"ملف XVII/١القواعد البحرية في الخليج. مراسلات بخصوص ما ورد أعلاه - تقرير كتبه الوكيل السياسي في مسقط بشأن حدود السلطة القضائية للسلطان في شمال عُمان" [ظ‎‎٣‎٩] (٩٦/٧٩)

DUHAT KAEAL.
Leaving Lima t,he "ReflbreasV' ent»ered the Duhati Kabal^
in the innermost, cove of which inlet, dwells
a small permanent, communitiy of t»he Shihooh,
consisting of 4 or 5 families living in rude
shingle huts and passihg their existence in a state of peaceful
and contented poverty, .They possess a few goats but their
main staff of life is a shell fish of the strombus family which
abounds in the shallows of their cove.
These people were the wildest met with and disappeared into
the hills on the approach of the ’'Redbreast", and although she
anchored there for 2 days only two of the men could be pursua-
ded to come on board,the women and children never appearing.
The men had no firearms and those we met were perfectly friend
ly but having never seen a white man or a steamer before wex e
naturally scared and apprehensive.
The two days spent here were occupied in an excursion to the
summits of the neighbouring mountains,guided by one of the
local natives,in the hope of falling in with other Bedouin Shi
hooh, but owing to the drought just mentioned the two or three
natural reservoirs for rain water that we visited were dried
up and the usual encampments in the vicinity deserted.
Three shepherds were however met with,who,like their comrades
down below,carried no arms and were very frank and friendly.
Asked how it was that they could thus wander afield unarmed they
replied that they had' no need of weapons as their enemies the
Jowasmis could hot penetrate to their mountain haunts by land
btCi
and the "Nasara"fi.e.English] gave them immunity by sea. The
V A /
"Nasara" seemed to be to them a mysterious institution,X might
almost say fetish,which they did not profess to understand,but
with regard to which they were content to know that it made the
sea safe for them. I found this sentiment agreeably prevalent
not only here but in all the out—of—the—way places visited in
these waters,both on the coast and in the group of islands in
the southern part of the Persia.n Gulf. Natives mot with who
had never before seen a white man at close quarters and to
whom the explanation "Angrez" (English) in reply to queries as
to who we were,of itself conveyed nothing, invariably followed
up