Miscellanies. 385 



well cultivated, and produce fruit and vegetables in abundance ; the 

 Beni-rehan tribe, which inhabit them, are not such fine-looking men 

 as might be expected from their hardy life and mountainous abode, 

 which may possibly be attributed to their immoderate use of wine, 

 which, in spite of the precepts of the Koran, they indulge in, and ex- 

 cuse it on account of the cold they are exposed to ; the wine resem- 

 bles that from Shiraz. On my return to Neswah I made various 

 short excursions into the desert to the southwest. 



"Jan. 15. Owing to the malaria arising from a rank vegetation in 

 an oasis at Neswah, I was seized with a fever, became delirious, and 

 suffered severely ; on regaining my senses, I was so weak that it was 

 requisite to go to the sea coast for change of air, and therefore went 

 to Sib, twenty miles N. W of Muskat, which is celebrated for its sa- 

 lubrity, and here remained till the end of February. I then started 

 again along the coast, as far as Suik, sixty miles farther to N. W., 

 whence I turned into the interior of the country in a S. W. direction, 

 till we reached Makinyat on the 10th of March; this was once a 

 large town, but now is nothing more than a straggling village, never 

 having recovered from a visit made to it in 1800 by the Wahabis — 

 it stands in 23° 2V north latitude, forty two miles from the nearest 

 point of the coast at Khobur. We hence continued in a W. N. W. di- 

 rection, over a succession of barren and sandy plains to Obri, where, 

 to our annoyance, we found 2000 Wahabis had taken possession of 

 it ; they were proceeding to attack Bedia, and when they found we 

 were traveling under the Imam's protection, it was with some diffi- 

 culty I escaped from them without being, pillaged or murdered. I 

 was therefore obliged to retrace my steps to Suik, on the coast, and 

 went by sea to Shinas, in hopes of reaching Bremah, but in vain. 

 The province of Oman extends about three hundred and fifty miles 

 from Cape Musseldom on the north, to the island of Mazeira on the 

 south, with an average breadth of one hundred and twenty miles, yet 

 this seems very ill defined ; it is divided into four districts, namely, 1. 

 Batnah, extending in a narrow strip along the coast, from the north- 

 ward, as far as Sib ; 2. Darrah, parallel to the former, but in the in- 

 terior; 3. Oman, comprising the central parts, and Muskat; 4. Jalian 

 to the southeast. 



" It may be described as a desert, thickly studded with oases, and 

 containing amidst its mountains many fertile valleys, yet the cultiva- 

 ted parts bear but a small proportion to that which is barren. 



"The average height of the range of mountains which runs 

 throughout the extent of this part of Arabia is from 3000 to 3500 



Vol. XXXII.— No. 2. 49 



