'History of the imâms and seyyids of 'Omân by Salîl-ibn-Razîk, from A.D. 661-1856; translated from the original Arabic, and edited with notes, appendices, and an introduction, continuing the history down to 1870, by George Percy Badger, F.R.G.S., late chaplain in the Presidency of Bombay.' [‎2] (35/612)

11
introduction
modern Ras-Fartak, it is clear that the Moscha of neither
can be Maskat/ which is at least 480 miles to the north of
that cape. There is no port answering to Ptolemy's Moscha
where he locates it; but the MoscIlcl of the Periplus may stand
foi Bunder-Res At, with which Mr. H. J. Carter identifies it."*
Dean \ incent was puzzled at the occurrence of the names
Omanum and Omana on that part of the coast. Mr. Carter,
also, who describes a remarkable natural division in the bay
of el-Kamar 3 the two mountainous tracts there being se
parated by forty miles of low land—is not surprised that the
noithern district should bear a specific designation, but in
asmuch as the territory now called 'Oman lies so much
faithci north, he is at a loss to account for the ancient name
so low down on the coast. Ihis difficulty disappears when
we come to the old Oriental geographers, who make 'Oman
conterminous with lladhramaut, just as Ptolemy makes his
Syagros Extrema the northern boundary of his Adramittarum
regio. So el-'Idrisy"and next to the land of Hadhramaut,
on the east, is the land of Shajar, in which are the Mahrah
tribes. Next to the land of Mahrah is the country of 'Oman,
which adjoins it on the north." 4
Oman, then, according to this statement, extended as far
south as lat. 16 deg. or 17 deg. N. Following the same
authority, it was bounded on the east by the Indian Ocean,
on the north by the southern shore of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , and
on the west by the province of el-Yamamah, and therefore
comprehended the territory of el-Bahrein, on the mainland ;
hence its boundary in that direction may be fixed approxi
mately at longitude 60 deg. 30 min. E. A translation of the
Maskat, with the accent on the first syllable, not on the second, as
Englishmen generally pronounce the word.
See an excellent paper of his, drawn up from personal observation of
the coast, and published in the Journal of the Bombay Branch of the
Royal Asiatic Society for January, 1851.
* For the probable origin of this name see note 4, p. 57.
" Geographia, Second Climate, section vi. Itomoe, 1619.