'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.' [‎28] (61/612)

XXVIU INTRODUCTION
Sultan was succeeded by Lis son Belarab-bin-Sultan, wlio
is stated to have been a great patron of learning, having
founded and endowed a college at Yabrin, where also he
took up his residence. His reign, which opened auspi
ciously, was soon disturbed by the rivalry of his brother
Seif, who secured many adherents from among the more
devout Fakihs and Sheikhs of 'Oman,—the parti-prdtre, as
such would be called in Christian France,—and a succes
sion of hostilities ensued between the partisans of the two
brothers, which obtained for Belarab the sobriquet of the
" Butcher," and for Seif that of the " Scourge of the
Arabs." It does not appear which was the elder, nor upon
what ground there was a division of opinion among the
people as to which of them had a greater claim to the
Imamate. Belarab, however, was eventually driven to take
refuge in his fort at Yabrin, where he expired—at his own
request, as the author avers. On his death, Seif succeeded
to the sovereignty, and inaugurated his reign by expelling
the Portuguese, about a.d . 1698, from Mombasah, the
island of Pemba, Kilwah, and other places on the east
coast of Africa, where the Arabs of 'Oman had formed set
tlements as early as the seventh century, (see ante, p. xiii).
Seif had a large navy at his command ; one of the ships is
stated to have carried eighty large guns, " each gun
measuring three spans at the breech/'—in circumference,
it may be presumed. His more useful and reproductive
works were the repairing of several of the principal canals, 1
1 These canals or water-courses, called Faluj, (in the singular, Falj,)
exist in every direction throughout the interior. Describing them, AVell-
sted says that the oases and towns of 'Oman generally "owe their fertility
to the happy manner in which the inhabitants have availed themselves
of conducting water to them, a mode, as far as I know, peculiar to this
country, and at an expense of labour and skill more Chinese than
Arabian. The greater part of the surface of the land being destitute of
running streams on the surface, the Arabs have sought in elevated places
for springs or fountains beneath it; by what means they discover these