1877.] 
Sohdr and el-Bereymi in 'Oman. 
57 
Bedouins finding their way without difficulty ; a light camel-load o£ dates 
and flour enabling them to traverse a long distance. In 1870, Sa’ud-bin- 
Jelowi came straight across the great desert from He j ran to Abuthabi in 
fifty-six days, travelling leisurely, but for the last fifteen days he and his 
followers were greatly pressed for food, their store having become ex¬ 
hausted. His purpose was to meet Seyyid ’ Azan, which he did at Burka, and 
then accompanied him in his expedition against el-Bereymi. 
South of Yemameh and three days from el-IIasa lies the fertile and 
well-watered valley of Jabrin, whose groves of date palms are said to extend 
for several miles. It is situate entirely in the desert, and does not form part 
of ksTejd. It was formerly a large and flourishing settlement, but it subse¬ 
quently became so malarious and unhealthy, that the inhabitants were driven 
away, and it is now almost entirely destitute of permanent residents. The 
Arabs claim an antiquity of 800 years for it, but it has long since fallen to 
ruin, though I believe the fort and some of the walls of the houses are still 
standing. It is also said that after heavy floods gold coins are sometimes 
picked up by the Bedouins. The dates belong to the A1 Morra and Dowa- 
sir tribes, who visit Jabrin in the summer to collect the harvest, which is 
carried for sale to Nejd and el-Hasa. It is also extensively resorted to by 
the neighbouring nomads with their flocks and herds for the sake of the 
luxuriant pasturage. 
In el-Bereymi I found a small colony of Arab gipsies, Zatt (J=3) or 
Zatut, as the Arabs call them, settled and I have since had further oppor¬ 
tunity of observing these people. In his ‘ Alte Gfeographie Arabiens ’ Dr. 
Sprenger has identified the Zatt with the Jats of India, and though, as he 
shows, they have been in Arabia upwards of 1,000 years, they are at once 
distinguishable from the Arabs as a distinct race. They are taller in person 
and more swarthy, and they have that cunning and shifty look stamped on 
their physiognomy so observable in the gipsies of Europe. The Zatt are 
spread over Central and Eastern Arabia from Muscat to Mesopotamia, and 
are very numerous in ’Oman. Everywhere they maintain themselves as a 
separate class and do not intermix by marriage with strangers. It occurs 
sometimes, I believe, that an Arab takes a Zattiya to wife, hut no pure Arab 
girl would be given to a Zatt, though daughters of Arabs by slave mothers 
may occasionally be obtained by them. It is probable, too, that the race is 
continued to some extent by adoption as well as procreation, as they do not 
seem to he a prolific people. In ’Oman, besides those who have been per¬ 
manently settled in the country, are to be found many who come across 
from Persia and Beluchistan in search of employment or to visit their kins¬ 
folk, but their stay is seldom prolonged. The Arab Zatt are divided into nu¬ 
merous clans or families, for which they have adopted Arab nomenclature, such 
as Wilad Matlab (<—d.h./o d^j), Wilad Kabal(JUS jAj), Wilad Shaghraf (AVj 
