1877.] 
Sohar and el-JBereymi in 'Oman. 
49 
purpose. The hill is not high, perhaps 250 or 300 feet, but it is very steep 
and inaccessible, and there being no semblance of a road, I was glad to 
accept the assistance of the Bedouins, who are as agile as cats and clamber 
about the most difficult places with ease. Around the summit, which is 
irregular, are traceable the ruins of these fortifications extending perhaps 
for half a mile. The wall still stands in places, from two to six feet high, 
and it is possible to trace the outline of part of the buildings at the highest 
point, though the greater part are an undistinguishable heap of ruins. 
Along the line of fortification at intervals were small circular towers, 
several of which are still conspicuous. The thickness of the walls was 
uniformly about three feet, and they are constructed entirely of rough 
fragments of the rock of which the upper part of the hill is composed, viz ., 
a white oolitic limestone, cemented with clay, and I could detect only three 
places in which mortar had been used at all. These were an arch in the 
wall, the curbstones in the path that led down the hill and the water 
cisterns. One of these cisterns, of which there are two, is quite at 
the summit, and is in shape an oblong, constructed of round pebbles 
cemented and plastered with mortar. The other is oval-shaped and of 
similar construction. It is lower down the hill. Both these tanks are 
small and shallow, and in such good condition, that, if cleaned out, they 
might still be serviceable. There are no signs of wells having been sunk 
that I could see ; indeed, the quality of the rock precludes the idea of 
such an experiment. Somewhat below the highest point is a low arch in 
in the wall, built of selected stones cemented together, and was not impro¬ 
bably that of the gateway, as it is just over the road. There is one other 
arch in a tower still lower down, but it is made with long slabs placed 
together uncemented. Only a few yards of the roadway are traceable near 
the top, the rest is entirely obliterated, but it probably wound round the 
greater part of the hill. It was very narrow, and is faced at the edge with 
curbstones. It was at the extreme summit where the outline is best pre¬ 
served, that the residence of the Chief or Governor probably stood, but to 
judge from the heap of stones in situ, the building was apparently of no 
great extent ; perhaps a small stone house for the Chief and rude shelter 
for the garrison were all that was needed. From its position and strength, 
however, the importance of the castle is sufficiently apparent, and it was 
doubtless considered quite impregnable in those days of slings and bows, 
while it of course commanded the whole plain of Sohar from hence to the sea. 
According to the tradition of the Arabs, as related to me by Sheikh 
Bashid and confirmed by Seyyid Turki and others, the castle at Jebel 
Gharabeh, as well as the city of ’Oman, were founded by Julanda-bin-Karkar, 
'J under whom the city covered a great part of the maritime 
plain lying between Jebel Gharabeh and the sea ; but there is no doubt that 
G 
