1874.] 
E. C. Ross —Annals of 1 Oman—Book VII. 
183 
One night, a field of millet by the wells of the town was destroyed. 
The owner complained to Mohammed-bin Nasir, who inquired who had de¬ 
stroyed his field. He replied, u the Benu-Yas and the el-Na‘im, and the Be¬ 
douins, and others with you.” He said, “ How much compensation do you 
require for your field? take two hundred Mohammadis.” 18 On his refusal he 
said, “ Take four hundred.” He still refused, and Mohammed-hin Nasir 
offered five hundred. But the man said, “ I will not be content unless 
you exact justice of them ?” So he summoned the Sheykhs, and on their 
presenting themselves, ordered them to he bound to stakes. The man 
would only accept their being whipped as reparation, so he had them all 
scourged, and would not heed their appeals to him for mercy until justice 
had been exacted, when he released them from the cords. 
Now this was a stratagem of the Benu-Hinah to estrange from him 
the Bedouins, who then left Mohammed-bin Nasir, and returned to their 
own lands. As soon as he heard of their departure, Khalf-bin Mubarik 
attacked Mohammed-hin Nasir with his adherents. The attack was made 
soon after sunrise, and Mohammed-hin Nasir’s followers were taken by sur¬ 
prise. When the latter was informed of the arrival of Khalf-bin Mubarik, 
he is said to have remarked, “ This hour is not to us, and not to them, hut 
as God wills.” Thereupon he mounted his mare, and his followers mounted 
with him, and they encountered Khalf at the gate of the Port of Sohar. 
In the engagement Khalf-bin Mubarik was killed, and the Benu-Hinah 
were defeated and pursued by Mohammed-hin Nash* to the Fort wall. 
There a bullet fired from the Fort above struck him, and his followers car¬ 
ried him off and he died. 19 Fifteen of his followers also were killed whose 
names we do not mention. The people of Maskat and el-Eostak retired to 
the latter place. 
For three days after the burial of Mohammed-bin-Nasir, none but the 
leaders knew of his death, and the garrison of the Fort of Sohar had well 
nigh surrendered it. 
They then returned with the Seyyid Seyf-hin Sultan to Nezwa, and he 
was appointed Imam of the Musalmans by the Kadhi, on Friday after sunset 
in the early part of Sha‘ban, in the year 1140 of the Hijreli [A. I). 1728.]. 
