THE YU'RABI ARABS. 



285 



guese, and expulsion of the survivors in imita- 

 tion of Mombasah, about 1660 ; and the Island- 

 ers, doubting their power to procure independ- 

 ence, applied for assistance to the Arabs. 



The reign of the Yu'rabi of Oman, a clan 

 of the great Ghaflri tribe, began as follows. 

 The Imam, Sultan bin Sayf bin Malik el Yu'- 

 rabi, the second of the family, having recovered 

 Maskat (April 23, 1659), and Matrah, created 

 a navy which added Kang, Khishm, Hormuz, 

 Bahrayn, and Mombasah (1660) to the Arabian 

 possessions left by his ancestors. After investing 

 Bombay this doughty chief died in a.d. 1668 or 

 in 1669. His son, Sayf bin Sultan, after de- 

 feating an elder brother, Belarab, became the 

 third Imam of the house of Yu'rabi, and sum- 

 moned to submission the petty chiefs on the 

 eastern mainland of Africa. Between a.d. 1680 

 and 1698, the powerful squadron of the warlike 

 Moor drove the Portuguese from Zanzibar, 

 Kilwa, Pemba, and Mombasah, where he estab- 

 lished as Governor Nasir bin Abdillah el 

 Mazru'i, the first of the great family of that 

 name. He failed only at Mozambique. Arabs 

 still relate the legend how having closely in- 

 vested the fort they were undermining the wall, 

 when a Banyan gave traitorous warning to the 



