'Political' [‎50v] (100/132)

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houses and seem well off and contented ; they were still lamenting, however, the damage d
in the great storm of March 1885, when the river rose many feet and oamrf »« many tonses
and date trees. I was much pleased with the general reception I met with here and was glad
to have seen so interesting a place. The elevation of Bahilah is l,oo ee .
In the afternoon, accompanied hy Shaik Nasir-bin-Hamid, who insisted “P°"
every attention in his power, 1 started for Yabrin, which ,s four miles distant, an 1 winch was
reached before sunset. The Shaikh and his followers amused themselves by * all “l » ' '
and running races with each other all the way. Yabrin is merely a small fort, gar, .son d y
six Arabs, without any dependent township, and there is no settled population heie. y
it was of more importance, and in the days of the Imam Belarab bin 8ul an hi Yaareby.who
built the fort about the year 1690 A. D., it was the capital of Oman. s ic su
revealed in all its glory and distinctness of outline the huge mountain called Jebel-el-Kor,
which lies to the westward of Bahilah and forms the geographical boundary between
vinces of Oman and Dhahireh. It is quite detached from the Jcbel Akhdar range, an “PF
to have a height of 6,000 or 7,000 $eet. The chief road from Bahilah to Dhah.reh runs
south of this mountain and is called by some the “ Nejd-el-Makhanm, by ot icis ^ O
Dhahireh.” The northern road is steeper and more difficult, and is known as t le i tjo -
Barak.” After consulting with the Arabs I resolved after leaving Nezwa to cross over o
Dhahireh by the northern pass, and as it turned out it was fortunate I did so.
20t/i .—We despatched a Kossid early to give notice to Shaikh Hilal at Nezwa of our ap
proach, and started about Sam.; we passed a hamlet in the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Masalla, reac e aiioo
at 2, and at 3-30 came to the outskirts of Nezwa. As we passed the outlying watch towers
commanding the various approaches, the men therein fired their matchlocks, and as we came
nearer, the fort took up the firing with its big guns. Descending into the bed of the w adi
Kalbuh, wp rode through a dense crowd of people until we met Shaikh Hilal-bin-Zahir, w 10 ic.
ceived us very civilly and conducted us to asubla near the gate. I was then taken to the lesi-
dence allotted to me, and an hour later was visited by Shaikh Hilal, who informed me that the
house I was in belonged to a brother of Sayid Nasir-bin-Ali, who was the Governor of Muscat,
and was murdered in his house there during the time of Sir B. Frere's visit in 1S73. Shaikh
Hilal is a dignified and powerfully built man for an Arab, with a broad, expressive countenance,
showing much firmness and intelligence. He is now one of the most prominent men in Oman;
his artful diplomacy in turning every move in the intrigue against the late Wali a few years ago
to his own advantage and in gaining possession of, first, the fort, and then the government, of
Nezwa, drew general attention to him, and he is now looked on as second only to Saleh-bin-Ali
himself as a leader. He gave me the idea of being the same sort of man that the Imam
Ahmed bin Said was—able, resolute, and capable of any villainy to compass the end he had i^
view.
21st .—Shaikh Hilal paid me an early visit; and we had a long geographical talk, during
which he gave me an account of the watersheds of the country. He said very little cotton was
o-rown at Nezwa and no cloth made whatever, but that indigo was largely cultivated and used
to dye American cloth brought from Muscat. Nezwa was famous for its copper and brass
work. After breakfast I took a walk through the town and environs, and was surprised at the
prosperity and populousness of the place. Nearly all the tribes of the country seem to he
represented here, the predominating ones being the Beni Riyam, who occupy Alaya,
and the Beni Hinah, who have been introduced extensively by Shaikh Hilal since he
assumed power here. Sifala has six haras, viz., —“Akr,” in which stands the fort and
which has a fine gate to its enclosure; “ Saal,” unwalled; “ Khorasin,” walled and
contiguous to “ Akr,” “ Khorasitin,” “ Haret-el-wady,” and another. The two Wadies
“Kalbuh” and “ Abyad ” divide the town and join near the fort by T,he market. Abyad
has a more abundant supply of water than Kalbuh, and consequently supplies nftore felejes.
The fort consists of two parts, the “ Kila” and the “ Hisn.” The latter is a quadrangular
enclosure, at one corner of which stands the Kila, a huge circular tower 80 feet high, and
considered by the Arabs to he by far the strongest fort in Oman. I did not enter it, but
Wellsted says that three-fourths of the height, which he gives at 150 feet, are filled up solid
with earth and stones, and that the narrow passage inside, leading up from the doorway and
forming the only entrance, has seven iron doors to it. Leaving Nezwa at 4-30 I marched
to Tanuf, a distance of 8 miles, the same evening, having promised Shaikh Suliman bin Saif
bin Suliman-el-Riyami, who had intercepted me on the road the day before, to spend a night
in his town. It is a compact and substantial-looking place, fortified with a wall, on which
are mounted two guns, and there is a large date grove in the ravine at the back. This ravine
is the Wady Hyin, and up it lies the road from Nezwa to Rostak known as the “Tareek-el-
Shas”
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