'Through Persia on a side-saddle' [‎292] (333/360)

292 THROUGH PERSIA ON A SIDE-SADDLE
"gging, and perching on the bulwarks; a huge serpent
swimming high on the sapphire sea ; and the crowd of
native boats bringing cargoes of the inevitable dates, un
savoury loads of sharks' fins (chow chow), asafcetida, skins,
dried fish, and masses of rosebuds, these latter to be con
verted at Bombay into the attar of roses so characteristic
of the East.
The copper-skinned Arab rowers chanted weird refrains
as they bent to their curious oars, long poles terminating in
oblong pieces of board or round discs of wood, while
they shouted ' alan! ' as the signal to pull off to shore,
and indulged in a never-ceasing quarrelling and yelling
while round our vessel.
On September 10th we made our way along the coast of
Oman, the sea of that name being immortalised by Moore
as the scene of his poem, the ' Fire-worshippers.' A long
line of dreary hills rising sheer from the shore, and only
broken here and there by small inlets, did not give a
very cheerful impression of that' Araby ' so sung by poets
who have never visited the country. However, it is a
mistake to expect too much in the East, and I was quite
charmed when at mid-day we entered the picturesque
harbour of Muscat.
The small bay is almost landlocked, high cliffs rising to
right and left of it, on one of which is painted the names
of the different vessels that have anchored in front of
the town. Prominent among them was the Sphinx, and
the white gunboat herself was lying close at hand.
The town itself is crowded into a very limited space
at the foot of barren hills, on the spurs of which stand
two mouldering old Portuguese forts overlooking the
barrack-like, whitewashed palace of the Sultan and the well-