'History of the imâms and seyyids of 'Omân by Salîl-ibn-Razîk, from A.D. 661-1856; translated from the original Arabic, and edited with notes, appendices, and an introduction, continuing the history down to 1870, by George Percy Badger, F.R.G.S., late chaplain in the Presidency of Bombay.' [‎149] (310/612)

THE IMAMS OF ^OMAN.
149
ten Sahnat 1 —vulgarly called el-Kasha' —rose to fifty falsr
On the other hand, the Persians who held Maskat furnished
their comrades at Sohar with supplies, which they sent by
boat. At this juncture also they received reinforcements
from Shiraz, and the number of the besiegers, according to
the most trustworthy accounts, now amounted to sixty thou
sand men. Ahmed-bin-Said sallied out every day with his
followers and killed as many of them as he could. As to
Seif-bin-Sultan, he began to be estranged from the Persians
when he saw that, after taking Maskat and its defences, they
had no intention of making them over to him. Causes for
repentance crowded upon him from all quarters, and he be
gan to despair of the government of ^Oman, or of receiving
any effectual aid from the Persians to recover it. He ac
cordingly departed from Sohar by stealth, and went to el-
Hazm, and on reaching it said to one of his officers : " This
is my castle and my grave. I am become an eyesore to
every one, and the quiet of death will be preferable to any
happiness which dominion has afforded me. - "
The Persians continued the siege of Sohar for nine months,
their land-forces discharging as many as three thousand
cannon-shot at the fort and wall every day, the sound of
which resembled thunder. When the Imam Sultan-bin-
1 A fish in size resembling an anchovy, which abounds on the shores
of 'Oman and the east coast of Arabia. T have frequently seen coves
and harbours literally black with shoals of these small-fry, which are
caught in nets, dried in the sun, and then sent into the interior for con
sumption. Cows are fed on them in several places on the coast where
forage is scarce. Palgrave describes them under the name of " Metoot,
very much like whitebait, or diminutive anchovies in size and shape, but
not so delicate in flavour. They are eaten uncooked, after having been
simply salted and dried in the sun, without any further preparation."
Cent, and East. Arabia, vol. i. p. 316. The el-Mahrah inhabitants of the
Curia-Muria islands and the adjacent coast, who live almost exclusively
on fish and shell-fish, call them Kashusk. " Ichthyophagi," the term
used by the ancients to designate the dwellers on the coast of this part
of Arabia, was most appropriate.
2 For the relative value of a fids, see note. p. 120.