200 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
protected by several forts; but the principal are the 
two represented in the engraving, Jellali and Merani,* 
both built by the Portuguese. About the middle of the 
seventeenth century, they were dispossessed by the 
Arabs, who have retained them ever since. The two 
engravings exhibit different views of the same forts, 
which are both striking objects as seen from the 
sea and harbour. Since the Arabs have been mas- 
ters of them, they have fallen into decay. Here the 
calm grey water, upon which the sun’s rays seemed 
to dance as if they loved to sport and sparkle on its 
placid bosom, recalled to my mind the beautiful image 
of a Hindoo bard : t 
“ Behold awhile the beauties of this lake, 
Where, on its slender stem, the lotus trembles, 
Brush’d by the passing swan, as on he sails, 
Singing his passion.” 
The city of Mascat is so fortified by nature, that if 
these fortresses were kept up, they would present in- 
superable difficulties to an invader. Arrian calls it 
Mosca, and speaks of it as being, even in his time, a 
considerable emporium of the trade of Arabia, Persia, 
and India. Mascat has always enjoyed this ad- 
vantage, and even now possesses an extensive trade, 
being the great mart of the Persian Gulf. The two 
churches built by the Portuguese during the time that 
the town was in their possession are now desecrated 
to very different purposes than those of religion, one of 
them being converted into a magazine and the other 
into the residence of some of the government function- 
* See Frontispiece. + Bhavabhuti. 
