"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الجزء II. ج. ج. لوريمر. ١٩١٥" [‎٢‎٦‎٢‎٧] (١٢٦٢/١١٤٤)

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Viceroy in Karachi, were now manned, guards were paraded, the bands
played the National Anthem, and, as the Hardinge 33 steamed to the
front between the divisions, each vessel saluted her with 31 guns. The
(( Hardinge" preceded the squadron till nightfall and then took up a
station astern, where she remained until Masqat was neared. The sea
was smooth, and the relative positions of the ships were so admirably
maintained that the lights of the squadron as seen by the night from
the deck of the " Hardinge " presented an apparently stationary pageant.
Throughout the cruise, both at sea and in port, the ships were dressed
with masthead flags during the hours of daylight,
The visit to Masqat, 18th and 19th November/
Soon after sunrise on the 18th of November the coast of Oman was
sighted,—"an apparently unbroken line of precipitous cliffs, rising
diaphanous and opalescent out of the pale blue waters of the Indian
Ocean/' It had originally been intended to strike the coast in the
vicinity of Ras-al'Hadd and follow it to JMasqat, but time did not
admit of this, and a direct course was accordingly shaped for Masqat,
where the R.I.M.S. " Lawrence" with Colonel KembalJ, British Eesident
in the Persian Gulf, and UM.S. a Lapwing" were already lying. As the
squadron entered the harbour at 10-30 a.m . the flagship greeted the port
with a salute of ^1 guns which was returned, gun for gun, by one of the
Sultan's batteries ; and, as soon as the ships had taken up their billets,
a salute of 31 guns was fired by the land batteries as a welcome to His
Excellency the Viceroy. The white town in gala array formed a strange
contrast with the grim cliffs by which it was encircled, a contrast that
found its counterpart in the resplendent hulls of the " Hardinge and
" Lawrence 33 , backed as they were by thtf dark line of warships lying
across the entrance of the harbour.
A deputation from the Sultan shortly arrived on board the
« Harding-e " • it included the Sultan's elder half-brother Saiyid Muham-
mad, the Sultan's eldest son, Saiyid Taimur, by whom the State of
'Oman had been represented at the Delhi Coronation Darbar, the Com-
mandant of His Highness's land forces, and the Governor of Matrah A
metrical welcome in Arabic was read by one of the deputation, of whxch
the translation ran as follows :
The welcome and auspicious tidings have reached me, and I have been cheered
with deep andlmpWe happiness at the arrival of His Exalted and Noble Excellency
Lord Curzon. .,
At his coming the suns of joy and gladness have risen and the moons of happiness
and good cheer have shed their light.
All honour be to him of exalted rank and dignity, who comes in th,s great state.
m f>1 - en( j I have deputed my brother and my son, that they may both b e
To this ena J jia l' e]le ^ behalfj ana that they may pay respect to
honoured by mee itig H hi ioious al . r i Ta l j and also as a mark of our joy
«hEir.." jstfy- -«•*• •' "• " oM : "T"- ,
May he never cease to live in honour and splendour, higb repute and prosperity,
as long as the dajs and nights continue. ^
Arrival at
Masqat,
Deputation
from there
Sultan.