'Travels in Assyria, Media, and Persia, including a journey from Bagdad by Mount Zagros, to Hamadan, the ancient Ecbatana, researches in Ispahan and the ruins of Persepolis, and journey from thence by Shiraz and Shapoor to the sea-shore. Description of Bussorah, Bushire, Bahrein, Ormuz, and Muscat, narrative of an expedition against the pirates of the Persian Gulf, with illustrations of the voyage of Nearchus, and passage by the Arabian Sea to Bombay.' [‎472] (503/582)

472
ISLAND OF ORMUS.
cumference is not twenty miles. Both its hills and plains are
formed of salt; and that mineral is not only impregnated in its
streams, but crusts over them like frozen snow. The nature
of the soil, or rather the surface of the earth, renders the heat
of summer more intolerant at Ormus, than in any of those
parched islands, or provinces, with which it is surrounded ; and
unless we consider the advantages which it derives from its
excellent harbour and local situation, it appears to be one of
the last spots on the globe which human beings would desire
to inhabit. The first settlers on this island were some Arabs,
who were compelled by the Tartar invaders of Persia to leave
the continent. These gave it the name of Hormuz, or Ormus;
being that of the district which they had been obliged to aban
don. One old fisherman, whose name was Geroon, is said to
have been its sole inhabitant when this colony arrived. They
remained masters of Ormus till conquered by Albuquerque ; and
it had been in the possession of the Portuguese for more than
a century. It had become, during that period, the emporium
of all the commerce of the Gulf; merchants from every quarter
of the globe had flocked to a city # where their property and
persons were secure against injustice and oppression, and from
whence they could carry on a profitable commerce with Persia,
Arabia, and Turkey, without being exposed to the dangers
attendant on a residence in these barbarous and unsettled
countries.
4 Abbas saw with envy the prosperity of Ormus: he could
not understand the source from which that was derived, and
looked to its conquest as an event that would add to both the
glory and the wealth of his kingdom. Emaum Kooli Khan,
Governor of Fars, received orders to undertake this great en
terprise ; but the king was well aware that it would be impos-
* This city was at one time very large : little is now left, except the ruins of the numerous
reservoirs, which had been constructed to preserve the rain that fell in the periodical season
for the use of the inhabitants.