veyed by his Majesty's, as well as by the East, India Company's, vessels of war, for the purpose of receiving such freight; and the king's ships being naturally preferred, from their superior force, for the safety of such conveyance, the emoluments of their commanders, from this source, are very considerable, and reconcile them to all the other inconveniencies of being stationed in the Persian Gulf. Here, as at Mocha, the German crown is more commonly met with than the Spanish dollar. The former is called Rial France, and the latter Abu Tope, or Father Gun, from the pillars of the Spanish arms being thought to represent cannon. The German crown now passes current here for twenty-one Mohammedies, a small coin of Muscat; and the exchange on Bombay was at the rate of two hundred and twelve rupees for one hundred German crowns, and two hundred and twenty-five rupees for one hundred Spanish dollars. The Venetian sequin in gold is valued, when at full weight, at two and a quarter German crowns; all coins, however, receive their value in metal, from the Sherauf, or money-changers, who are chiefly Banians, and are very numerous here, as large profits are made by them, in transactions and exchanges of money.

Out of the revenue which the Imaum receives on the productions of his own country, and on foreign trade, the expenses of his government are defrayed; but these are so light as to leave him in possession of considerable personal wealth. Were it not for the interruption of the trade, and, consequently, of the source of these gains, the treasures in his coffers must have been immense; but at the same time that his revenues have been recently lessened, the expenses of his government have been increased, and that too from the same cause. The growing power of the Joassamees by sea, might have been checked by the arming the merchant ships of Muscat in their own defence, and by the cruising of the frigates and sloops of war, under the Imaum's flag, in the Gulf, even without the assistance of the English squadrons of the King's and Company's ships cruising there. But the Wahabees, of whom the Joassamees are but the maritime portion, threaten the dominions of the Imaum still more formidably by land. To repel them from his frontier, the deserts bordering on which are in actual possession of these secrataries, and the tribes lately become their proselytes, it is found necessary to keep up a large moving force. Among the Arabs, there are no standing armies; but every man capable of bearing arms, is called on to become a soldier, whenever his services may be required. The only persons steadily kept in pay, as military men, are half a dozen captains, who command the forts at Muscat, Muttrah, and Burka, on the coast, with about a hundred gunners, for the management of the cannon under them, The rest of the army may be called a sort of levy en masse. On his territory being threatened in any quarter, the Imaum addresses letters to the Shieks, or heads of families, and to the men of the greatest influence

and power, in the quarter threatened, calling on them to prove their allegiance, by raising a body of men, specifying the number, and the service required. According to the popularity of the war to be engaged in, these come forward with alacrity and good-will. Every man is already armed, almost from his cradle, according to the custom of the nation; and the very act of wearing such arms, familiarises him to their sight, and often improves the wearer in the use of them. As all discipline, beyond a sort of general obedience to some chief, is unknown among them, neither uniformity of dress nor of arms is required. Every man brings with him the weapons he likes best; the magazines of the Prince supply the ammunition; and the heads of such districts, as the armed force may be actually in, are enjoined to furnish them with subsistence. Remunerations are made to these heads of districts, either by sums of money, or by exemption from tithes and duties to the amount expended. The spoils of the war, if any, are entirely divided among those engaged; and besides a stipulated daily pay to every man bearing arms, in proportion to his rank, an ample reward is made to every one at the close of the war, proportioned to the service which he himself is thought to have individually rendered. These branches of expenditure at the present moment, when the Imaum has a body of twenty thousand men on foot, press hard on the declining revenues of his port; but on the other hand, he is liberally supported by every one throughout his dominions, and voluntary gifts of sums for the prosecution of the war, are made by wealthy patriots and his own resources are thought to be very ample, and much more than adequate to meet every exigency.

The appearance, dress, and manners of the Arabs of Muscat, differ but little from those of Yemen, and the coast of Hadramaut. In stature, they are of the middle size, but almost invariably slender. Their physiognomy is not so marked as that of most of the Desert Arabs, from their race being more mixed with foreigners brought among them by trade. The complexions of those of pure Arab descent, are much fairer here than in any part of Arabia that I have visited, from the southern borders of Palestine, to the Indian Ocean -though, excepting the plains of Babylonia, Muscat is the hottest place I ever experienced, in any part of the world. From the preference which seems to be given here, to handsome Abyssinian women over all others, there are scarcely any persons able to afford this luxury, who are without an Abyssinian beauty, as a wife, a mistress, or a slave. This has given a cast of Abyssinian feature, and a tinge of Abyssinian complexion, to a large portion of the inhabitants of Muscat; besides which, there are many handsome, tall and young slaves, who are assigned the most honourable places, as rulers of their masters' household, though still slaves; and others again, who by the death of their masters, or other causes, have obtained their freedom, and enriched themselves, so as to become the principal merchants of the place.

A distinguished person of this last description, had recently arrived here with all his family and suite from Bombay. This man was a native of Gondar, tall, handsome, and of regular features, approaching to the European form; but his complexion was a jet black, and his hair short and woolly, though he had nothing else in his appearance that was African. He was originally brought from Massowah, on the Red Sea, and sold as a slave at Muscat. Having the good fortune to serve a most excellent master, and being himself a faithful servant, he was admitted an adopted heir to all the property, there being no children to claim it; and, as is not unfrequently the case in similar instances, of a faithful slave serving a benevolent owner, he was invested with all the property by will, before his master's death. Not long after, or when the time required by the law had been fulfilled, he married the widow of his benefactor, and took her and all her relatives under his protection. Making a voyage to India, he remained long enough, as a fixed resident in Bombay, to establish his domicile there; and, in virtue of this, was considered to be a British subject, and permitted as such, to sail his vessels under the British flag. One of these, the Sulimany, commanded by an English captain, touched at Muscat, on her way to Bussorah. Some slaves were put on board of her, against the English captain's remonstrances; and the agents of the owner, who was himself at Bombay, seemed to think, that though their principal was sufficiently an Englishman, by adoption or domicile, to obtain an English flag for his vessels; yet that they were sufficiently Arabs to be justified in conducting their own business, even in these ships, as Arab merchants. The Sulimany sailed for Bussorah, was examined and captured by his Majesty's ship, Favourite, the Hon. Captain Maude, in the Gulf, was sent to Bombay, and then condemned in the Court of Admiralty, as a lawful prize, for being found with slaves on board, under English colours, and accordingly condemned. The Abyssinian, finding his interests shaken by this stroke in India, had returned to what he considered his real home, and had brought all his family and domestics with him. There were many genuine Abyssinians, and others mixed with Arab blood in their descent, settled here, as merchants of wealth and importance, and this returning Abyssinian was received among them all with marks of universal respect and consideration. There are also found here, a number of African negroes; but these from their inferiority of capacity and understanding to the Abyssinians, seldom or ever obtain their freedom, or arrive at any distinction, but continue to perform the lowest offices, and the most laborious duties, during all their lives.

These three classes are all Mohaminedans, and of the Soonee sect. Their deportment is grave, and their manner taciturn and serious; but there is yet an air of cheerfulness, and a look of content, and good-nature, mixed with what would be otherwise forbid

ding by its coldness. Beards are universally worn, but these are by nature thin and scanty; they are generally preserved of the natural colour, and not dyed, as with the Persians; though henna, the stain used for that purpose, is here applied freely to the soles of the feet and the palms of the hands, as well as cohel, or surmeh, the Arabic and Turkish names of antimony, to the eyes, from an idea that it increases their sparkling effect, and preserves the sight. Rings are sometimes worn, with the turquoise, or firouzi stone, set in them. The dress of the men is simply a shirt and trowsers, of fine muslin, slightly girded round the waist, open sandals of worked leather, and a turban of small blue, checked cotton, with silk and cotton border, of red and yellow,—a manufacture peculiar to the town of Sahar, to the north-west of Muscat, on the coast. In the girdle is worn a crooked dagger; and over the shoulders of the merchants is thrown a purple cotton cloth, of Surat; while the military, or people of government, wear a neatly made wooden shield, hung by a leathern strap over the shoulder, and either hang the sword loosely above it, or carry it in their hand. Nothing can surpass the simplicity of their appearance, or the equality of value, between the dresses of the wealthiest and the lowest classes of the people. The garments of the prince, taken altogether, without his arms, could not have cost more, I should conceive, than about an English guinea; and his arms were not nearly so costly as is usual among the northern Arabs and the Turks. Notwithstanding which, however, the people of Muscat seemed to me to be the cleanest, neatest, best dressed, and most gentlemanly of all the Arabs, that I had ever yet seen, and inspired, by their first approach, a feeling of confidence, good-will, and respect.

:

The foreigners who sojourn here for such period as their business may require, but who are not reckoned among the permanent residents, are Hindoos, principally Banians from Guzerat; some few Parsees from Bombay; Sindians and Belooches from the coast of Mekran Persians from Bushire; Arabs from Bahrein; and Jews from Bussorah. Some desert Arabs sometimes come in from the country; and while they are looked upon as much greater strangers by the people of Muscat, than any of those enumerated, and spoken of as a sort of wild race, among whom no man in his senses would trust himself, they, in their turn, regard every thing they see of the port, the shipping, and the bustle of commerce, with an eye of surprise and admiration. The few of these men that I saw, were of a smaller stature, more dried and fleshless in their forms, of a darker colour, and altogether of a more savage appearance, than even the Yezeedis of Sinjar. Like them, these seemed never to have passed a razor over their heads, or scissars over their upper lip. Their hair was long and black, and hung in a bush of thick locks over their forehead, eyes, and shoulders. They wore no other covering than a blue checked cotton cloth, girt around their

loins by a small plaited leathern cord, and were without any other shelter for their head, than the immense bush of hair, plastered with grease, which covered it. One of these only had a yambeah; two or three of them had swords and wooden shields; but the greater number of them carried short spears only. They were seemingly as barbarous and uninformed as men possibly could be.

The town of Muscat is upon the whole but meanly built. The Custom-house, which is opposite to the landing place, both for passengers and goods, is merely an open square of twenty feet, with benches around it, one side opening to the sea, and the roof covered in for shelter from the sun. This landing-place is also the Commercial Exchange, where it is usual, during the cool of the morning, and after El Asser, to see the principal merchants assembled, some sitting on old rusty cannon, others on condemned spars, and others in the midst of coils of rope, exposed on the wharf, stroking their beards, counting their beads, and seeming to be the greatest of idlers, instead of men of business. Notwithstanding which, when a stranger gets among them, he finds commerce to engross all their conversation and their thoughts. Of mosques, I saw not one; at least none were perceptible in the town by their usual accompaniments of domes and minarets. There is no public bath, and not a coffee-house throughout all the place. The bazaars are more narrow and confined, and the dwellings all certainly poorer than in either of the commercial towns of Mocha, Hodeida, Jedda, or Yambo, on the Red Sea; and there is a strange mixture of Indian architecture, in the Banian shops and warehouses, gilded and decorated in their own fantastic way, which contrasts with the sombre melancholy of the Arab houses and alleys, by which they are surrounded. The dwelling of the Imaum, which has an extensive and pretty front near the sea, the residence of one of his brothers near it, and about half a dozen other houses of the chief people here, are the only edifices that can be mentioned as good. The forts which command the harbour, look contemptible to an European eye, though they enjoy commanding positions, are furnished with good cannon, and are perhaps of greater defensive strength than they would at first sight appear to be.

One great distinguishing feature of Muscat, over all other Arabian towns, is the respect and civility shown by all classes of its inhabitants to Europeans. Even in Mocha, where the East India Company have so long had a factory, the most impudent insults are offered to Franks, as they are called, even by children. Here, however, where there has not for a long while been any European resident, an Englishman may go everywhere unmolested. In the town, every one as far as I observed, even the Imaum himself, went on foot. When they journey, horses are seldom used, but camels and asses are the animals mounted by all classes of those who ride. During our stay at Muscat, I did