"سجلات تاريخ عُمان" [‎٨‎٦] (١١٢/١٠٣)

86
Annals of'Oman.
" They kill none in cold blood, but use their captives courteously. In anno 1695, they
" quarrelled with the Carnatick llajah, a potent Princely lord. Yet they came with their
" fleet and plundered and burned the towns of Barsalore and Mangalore, two of the best
" and richest towns on that Coast."
[The above is from Captain Alexander Hamilton's ' New Account of the East Indies.'
He travelled from 1688 to 1723, and is therefore a valuable authority for this period.]
2 1 (p. 56.) Jezfret el-Khadhra, or Pemba.
Notes to Book VII.
1 (p. 59.) Body of horsemen. The term used is ' sariyeh,' which means a party of
from five to three hundred or four hundred.
2 (p. 59.) Sahib el-'Anbur. A title or a nick-name. ' Anbur in 'Oman sometimes
means a purse.
3 (p. 60.) Koran XXIX, 1, Sale's translation.
4 (p. 60.) Benu-Ghafir. The origin of the appellation of this tribe seems unknown,
but they are undoubtedly Ishmaelite or 'Adnanite, and were therefore naturally opposed to
the Yemenites or Kahtanites. As will be seen further on, under their able and brave
chief, Mohammed-bin Nasir, this clan became renowned and powerful in 'Oman. This
chief headed the faction against their rivals the Yemenites, who also found a skilful and
courageous leader in Khalf-bin Mubarik, the Dwarf, chief of the Benu-Hinah. This civil
war was one of the fiercest recorded in the annals of 'Oman, a great number of the clans
ranging themselves under their respective leaders, declaring either for the " Hinal" or
" (rhafiri." Those faction terms have survived to the present day, and almost entirely
supersede the older classifications, the rival factions being now termed el-Hinawiyeh
and el-Ghafiriyeh. This is the explanation of the undue pre-eminence assigned by
European writers on 'Oman to these two tribes, whose importance was accidental
and temporary. For a time the Ghafiris gained the day, and their chief became
Imam, but the Hiiiawis soon regained the ascendancy. At present, the power of the two
sections is tolerably evenly balanced, the Ghafiris preponderating in the West and their
rivals in the East. It is to be noticed that at the present day the fact of a clan styling
itself of the Hinawf or the Ghafiri faction does not necessarily prove its origin to be
Kahtanite, or Ishmaelite; for several Yemen tribes have ranged themselves with the Nejd-
ites and vice versa. This fact occasions additional difficulty in tracing tribal genealogies.
5 (p. 60.) See Note 1.
6 (p. 61.) The names Yemen and Mzar here apply to viyh I families so called, not
to factions.
7 (p. 63.) Koran, XIII, 12.
8 (p. 63.) Birkeh. This name is sometimes written so and sometimes Barka. In
the Kamus it appears as " Birket el-Rameys."
9 (p. 63.) " Did not understand Arabic." Probably these were some of the people
inhabitingthe Ruus el-Jebel from Cape Mussendom. Southward the inhabitants of that loca
lity differ in appearance from the other Arabs and speak a different dialect. Some, from their
reddish skins and light eyes, have conceived them to have an admixture of European
blood. On examination their language will probably be found to be a Himyarite dialect.
They may be descendants of a Himyarite people who inhabited 'Oman before the inflow of
Yemenites and others. They are named el-Shehuh or el-Shihiyln.
C^pe Mussendom has been identified with "the promontory of the Asabi" of
Ptolemy (by Forster), and the Asabi or Sabi with the Seba or Sebaim of Scripture. In
accordance with this theory, this part of 'Oman was originally the seat of Cushite colonies,