'File XVII/1 Naval Bases in the Gulf. Correspondence Concerning Above - Report by P.A. Muscat re. Sultan's Boundaries & Limit of Jurisdiction in Northern Oman' [‎40v] (81/96)

between the two seas which wash the proinontory,there is a small
break in their occupation of the coast line,which nevertheless
is tenanted by a tribe to a great extent subject to them.
In each of the next three bays are villages of the Zahooriyen
(plural of Zahoori) / a tribe of Ghafiri
persuasion whose hame has not been
before mentioned. The names of their
villages on the eastern shore of the
(1.) KUBBAT GHAZIRA
(Malcolm's Inlet.)
(2.) KUBBAT SHABUS
fg.) DUHAT SHISA.
promontory are:-
f Habalein
In Kubbat Ghazira \ Makaka
'.Filarn
In Kubbat Shabus. . Shabus
In Shisa Shisa
The political status of this tribe is peculiar and needs ex
planation.
They claim to be part of the powerful Zahoori tribe inhabiting
the Eereymee oasis and the Dhahireh district of Oman but admit
that they have long since separated. At a later date I saw a
good deal of the Bereymee stocl^ who distinguish themselves by
using another form for the plural of their tribal cognomen,viz
Zowahir instead of Zahooriyeen,and I questioned them regarding
their kinsmen on the East coast. They said that they were
aware that the tribe in question claimed kinship with them and
while not prepared to disprove the claim to a common origin they
had at any rate no present connection with the dwellers on the
coast and were for all intents and purposes a distinct tribe^
belonging as they did to the Hinawi persuasion while the Zah
ooriyeen posed as Ghafiris.
The Zahoori villages referred to on the Mtusandam Coast are
merely fishing hamlets whose occupants maintain themselves du
ring the winter months by piscatorial enterprise. During the
summer,from May to September,with the exception of a few indivi
duals left behind for care-taking purposes,they migrate bodily
to Dibba,Khor Fakan or Khasab,where they bivouac in the date
plantations and attach themselves to one of the communities at
those places. While on the Musandam Coast,which is their per
manent home,they necessarily follow the fortunes of the Shihooh