"التحكيم المتعلق بالبريمي والحدود المشتركة بين أبو ظبي والمملكة العربية السعودية" [مع خرائط] [ظ‎‎١‎٣‎٨] (٥٤١/٢٨١)

108
17th.—I returned to Manh during the day and encamped heie m one of the
gardens near the fort. Manh is rather a scattered town with a population ot some
2,000 souls of mixed tribes. It has been well described Dy Wellsted, w o cannot
suppress a cry of admiration at the extent and luxuriance of the diversified
cultivation around. He says: —
66 Minna differs from the other towns in having its cultivation m the open
fields. As we crossed these, with lofty almond, citron, ami orange trees,
yielding a delicious fragrance on either hand, exclamations of astonishment
and admiration burst from us. Is this Arabia? We said, this is the country
we have looked on heretofore as a desert? Verdant fields of gram and sugar
cane stretching along for miles are before us; streams of water flowing in all
directions intersect our path, and the happy and contented appearance of the
peasants agreeably helps to fill up the smiling picture.
Manh did not wear quite so fair a dress at the time of my visit, but the district
is undoubtedly a well-watered and fertile one. All the springs here, as they at
Adam and Bahilah, and indeed at most places in Oman proper, are hot, the
temperature varying from 102 to 112 degrees Fahrenheit. There is no Wall here
on behalf of the Sultan; the leading man and dispenser of justice is the Metowwa
Muhammad-bin-Mesud, who is reputed to be the most learned man in Oman.
18th.—I decided to move on to Bahilah to-day, because though it would have
saved us a day’s journey to visit Nezwa first, as my Arab companions did not fail
to represent to me, I was desirous of exploring the country between Manh and
Bahila. We left at 8 A.M. and at 9 reached Karsha, a small hamlet of seventy
houses. At 9-30 we crossed the W. Kalbuh, and at 10-45 halted for coffee
at Timsa, a picturesque village under a hill with a large date grove. An hour later
we came to Khamaili, a mystic pool of water famed throughout Oman as the source
of all magic and sorcery. The fable is that a man lies imprisoned by enchantment
deep down under the water, which has become red from his blood. Any one
venturing to drink it, becomes enchanted immediately and falls under the
magician’s spell. I drank some nevertheless and found it very sweet and good.
After a long ride over a stony plain covered with low black hills we came to Fut,
a small hamlet to our left, and soon after the singularly situated town of Bahilah
comes into sight.
The first view presents a long white wall with bastions at intervals enclosing a
large extent of cultivated ground with a huge white fort and lofty tower standing
on an eminence in the centre, picturesquely overlooking and commanding the town
beneath. Its appearance indeed is more striking than that of any other town I have
seen in Oman. From the time we had been sighted on the road the garrison had
continued to fire guns at intervals from the walls as we approached, and as we drew
nearer the Shaikh with a party of horsemen, and followed by an immense concourse
of people, issued from the gate and rode down the bed of the Wady to meet us. We
then halted while the Shaikh and his followers exhibited their skill in horsemanship,
galloping round in a circle and firing off their matchlocks at full speed, running
races with each other, &c. After this was over we formed procession and rode
slowly on through the gate into the town, where we were lodged in a pleasant house
and garden. After receiving a visit from Shaikh Nasir-bin-Hameyed I occupied
the rest of the day in examining the space within the walls and the town.
On the following morning I paid a visit to the Shaikh at his fort, where he
received me very courteously. He is a heavy-featured, unprepossessing looking
young man of 22, with much decision of character and evidently complete master
of the position. He has obtained some notoriety lately by his murder of his two
elder brothers, Barghash and Rashid, the circumstances of which have been
reported. I learned here that Shaikh Barghash had long suspected Nasir of sinister
designs against him and had prohibited his entering the fort. Nasir, however,
managed to persuade Rashid to join in a plot for killing Barghash, and having by
the help of three slaves concealed himself one night in Barghash’s apartments, he
shot the latter dead while asleep. Nasir then proclaimed Rashid Shaikh of the
tribe, in place of Barghash; but Rashid was incompetent and soon allowed
all matters to fall into the hands of Nasir, who, some months later, becoming tired
of the situation, quietly shot his brother through the back one day while they were
riding out to Yabrin together. No disturbances ensued, and Shaikh Nasir has since
retamed possession’ but, though undisputed ruler of Bahilah and nominal Wali on
behalt ol the Sultan, he has not yet been recognised as Temimeh of the Beni Ghafir
in place of Barghash.