52 
S. B. Miles —On the route between 
[No. 1, 
Shargah, which is almost as easy of access to the principal customers as 
Sohar, the Arabs of el-Dhahireh and el-Jow, and where goods are cheaper, 
being imported thither direct from Bombay, and thus saving Muscat dues 
and re-shipment. Sohar has no harbonr, nor even the slightest shelter for 
native craft, and is dependent entirely on its position in being able to tap 
the trade of Upper el-Dhahireh and el-Jow for existence, and should this 
source of prosperity be in part drawn off by rival ports, it must sink in 
time to the level of other towns in the Batinah. El-Jow, in which el- 
Bereymi lies, is the smallest of the six provinces of ’Oman, and is situate 
between el-Dhahireh and the Shemal. It is bounded on the south by 
Jebel Hafit, on the east by Khatmet el-Shikla and el-Mahdheh, on the 
north by el-Shemal, and to the west by the desert. El-Jow is inhabited 
by several tribes, both Ghafiri and Hinawi ; the former having been in 
the ascendant since the accession of Seyyid Turki. The most powerful 
and the predominant Ghafiri tribe at present is the Na’im, which is divided 
into two distinct and about equal sections, each having numerous sub¬ 
divisions, and numbers on the whole some 20,000 souls. They occupy el- 
Bereymi Proper and Su’areh, and their possession of the fort enables 
them to overawe the whole of the settlement. Since the time of Seyyid ’Azan, 
they have been practically uninterfered with by the Muscat Government, 
but of course own allegiance to the present Sultan. The Na’im are at feud 
with the Beni Yas, who occupy part of el-Bereymi, and their hostility is 
interrupted only by occasional truces; collisions frequently occurring be¬ 
tween them. Of the two sections of the Na’im one inhabits more parti¬ 
cularly el-Jow and Bereymi, the other el-Dhahireh. They are of the more 
orthodox or Sunni persuasion, unlike the generality of ’Omanis who are 
Ibadhiya. The Chief Sheikh of the tribe is Mohammed-bin-’Ali-bin-Hamud, 
who lives at Dhank, his representative at el-Bereymi being his son Selim. 
The principal Hinawi tribe at el-Bereymi is the Beni Yas, who formerly 
gained so much notoriety by their piratical exploits. The Chief of this 
tribe is Sheikh Zaid-bin-Khalifah, a man of strong character, and per¬ 
haps the sole individual in these parts possessing any real personal power 
and authority. He resides at Abuthabi, and there are four smaller 
Sheikhs subordinate to him residing at el-Bereymi. This tribe takes the 
lead on the Hinawi side in all dissensions between the Hinawis and Gha- 
• • 
firis at el-Bereymi, and during Seyyid ’Azan’s reign held the predominant 
position here. The Beni Yas occupy the villages of Jemi, Katareh, Heyli, 
and the Wadi Mes’udi at el-Bereymi, 
and are said to have formerly out-numbered the Na’im, but this state of 
affairs has become reversed of late. The Ghafiri tribe next in importance 
to the Na’im, is the BeniKa’b, which numbers some 15,000 souls, and occu¬ 
pies the district of el-Mahdheh, which includes the mountain range and val- 
