'Selections from the Records of the Bombay Government' [‎241] (283/733)

MUSKAT.
241
To the west of Muskat is the Huddabei Tribe,—who the Shaikh is
now E do not know; they are 500; the Jenadie, 2,000,—who is the
Shaikh at present I know not; the Beni Aamr, and the Hawasseena,
1,200, Shaik Aamr bin Rashid ; the Jeal-i-Saad (Children of Saad),
15,000, Shaikh Jemul-i-Saad. This is the great tribe of Oman, and
by whom, and from whom, the Imaums were in the olden time
selected.
In the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Maaweel are many small tribes, with their Shaikhs, in
all about 2,000; and in and near the district of the Ahil-i-Nachl are
several small tribes, subject to the Ya Araba: the Shaikhs are many;
their names I do not know.
In the Zahnah districts are the Beni Kelban, the Beni Ali, the Ahilee
Younkei, the Beni Yakoot, the Beni Havill, the Boo Khuriban and the
Shakul, the Maahyahee and the Beniyas, who, with their several
Shaikhs, own the Imaum's authority, and consider him as their chief.
These tribes^ are about 12,000 collectively.
These are the principal tribes of Oman; but lam not aware, nor
have I ever heard, of any particular story or history of any of them.
They know exceedingly little of their own history : Arabs are perhaps
the least thinking people in the world. Of the tribes on the Coast of
Africa, in the Imaum's territories, but very little is known : they are
numerous, but as yet all savages, excepting those along the coast.
XIV.—Nothing like a court house or a court of justice exists in the
Mode in which Justice is Imaum ' s territories. The Koran is the code,
administered. Civil and and the Shaikhs, assisted by the Kazees and
Moollas, at once decide all lawsuits, and admi
nister justice,—in criminal cases on the instant; and certainly fair jus
tice is generally done. If the Imaum were present, or near, anything
of importance would be referred to him. At Muskat and Zanzibar^
when cases are tried by the Kazee, the decisions are not so fair, bri
bery is usual; but an appeal can always be made to the Governor or
the Imaum when he is present. The Imaum's Government is of a
purely patriarchal character : there are no establishments of any
kind similar to those existing in the States of Native Princes in India •
all things are in the most primitive condition,—such as it may be
assumed they have been in from a very remote period.
XV.—As directed in the Koran,—for murder, death ; for theft,
Nature of Punishments the han r d cut OY lhe ears, and sometimes the
awarded for Criminal Of- nose. Torture is not as a general thing resort-
_ enCM " _ ed to ; the floggings, when administered, are
inflicted with a stick, and often cause the death of the culprit.
* Dissensions are frequent amongst these tribes, and it is very difficult to get them united
for a common cause.
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