8 
BOMBAY TO BUSHIRE. 
the Persian gulph with his armament. He is an independant prince, 
and his jurisdiction, though principally confined to Muscat, extends yet 
generally over the province of Oman. At present he is friendly to us, 
and we have a resident at his court, who seldom remains there long, for 
the badness of its air has rendered it the burial place of too many 
Englishmen. 
At length we boarded the Arabs, and they proved to be, as we had 
originally expected, a fleet of the Imaunis merchantmen, laden with 
coffee, rice, See. bound to Bushire and Bussorah. They had been 
fifteen days from Muscat. One of the five was a fine vessel of six hun¬ 
dred tons burthen, which about four years before was purchased by the 
Imaum at the Isle of France, and was then called the Sterling Castle. 
There were also two grabs, which are ships in every respect like the 
others, except that they have lengthened prows instead of rounded 
bows. These grabs the Arabs can manage to build themselves in their 
own ports, as it is easy to extend the timbers of a ship, until they con¬ 
nect themselves into a prow; but they have not yet attained the art of 
forming timber fit to construct bows. 
Before the sunset of the preceding day, we had discovered through 
our glasses, the town of Congoon, under a peak, close in the eastern 
vicinity of the Barnhill. It then appeared in a wood of dates, above 
which rose the domes of mosques. The Sheik of Congoon is represented 
as a young and spirited Arab, who can raise a body of two thousand 
cavalry, and who is able to lead them. His town is resorted to for wood, 
but, as far as we could judge at a distance, the date is the only tree of 
the neighbourhood. 
We suffered much from the heat in the night, but when the moon rose 
over the Barnhill, a little refreshing breeze sprang up, which gave us 
much relief. An Arab ship was not far from us, and I could just hear 
their singing on board. It brought to ixiy recollection some of the moon¬ 
light scenes in the Archipelago ; for the music of these Arabs struck me 
as being very similar to that which I have heard on board a Greek or 
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