‘Report on the administration of the Persian Gulf Political Residency and Muscat Political Agency for 1885-86.’ [‎56v] (26/120)

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ADMINISTRATION REPORT OP THE PERSIAN GULP POLITICAL
Manh did not wear quite so fair a dress at the time of my yjsrt, but the d.stnet :s
undoubtedly a well -watered and fertile one. All the springs here as they are at Adam and
Bahilah, and indeed at most places in Oman proper, are hot; the temperature varymg from
102 to 112 degrees Fahrenheit. There is no Wall here on t«hal£ ot the Su tan, e leading
man and dispenser of justiee is the Metowwa Muhammad-bin-Mesud, who is reputed to be
the most learned man in Oman.
im —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 ot 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 toKhamaili, a mystic pool of water_ famed
throughout Oman as the source of all magic and sorcery. The fable is that a man lies im
prisoned 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 magi
cian's spell. I drank some nevertheless and found_ it very sweet and good. After along
ride over a stony plain covered with low black hills we came to Fut, a small hamlet to
our leftj 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, &e. 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 B/ashid, the circumstances
of which have been reported. I learned here that Shaikh Barghash had long suspected Nasirof
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 wag
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 disturbance ensued, and Shaikh Nasir has since re
tained possession, but, though undisputed ruler of Bahilah and nominal Wali on behalf of the
Sultan, he has not yet been recognised as Temimeh of the Beni Ghafir in place of Barghash.
The fort is a very large building with two towers, one of which is named the " Burj-el-Rih/'
is very lofty, and commands a'splendid view of the whole valley. Our guide. Shaikh Nasir-el-
Kelbani, who is the Wazir Minister. of Bahilah, told me that the fort was named Hisn Tamah from the
Nabhani who built it. I was allowed to photograph the fort from different positions. The
upper part, or Alaya, of Bahilah is chiefly occupied by the Beni Ghafir; the lower town,
or Sifala, being inhabited by the Beni Shekeyl, Ibriyeen, Beni Ghafir, and others. The whole
town is divided into 20 separate enclosed haras or quarters, and contains a population of 6,000
souls. The outer wall embracing the town and cultivation is an irregular parallelogram cover
ing an area of about two square miles. I observed no cultivation outside of this wall, which
is traditioned to have been built by a woman named Gheitha 600 years ago. Inside were
fields of wheat, jowari, barley, lucerne, sugar-cane and cotton, besides extensive date groves and
orchards of other fruit. The manufactures here are brown cotton cloth, loongies, goatsMiair
cloaks, matting, and hulwa. Bahilah is believed to be a very ancient town, and it was the capital
of Oman under the Nebhani dynasty in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It is the
" Barlerof Wellsted, who has somewhat misplaced it on his map. The people here have good