'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.' [‎45] (78/612)

and analysis.
xlv
with the Benu-Said,—even that name only occurs once in
these annals prior to the appearance of Ahmed,—they re
sided at el-^Akr, a suburb of Nezwa, and are described as
being the most prominent among the inhabitants of that
locality. Ahmed's early career as a merchant^ and the part
which he subsequently took in public affairs until his eleva
tion to the Imamate, have already been narrated in the pre
ceding pages.
His first care on assuming the reins of government was
to draw up a set of rules for the financial, judicial, and fiscal
departments of the administration, over which he placed
nominees of his own selection. A superintendent was ap
pointed to take charge of the navy, but military affairs he
retained under his own immediate control. Having pro
bably learnt by personal experience that the feudal levies
were not always to be depended upon, he established a
small standing army consisting of 1,100 African slaves and
1,000 free soldiers, with which he garrisoned the citadel at
er-Rastak, providing each with a fine camel or horse. He
also paid more attention to outward pomp than seems to
have been usual with his predecessors, for " whenever he
marched from one place to another four banners attached to
staffs, the heads of two of which were of gold and the other
two of silver, were borne in his retinue, and he never moved
about without being accompanied by a number of Kadhis,
scholars, and notables, and a party of executioners,—a brave
set of fellows." His dominions extended from the end of
Jaalan on the south to el-Bereimy in ezh-Zhahirah on the
north, including the country to the eastward of those two
points as far as the sea-coast.
Ahmed had not been long in power before the Nizariyyah
and other disaffected tribes incited Belarab-bin-Himyar, of
the el-Yaarubah, the ex-Imam who had abdicated in favour of
his late cousin Seif-bin-Sultan, (pp. xl, 143), to rebel against
him. At this time Ahmed was absent on an expedition