 them we owe the fact of the disturbance of the old Sabtean columns, and 



