"بلاد فارس والشأن الفارسي بقلم جورج ناثانييل كرزون، عضو البرلمان." [‎٤‎٣‎٢] (٧٤٨/٥٢٣)

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432
PERSIA
Cathedral Rock, from its fantastic natural outline of pinnacles and
spires; and the entire coast line is here so strangely fretted and
moulded by nature, that we are reminded of Scott's description in
the £ Lady of the Lake ':—
Their rocky summits split and rent
Form'd turret, dome, and battlement.
Or seem'd fantastically set
With cupola or minaret.
Wild crests as pagod ever deck'd,
Or mosque of Eastern architect.
Traces either df Portuguese or of some foreign occupation are
visible at Gwadur, in the ruins of a vast reservoir on the flank
of the hill overlooking the town ; while a rude archaic
History ram p ar t dominates the same elevation. Nor is it alto
gether unknown in English history. For here it was that, in
1613, Sir Robert Sherley, returning from his embassy on behalf
of the King of Persia to the Christian powers of Europe, in the
good ship £ Expedition' (Captain Christopher Newport), and pro
posing to march overland to Isfahan, narrowly escaped a plot to
murder both himself and the whole ship's crew, that had been
formed by the 'Viceroy of Guader or Godel,' who is elsewhere
described as £ a revolted duke from the Persians.' 1 The port and
district are now governed by a Vali, or deputy of the Sultan of
Muscat. The circumstances under which the latter potentate
became possessed of the place occurred at the end of the last
century, when a free gift of Gwadur and its surroundings, as well
as of Chahbar, was made by Nasir Khan, the ruler of Kelat, to
Seyid Sultan bin A.hmed, of Oman, who had retired from Muscat
to the Beluch coast, after an unsuccessful attempt to oust his elder
brother, Seyid Said. From that period the place was ruled by
deputies of the reigning Sultan, until in 1871 Abdul Aziz, the
younger brother of the late Sultan, with whom he was perpetually
at war, on the occasion of one of his numerous exiles, installed
himself at Gwadur and seized Chahbar, which had lately been
occupied by local chieftains. The Persians, delighted at an
opportunity of asserting their authority over Chahbar, expelled
Abdul Aziz, who was also turned out of Gwadur by his brother;
and the latter port has since remained in possession of the reigning
1 Purchas' Pilgrims, lib. iv. cap. 10.
ML