The Geographical Journal (Journal of the Royal Geographical Society): Volume X, No. 6 [‎108v] (69/186)

608
ANCIENT TRADING CENTRES OF THE PERSIAN GULF The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. .
The ground, as we left the lake to the east, was covered with bushes, and I saw
quantities of the spoor of hares.
From here to the smaller oasis there are five days’ travelling across the most
desolate waste, destitute of water, and even of the usual desert vegetation, so the
camels had to live on the dates we carried for them. On leaving the lake there
is a long track of wackla, or swamp, encrusted with salt. The track has to be
carefully kept by the camels, for it is easy for them to flounder into depths from
which it would be impossible to extricate them.
The only difficulties of the road began now. Dau lost his way on the evening
of the next day, and as we could only carry just enough water to take us to the
oasis without any delays, things looked rather black. We were not cheered by
stumbling upon a man, woman, and child, and their donkeys, all lying dead—
evidently of thirst. They were not all together. The woman, her child in her
arms, had died first; near her lay one donkey. The man had struggled on some
little way, and lay on the sand face upwards, his clenched hand stiffened in a last
convulsion. The poor wretches had tried to quench their thirst with lemons, the
skins of which lay scattered on the ground.
We went on climbing sandhill after sandhill, always hoping for the sight
of some Al-haman, or landmark. Dau became very melancholy. I tried to
take a cheerful view of things, though I cannot say that I felt in high spirits;
but my attempts were considered irreverent by Dau, who thought the Prophet
would be more likely to help us if we acknowledged the straits we were in. We
still had some water, but we dared not drink it. Not knowing in the least where
we were, we could not judge what chance there was of getting to the oasis before
it was exhausted. On the late afternoon of the third day we suddenly came upon
the Bacher, a group of rocks which we knew to be near the small oasis. Our
difficulties were then at an end, and that night saw us encamping with my old
friend the Omdeb of Mindescha.
ANCIENT TRADING CENTRES OF THE PERSIAN GULF The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. .
By Captain ARTHUR W. STIFFS, R.I.M.
IY. MASKAT.*
This place is still an important place of call, and of trade with India, the Red
Sea, and Zanzibar, chiefly only transhipment. It is the capital of the Arab
country of Oman, and the residence of the prince, now designated Sultan or Seyyid,
but formerly called the Imam of Maskat.f The country has long been in an un
settled state, owing to civil wars and dissensions, and has declined in importance,
especially since the separation of the Zanzibar dependencies. It is now under
British influence, and a Political Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. is established there. The town lies in a
cove, one of a series close together on the north-east point of Arabia, which are all
surrounded by precipitous rocky hills rising to several hundred feet abruptly from
the water’s edge. At the inner end of each cove is a small sandy beach, at the
mouth of the little valley, or wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. , which forms the inland continuation of the
* The accent should be on the first syllable. Map, p. 660.
f This title has a religious significance, and is not now assumed by the sovereign of
Oman.