'Gazetteer of Arabia Vol. II' [‎1191] (240/688)

MASQAT
1191
■Kutiitl;
ral cote
tteK
jdt®
Name of suburb.
Zadgal
Position.
Inhabitants.
Miyabln
Immediately below
the B5sto hill on its .
south side.
Runs into recess in
the hills south-east
of Bosto and is
divided by a small
rocky pass from
Zadgal.
Zadgalis
Arabs, chiefly Bani
Wahaib, and Nog-
roes.
Number of
and houses
remarks.
The inhabitants are
shopkeepers. 45
houses.
40 houses.
Inhahilants.—Hha population of Masqat is exceedingly heterogeneous. Arabs of tho
full blood are extremely few and Baluchis appear to be numerically the strongest element 5
next to Baluchis are probably negroes and half-caste Arabs, called Mawal d. The
Baluchis are soldiers, sailors, porters, servants and petty traders. There is a considerable
Persian community who are shopkeepers, fishmongers and makers of quilts and bedding.
Hindus number about 200 male adults and 50 women, besides some children, the presence
with some of them of their families being a recent innovation ; they are bankers, im
porters from India of rice, piece-goods, sugar and coffee, date-exporters, silversmiths and
owners of some of the best gardens la the suburbs. There are some Hadharim or Had-
hramautis in the Sultan's service, with their families ; and a few families of fishermen
from Soqotrah come annually to the Makallah cove in the beginning of the hot weather
and remain for a month or two. There are a few Abyssinians, called Habush, and Nubi
ans called Nuban. About 20 Goanese are settled at Masqat as general store-keepers,
vendors of spirits and tobacco, clerks and servants. There are 10 Khojahs at Masqat.
The population of Masqat is fluctuating and is at its lowest in the hot weather when more
than half the inhabitants of the s iburbs leave for Sib, Barkah and other places in Batinah
in quest of a less trying climate. In winter, when the town is full, the population of
Masqat may be 9^000 souls, viz., 2,500 residing within the walls, 4,500 in the suburbs
and 1,000 visitors : in size Masqat is inferior to Matrah. The principal food of the
people apart from fish, is rice ; but the poorer classes subsist largely on bread of jowari.
Resources cmd clivfiate. —Masqat has no natural resources or amenities. Food and
firewood are all imported, with the exception of the trifling yield of a few date trees and
of some small market gardens in Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. -al-Kabir and of the excellent and abundant fish
which a fleet of boats belonging to the town catch outside the entrance of the harbour
every morning when the weather permits. About 30 cattle and 200 sheep and goats are
kept which are fed largely on fish. The climate is equable but extreme, the heat in the
sun rising to as much as 189° F. and the temperature on the house roof at night in June
occasionally remaining at 106° F. There are only two seasons, a cool and a hot ; the
cool season lasts from November to March and is attended by occasional rain and heavy
stormv weather with comparatively chilly winds from the north and north-west which
produce outbreaks of malarial fever. The early part of the hot weather is the healthiest
season of the year. The rainfall is about 4| inches per annum, and most of it is received
during February and March in the course of a fortnight or 3 weeks.
Commerce, shipping, etc. —The choice of Masqat as capital of the country appears to
have been determined by the comparative excellence of its harbour, which favoured
trade and in former times enabled the Sultan to maintain a naval force and exercise
some influence at sea, and.by its inaccessibility and consequent security from the inland
side. Even as a port, however, Masqat suffers from various disadvantages. The
harbour lies open to the prevalent Shamal, and landing is difficult when that wind blows.
Af'ain Masqat has no landward communications and all goods for the interior after being
imported at Masqat must be re -ahipped to some other distributing centre, generally to