NOTES ON OMAN 



97 



THE OLD FORT OR CASTLE AT ROSTAK 

 Photo by Lieut. Col. S. B. Miles. From the Geographical Journal, London, England. 



3,000 to 5,000 feet, and abundant springs, 

 the wadys and oases of Oman have 

 awakened the delight and amazement of 

 every traveler who has ventured to ex- 

 plore them. Water, the one priceless 

 treasure in all Arabia, here issues in 

 perennial streams from many rocky 

 clefts, and is most carefully husbanded 

 by the ingenuity of the people for wide 

 irrigation by means of canals or water- 

 courses called faluj. 



Wellsted thus describes these under- 

 ground aqueducts : "They are, as far as 

 I know, peculiar to this country, and are 

 made at an expense of labor and skill 

 more Chinese than Arabian. The greater 

 part of the surface of the land being des- 

 titute of running streams on the surface, 

 the Arabs have sought in elevated places 

 for springs or fountains beneath it. A 

 channel from this fountain-head is then, 

 with a very slight descent, bored in the 

 direction in which it is to be conveyed, 

 leaving apertures at regular distances to 

 afford light and air to those who are oc- 

 casionally sent to keep it clean. 



In this way the water is frequently 

 conducted for a distance of 6 or 8 miles, 

 and an unlimited supply is thus obtained. 

 These channels are about 4 feet broad 

 and 2 feet deep and contain a clear, rapid 

 stream. Most of the large towns or 

 oases have four or five of these rivulets 

 or falj (plural faluj) running into them. 



The isolated spots to which water is 

 thus conveyed possess a soil so fertile 

 that nearly every grain, fruit, or vege- 

 table common to India, Arabia, or Per- 

 sia is produced almost spontaneously, 

 and the tales of the oases will be no 

 longer regarded as an exaggeration, 

 since a single step conveys the traveler 

 from the glare and sand of the desert 

 into a fertile tract, watered by a hun- 

 dred rills, teeming with the most luxuri- 

 ous vegetation." 



Some of the photographs that illus- 

 trate this article were taken on a recent 

 journey with Dr. Arthur K. Bennett, 

 one of the medical missionaries of the 

 American mission, and give a good idea 

 of the general character of the country 



