286 



THE YWRABI ARABS. 



besieged. Pans of water ranged upon the ground 

 showed by the trembling fluid the direction of 

 the tunnel ; a countermine was sprung with 

 fatal effect, and the assailants, retreating in con- 

 fusion to their shipping, raised the siege. 1 The 

 squadron, however, pursued its course as far 

 south as the Comoros and Bukini (Madagascar, 

 or rather the northern portion of the Island), 

 whence, hearing of the ruler's death, it returned 

 home. When the Island became Arab property 

 the Wasawahili fled to the 'bush': they presently 

 consented to render personal service, or to pur- 

 chase exemption by annually paying $2 per head. 



Sayf bin Sultan was succeeded, in a.d. 1711, 

 by his eldest son, Sultan bin Sayf, who defeated 

 with his fleet of 24 to 28 ships, carrying 80 

 guns, the soldiers of Abbas III. and of Nadir 

 Shah. After his decease the chieftainship of 

 Oman was seized by a distant relative, Moham- 

 med bin Nasir, Lord of Jabrin, who according 

 to some, first assumed, according to others, re- 

 sumed, the title of c Imam/ making himself 

 priest as well as prince, like him of Sana'a in 

 Yemen. It has ever been a Khariji, and espe- 

 cially a Bayazi tenet, that any pious man, not 

 only those belonging to the Kuraysh or the Pro- 



1 M. G-uillain (i. 522) had vaguely heard of this tradition. 



