1G8 
[No. 2, 
E. C. Ross —Annals of ‘Oman.—Book VII. 
Rostak, where fighting went on, until they succeeded in ejecting the Wall 
from the place. They set fire to the gate of the Fort, and the whole front 
of the place was burnt, and many leaders of the Benu-Hinah, as also some 
chiefs of the Benu- £ Adi, were burnt to death. From what I have gathered, 
it seems one hundred and fifty lives were lost by the fire. Many books 
also were destroyed on this occasion, such as the “ Bay an ul-Shara‘,” “ el - 
Musannif ” “ Kitab ul-Istikameh ,” “ Mujlibat ul-Tilismat of about forty 
volumes. Many other works were burnt, which were unique in ‘Oman. 
Through this fire a vast treasure was discovered. 
When intelligence of what the people of el-Rostak had done reached 
the Imam YaTab, he detached a body of horsemen 1 under the command of 
the Sheykh Salih-bin Mohammed-bin Khalf el-Suleymi, and ordered them 
to proceed to el-Rostak ; but after reaching ‘Awabi, they were obliged to 
retreat, not being strong enough to fight. Befiarab-bin Nasir then wrote 
to the Wall of Maskat, Himyer-bin Suleiman-bin Ahmed el-Riyami, to surren¬ 
der that place to them, which he did. The town of Naklil also was delivered up 
without a blow. The insurgents then sent forth a detachment under Malik 
bin-Seyf el-YaTabi, who succeeded in taking Semail without opposition, the 
Wall evacuating the place. This was in the month of Thul-Ka‘deh of the 
same year. The Benu-Rualieh joined Malik, who next marched to Izki, 
which he took without any fighting. YaTab then marched with his adherents 
of the Nezwa people and the Benu-Riyam, attended by the Kadhi ‘Adi-bin 
Suleiman el-Thahali, and came to Izki. The Sheykhs of that place declared 
for him, and came out to meet him with offers of hospitality and supplies. 
For two days he remained writing to Malik-bin Seyf, summoning him to 
come forth from the Fort. And as he refused to do so after that time, 
YaTab commenced hostilities and fired twice on him with cannon. The 
detachment of the Benu-Hinah under Sahib el-‘Anbur 2 of el-Rostak, however, 
coming up against YaTab, his army was scattered, and he, finding himself 
deserted, returned to Nezwa. The Kadhi £ Adi-bin Suleiman fled to el- 
Rostak, where the people seized him and Suleiman-bin Khalfan, and bound 
them to the pillory, where they were slain by some of Beharab-bin Nasir’s 
people, and their bodies were dragged through the streets by the people of 
el-Rostak. This occurred on the feast of the Hijj in the same year. Sahib 
el- £ Anbur then proceeded to Nezwa, and commenced writing to YaTab, 
urging him to come forth from the Fort. Some of the Nezwa people, also, 
went to him and asked him to evacuate the place, in order to save 
bloodshed. They did not cease importuning him to this end, until at 
length he consented, on condition of their leaving him in the Fort of 
Yabrin and abstaining from molesting him. They entered into a compact 
with him to that effect, on which he went forth from Nezwa. By this act 
his Imamate terminated. He proceeded straight to Yabrin, and Sahib 
