'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.' [‎413] (574/612)

postscript. 413
Sirat maintained its preeminence up to el-Idrisy's time a d
1153-4
o* . ^ mon o the dependencies of the province of Ardeshir is also
biraf, a considerable town, situated on the shore of the Persian
bea, rich and commercial, the inhabitants of which are noted for
their thirst after gain and for their activity in business This
town is the great market of Fars. The houses are built'of the
1UD vs o( palms, are well inhabited and very regular, for the in
habitants of Siraf take great pains and spend large sums of money
in the construction of their houses. Water and vegetables are
bi ought from the mountains of Kham, which command the city
and extend m a chain along the shores of the Persian Sea, but
where there is no cultivation. The climate of Siraf is very hot
On this town depend the following places where the Khuthah ("the
Fnday exhortatu)! 1 ] is made, namely, Najiram, a small town
situated on the seacoast, and 'Bidj4n, a strong place and the
Ss D^ t iart n ) r ' n y Dast ■ Ea ™<■ (-• - - anotLor
Nevertheless, it appears that during el-Idrisy's time the eastern
trade of Siraf, as well as that part of it which had been carried
on at Sohar on the coast of 'Oman, was in danger of being
diverted into another channel, owing to the following circurn^
stances:—
" In that island [Kish] is a town, also called Kish, which a
certain ruler of Yemen [all the country on the southern shore of
the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. went by that name] captured. He fortified it
and equipped a fleet there, by means of which he made himself
master of the littoral of Yemen. This man did much damao-e to
voyagers and merchants, despoiling them of their goods, and so
w eakened the country that the trade was turned from the route
by Oman and reverted to Aden. With his fleet he ravaged the
coasts of Zanj and those of Ghameran. The inhabitants of India
eared him, and could not resist him, except by means of their
vessels called Masheyifadt ... some of which were as long- as
a galley, sixty cubits long, made of one piece of wood, and
capable of carrying two hundred men. A cotemporary traveller
informed me that the ruler of Kish possesses fifty of these ships
made of one piece, without reckoning those constructed of pieces
put together. 1 his man continues his depredations still; he is
very rich, and no one can resist him. At Kish there are culti
vated fields, cattle, sheep, vines, and good pearl fisheries....It be
longs to Yemen and Maskat, from which it is one day's sail," 3
1 Geographic d'Edrisi, Ed. M. Jaubert, torn. i. pp. 397-8.
Id., pp. 152-3. 1 his passage is omitted in Qabriele Sionita's edition •
it follows the description of the island of Kish, as translated by me From