'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.' [‎507] (538/582)

TOWN AND SUBURB OF MUSCAT. 597
of government. It is walled around, with some few round towers
at the principal angles, after the Arabian manner; but this is only
towards the land-side, the part facing the sea being entirely open.
Before this wall, towards the land, was originally a dry ditch, but it
is now nearly filled up, and this side may in all respects be con
sidered its weakest one. For its defence, towards the sea, there
are three principal forts and some smaller batteries, all occupying
commanding positions, and capable of opposing the entrance into
the harbour even of the largest ships. The walled town is cer
tainly less than a mile in circuit; but the streets being narrow,
and the dwellings thickly placed, without much room being occu
pied by open squares, courts, or gardens, the estimated popula
tion of ten thousand, given, as they say here, by a late census of
the fixed inhabitants, may not exceed the truth. Of these, about
nine-tenths are pure Arabs and Mohammedans ; the remainder are
principally Banians and other Hindoos from Guzerat and Bombay,
who reside here as brokers and general traders, and are treated
with great lenity and tolerance. There are only three or four
Jews, and no Christians of any description, resident in the place;
though, as far as I could learn, there was no law or custom that
excluded any class.
Besides this walled town, there is an extensive suburb without
or behind it, formed of the dwellings of the poorer class of people,
who live in huts of reed, and cabins made of the branches of trees
interwoven with mats of grass, in the same way as at Mocha,
Jedda, Hodeida, and the other large towns on the western side of
Arabia on the Red Sea. The population of this suburb may
amount to three thousand, a portion of whom are by origin
Persians, and settlers from the opposite coasts near the mouth
of the Gulf.
The Government of Muscat is entirely in the hands of the
Imaum. The power of this Prince extends, at the present mo-
men^ from Ras-el-Had, on the south-east, to Khore Fakan, near
Ras-el-Mussunndom, on the north-west; and from the sea-shore,
3x2