508 Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [No. 5. 



opposite the summit of the magnificent cliff on the northern shore 

 of Hullany, where it springs up 1615 ft. above the sea, of tertiary 

 limestone full of marine remains, similar to those prevailing in 

 Egypt, Scinde, and the Punjab : the islands are nearly waterless, 

 and are barren in the extreme. In 1835, when the islands were 

 surveyed, the whole population consisted of thirty-five individuals 

 nor have we any reason to suppose that they have since then been 

 on the increase. They belonged to a considerable tribe on the 

 mainland, who had always considered the Curia murias their own. 

 A Mr. Ord roving in these seas in 1853 professed to have discovered 

 enormous deposits of guano on the Curia muria, and ignorant of, 

 or ignoring, the fact that this must needs have been rendered worth- 

 less by the rains, he so far gained the ear of Lord Clarendon that 

 in 1854 H. M. S. Juno was commissioned to ascertain the fact. Sub- 

 sequently the Imam of Muscat was applied to, to cede the islands, 

 he having as much right to them as to make over Wight, Anglesey, 

 or Sky to France. We were now arranging for the Eed Sea 

 Telegraph, and the time was most inopportune for disturbing the 

 minds of the people on the sea board of Southern Arabia. Mr. Ord 

 having appeared to claim execution of the treaty represented him- 

 self as having been resisted and threatened by hordes of natives. 

 Accordingly a war steamer of the Eoyal Navy burning coal at £3 a 

 ton, was sent out 30,000 miles, both to manifest the power and vindi- 

 cate the honor of England against an enemy not numbering in all 

 ten adult males — naked and unarmed as at the hour of their birth. 

 It is needless to add that hostility or resistance were never dreamt 

 of by a handful of harmless barbarians who had nothing to do but 

 surrender at pleasure. But then the people of England were 

 assured of their triumph, and the guano speculators were promised 

 fortunes. Since 1857 shipping to the extent of 80,000 tons has 

 visited the Curia murias, and the adventure utterly hopeless from 

 the first, has in man-of-war and merchant-shipping charges pro- 

 bably occasioned a loss to the Commonwealth of not less than a 

 quarter of a million sterling. In reality there is a small quantity of 

 guano of excellent quality found in caves and crevices where the 

 rain never reaches and the reports of the chemists on this mislead as 

 to the remainder. 



