تقارير إدارية من الخليج العربي ١٨٨٣/١٨٨٤ – ١٩٠٤/١٩٠٥ [ظ‎‎٤‎٩] (٦٠٢/١٠٣)

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administration report of the persian gulf political
APPENDIX A TO PART II.
NOTES OP A TOUR THROUGH OMAN AND EL-DHAHIREH,
By Lieut.-Colonel S. B. Miles.
The general tranquillity o£ tlie country, and other reasons, at the cloae o£ 1885 'g^ ™
& , . i 11 i i."Up Provinces of Omaii and Dlialiireh, which I had
an opportuuity of ^ thro^h the Provme^ and whitelock who
not previously been ahle to explore and wh.eh Lmutena t ^ ^ ^ i
travelled in 1835, 60 years ago are the o^ E^ns w^o
was also desirous o£ making the personal acquaintance 01 we f
Ze parts with whom I h^ not hitherw come in contact dunng my res.dence at Mu^at.
The route I had proposed to take .was through Semail and Zikkx to Adam, theuce across the
Nejd El-Dhahireh to Obri and Dhank, and then defending th. ^ H~h r et™bj
the Batiueh Coast to Muscat. This programme was carried out, wrth tins difference, that I
returned from Maskin hy a shorter road through Nas; t]le son of ^
The Sultan was ffood enough to appoint feayitt namuuu a i m . n t > •
Wali of Muttrah, as leader of the escort, and Nasir Bin Muhammad ^aikh of the Bern
Kelban, as guide and Kcfeer. His Highness's ^retey Suhman aud Shaikh Sa^m-bm-
Hamid, also accompanied the party, which consisted altogether of 23 persons.
We left Muscat on the 11th December, slept at Wateyah the first night and at lanp
on the second, and on the 13th December, after halting at Semail for two hours, reached
Seyieh, a town of the Beni Jabir in the Wady Bern Bnweyheh. •
The storms and floods of March 1885 did immense damage in the Semail valley, and the
people were still lamenting their houses washed down, their date trees and cattle swept away,
and their crops spoilt; the river rose 24 feet, and the marks of its highest point we^sdl
visible on the banks. Some of the few surviving members of the last dynastic family, the
Yaarebeh, are living in retirement at this town, Seyjeh, whither they have taken refuge from
the persecutions of their successors the Al-bu-Saidis. .c ji t » .
December 14U. —I had sent to Nasir bin Muhammad, the head Shaikh of the Benj
Ruweyheh, immediately on arriving here, requesting him to accompany me as far as Zikki, and
soon after starting this morning we met him on the road with two other Shai s. e
resides at Obal, a village three miles from Seyjeh, and was anxious we should pay him a visit
there, but I declined from press of. time. Obal is a picturesque spot; it appears like a white
hill surmounted by a tower and skirted by a dense grove of date palms. Aw ^ to our left '
nust opposite Obal, is the Nejd of Wady Akk with its three spurs branching off to the soath,
forming the valleys of Semed, Andam, and Ibrah. The Wadi Beni Ruweyheh is here very
narrow with high ranges on either side. About half way we reach Mezbemyeh, which is
considered the Nejd br highest point of the valley, and has an altitude of 2,200 feet. From
hence the road runs level or slightly descending to Zikki. Passing Wady Meteh and Wady
Karoot we reached Zikki at 2 p.m ., and I put up in a Sabla outside the fort, which I did not
enter this time as I had examined it thoroughly on my former visit ten years before. It was
rebuilt in the early years of this century by Muhammad Nasir-el-Jabri, and having since
stood several sieges is now in a very dilapidated state, but still strong. The circumstances
under which Shaikh Nasir surrendered this fort to His Highness Sayid Turki about a year
ago were fully reported at the time. The present Wali on behalf of the Sultan is Shaikh
Muhammad bin Sinan. The town is inhabited by two rival tribes who occupy separate
walled enclosures or Hujrahs, and maintain almost incessant warfare with each other. They
are divided by the broad bed of the Wady Halfain, the Nizar dwelling to the south of the
stream, while the Yemin Hujrah, as well as the fort, stand on the right bank at the edge of a
cliff some 200 feet high,
December 15tJi. —Having obtained fresh baggage camels I proceeded to-day to Mann,
which was reached at noon. Descending the steep cliff into the Wady Halfain, we rode along
the left bank for a mile until we came opposite to Zikkeyt, a small quadrangular walled
village of the Beni Riyam, and then crossing the stream traversed a wide and level plain
having a gentle declivity towards the south to Manh. The Wady Halfain is here a broa
but shallow river, bub soon loses itself in the sand, though it is said after heavy rain to reac
the sea at Mahot. The bed is a highway for caravans from Oman to the Ghubbet Hashish,
and is inhabited by numerous Bedouins, as water is found^ everywhere near the surface. ^ e
frontier town of Adam is, like Zikki, occupied by two hostile tribes, and hearing here that a
collision had lately occurred between them, I determined to leave half my party with t e
baggage at Manh and push on with the escort only, to which I here added six Jenebe
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