‘Report on the administration of the Persian Gulf Political Residency and Muscat Political Agency for 1885-86.’ [‎55v] (24/120)

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ADMINISTRATION KEPOET OF THE PERSIAN GULP POLITICAL
APPENDIX A TO PART II.
NOTES OP A TOUR THROUGH OMAN AND EL-DHAHIREH,
By Lieut.-Colonel S. B. Miles.
The general tranquillity of the country, and other reasons, at tte close of 1885 gave me
an opportunity of making a tour through the Provinces of Oman and Dhahireh which ^
not previously been able to explore, and which Lieutenants WeI sted and Whitelock, who
travelled in 1835, 50 years ago, are the only Europeans who are known to have visited. I
was also desirous of making the personal acquaintance of the more important Shaikhs m
those parts with whom I had not hitherto come in contact during my residence at Muscat.
The route I had proposed to take was through Semail and Zikki to Adam, thence across the
Neid El-Dhahireh to Obri and Dhank, and then descending the Wady Howasineh, return by
the Batineh Coast to Muscat. This programme was carried out, with this difterence, that I
returned from Muskin by a shorter road through Rostak. _ _ . ^ .
The Sultan was good enough to appoint Sayid Hamood Bm Nasir, the son of the
Wali of Muttrah, as leader of the escort, and Nasir Bin Muhammad, Shaikh of the Bern
Kelban, as guide and Kefeer. His Highnesses Secretary, Suliman, and Shaikh Salaam-bm-
Hamid, also accompanied the party, which consisted altogether of 23 persons.
We left Muscat on the 11th December, slept at Wateyah the first night and at lanja
on the second, and on the 13th December, after halting at Semail for two hours, reached
Seyjeh, a town of the Beni Jabir in the Wady Beni Ruweyheh.
The storms and floods of March 1885 did immense damage in the Semail valley, and the
people were still lamenting their houses washed down, their date trees and cattle swept away,
and their crops spoilt; the river rose 24 feet, and the marks of its highest point were still
visible on the banks. Some of the few surviving members of the last dynastic family, the
Yaarebeh, are living in retirement at this town, Seyjeh, whither they have taken refuge from
the persecutions of their successors the Al-bu-Saidis.
December 14th. —I had sent to Nasir bin Muhammad, the head Shaikh of the Beni
Ruweyheh, immediately on arriving here, requesting him to accompany me as far as Zikki, and
soon after starting this morning we met him on the road with two other Shaikhs. He
resides at Obal, a village three miles from Seyjeh, and was anxious we should pay him a visit
there, but I declined from press of time. Obal is a picturesque spot; it appears like a whit 6
hill surmounted by a tower and skirted by a dense grove of date palms. Away to our left,
just opposite Obal, is the Nejd of Wady Akk with its three spurs branching off to the south,
forming the valleys of Semed, Andam, and Ibrah. The Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Beni Ruweyheh is here very
narrow with high ranges on either side. About half way we reach Mezberriyeh, which is
considered the Nejd or highest point of the valley, and has an altitude of 2,200 feet. From
hence the road runs level or slightly descending to Zikki. Passing Wady Meteh and Wady
Karoot we reached Zikki at 2 p.m ., and I put up in a Sabla outside the fort, which I did not
enter this time as I had examined it thoroughly on my former visit ten years before. It was
rebuilt in the early years of this century by Muhammad Nasir-el-Jabri, and having since
stood several sieges is now in a very dilapidated state, but still strong. The circumstances
under which Shaikh Nasir surrendered this fort to His Highness Sayid Turki about a year
ago were fully reported at the time. The present Wali on behalf of the Sultan is Shaikh
Muhammad bin Sinan. The town is inhabited by two rival tribes who occupy separate
walled enclosures or Hujrahs, and maintain almost incessant warfare with each other. They
are divided by the broad bed of the Wady Halfain, the Nizar dwelling to the south of the
stream, while the Yemin Hujrah, as well as the fort, stand on the right bank at the edge of a
cliff some 200 feet high.
December 15th. —Having obtained fresh baggage camels I proceeded to-day to Manh,
which was reached at noon. Descending the steep cliff into the Wady Halfain, we rode along
the left bank for a mile until we came opposite to Zikkeyt, a small quadrangular walled
village of the Beni Riyam, and then crossing the stream traversed a wide and level plain
having a gentle declivity towards the south to Manh. The Wady Halfain is here a broad
but shallow river, but soon loses itself in the sand, though it is said after heavy rain to reach
the sea at Mahot. The bed is a highway for caravans from Oman to the Ghubbet Hashish,
and is inhabited by numerous Bedouins, as water is found 4 everywhere near the surface. The
frontier town of Adam is, like Zikki, occupied by two hostile tribes, and hearing here that a
collision had lately occurred between them, I determined to leave half my party with the
baggage at Manh and push on with the escort only, to which I here added six Jenebeh