44 
S. B. Miles On lhr route between 
[No. 1, 
courses on the southern side of the range in a south-westerly direction until 
its waters are absorbed by the thirsty desert. We now continue W. N. W. 
over an unbroken plain sparsely studded with acacias direct on to Bereymi. 
On our right lies el-Mahdhah, the habitation of the Beni Ka’b 
tribe, while to the S.W. the lofty isolated range of Jebel Jfafit, (o 
looming some 20 miles away, alone breaks the level expanse before us, and 
we stand on the border of that inhospitable sea of* sand and waste that 
stretches without break or interruption for nearly 800 miles across the pen¬ 
insula, and forms the greatest sand desert of Asia. The Bedouins of our party 
having remained behind at a watering place we had passed, we found we 
had been jogging on for some miles without them, and the Sheikh professed 
some apprehension lest we should encounter any of the ’Awarnir Bedouins, 
who,he said, were constantly prowling about. It is customary in ’Oman, when 
moving from one part to another, to take a man or two as Khafir, or pro¬ 
tector, from each of the more important tribes through whose country one 
has to pass. This applies not only to strangers, but also to any Arab passing 
through the territory of another tribe with whom his own are not in “ sail* ” 
or league, when it is of course unnecessary. Sheikh Kashid had not been 
able to procure an ’Amiri at Solnir before starting, arid hence his anxiety. 
We had another thunder-storm this evening, but not much rain. On 
arrival at Bereymi, I went to the house of Selim-bin-Mohammed, whose 
father, the Chief Sheikh of the Na’im tribe, resides at Dhank Our 
arrival was the signal for a general assembly of visitors, whom I soon tired of, 
and 1 therefore beat a retreat to another house outside, which was cleared 
for my reception. 
Early the next morning, 1 set out to visit the fort, which at present is 
in the hands of Sheikh Ilamd. i saw his house on the way, and as he was 
laid up with a dislocated shoulder from a fall off a camel, he sent to invite 
me in to take coffee. The house consists of two lofty rooms separated by 
an arch and with no furniture, but a carpet or two and an array of coffee 
pots ; two or three damsels bundled out as I entered, but the fowls and 
goats that seemed to make up the complement of inmates, being less bash¬ 
ful, remained. The walls of the courtyard are loop-holed for musketry, and 
a rusty iron gun lies half-buried in the ground inside. It took some little 
time to get coffee ready for the assembly that had crowded into the house 
and filled both sides of the room, but when it was over, I took leave and 
continued my way to the fort. On reaching the gate, I received a salute 
of three guns, which put the ordnance horn do combat by dismounting them 
from their rickety carriages, and thus prevented any further expenditure of 
powder. 1 was then taken over the fort, and the objects of interest gene¬ 
rally were pointed out to me with great readiness and evident pleasure by 
the Sheikh’s nephew and his people. I was gratified by their civility, and 
