The women in Muscat wear a kind of mask of blue stuff over the face,
fastened upon springs or wires, which project some distance beyond
the face; a hole is cut in the mask between the forehead and nose,
which allows something more than the eyes to be seen. These masks
are worn by the women only when they are at some distance from home;
in and near their houses they are not used. All the women that I
saw were very ugly; the men, also, had not the fine, proud features
which are so frequently met with among the Arabians. Great numbers
of negroes are employed here as slaves.
I made this excursion at the time of the greatest heat (124 degrees
Fah. in the sun), and rather weakened by my illness, but did not
experience the slightest ill consequences. I had been repeatedly
warned that in warm countries the heat of the sun was very injurious
to Europeans who were not accustomed to it, and frequently caused
fever and sometimes even sun-stroke. If I had attended to every
advice, I should not have seen much. I did not allow myself to be
led astray - went out in all weathers, and always saw more than my
companions in travel.
On the 2nd of May we again set sail, and on the 3rd of May entered
the Persian Sea, and passed very near to the island of Ormus. The
mountains there are remarkable for a variegated play of colours;
many spots shine as if they were covered with snow. They contain
large quantities of salt, and numbers of caravans come annually from
Persia and Arabia to procure it. In the evening we reached the
small Persian town of Bandr-Abas, off which we anchored.
May 4th. The town is situated on low hills of sand and rocks, which
are separated from higher mountains by a small plain. Here also the
whole country is barren and wild; solitary groups of palms are found
only in the plains.
I looked wistfully towards the land, - I would gladly have visited
Persia. The captain, however, advised me not to do so in the dress
I wore; because, as he informed me, the Persians were not so good-
natured as the Hindoos, and the appearance of a European woman in
this remote district was too uncommon an event; I might probably be
greeted with a shower of stones.
Fortunately there was a young man on board who was half English and
half Persian (his father, an Englishman, had married an Armenian
from Teheran), and spoke both languages equally well. I asked him
to take me on shore, which he very readily did. He conducted me to
the bazaar, and through several streets. The people indeed flocked
from all sides and gazed at me, but did not offer me the slightest
annoyance.
The houses here are small, and built in the Oriental style, with few
windows, and terraced roofs. The streets are narrow, dirty, and
seemingly uninhabited; the bazaar only appeared busy. The bakers
here prepare their bread in the most simple manner, and, indeed,
immediately in the presence of their customers: they knead some
meal with water into a dough, in a wooden dish, separate this into
small pieces, which they squeeze and draw out with their hands,
until they are formed into large thin flakes, which are smeared over
with salt water, and stuck into the inner side of a round tube.
These tubes are made of clay, are about eighteen inches in diameter,
and twenty-two in length; they are sunk one half in the ground, and
furnished with an air-draft below. Wood-charcoal is burnt inside
the tube at the bottom. The cakes are baked on both sides at once;
at the back by the red-hot tube, and in front by the charcoal fire.
I had half-a-dozen of such cakes baked - when eaten warm, they are
very good.
It is easy to distinguish the Persians from the Arabs, of whom there
are many here. The former are larger, and more strongly built;
their skin is whiter, their features coarse and powerful, and their
general appearance rude and wild. Their dress resembles that of the
Mahomedans. Many wear turbans, others a conical cap of black
Astrachan, from a foot to one and a half high.
I was told of so great an act of gratitude of the young man, Mr.
William Hebworth, who accompanied me to Bandr-Abas, that I cannot
omit to mention it. At the age of sixteen he went from Persia to
Bombay, where he met with the kindest reception in the house of a
friend of his father's, by whom he was assisted in every way, and
even obtained an appointment through his interest. One day his
patron, who was married, and the father of four children, had the
misfortune to be thrown from his horse, and died from the effects of
the fall. Mr. Hebworth made the truly noble resolve of marrying the
widow, who was much older than himself, and, instead of property,
possessed only her four children, that he might in this way pay the
debt of gratitude which he owed to his deceased benefactor.
In Bandr-Abas we hired a pilot to take us through the Straits of
Kishma. About noon we sailed.
The passage through these straits is without danger for steamers,
but is avoided by sailing vessels, as the space between the island
Kishma and the mainland is in parts very narrow, and the ships might
be driven on to the shore by contrary winds.
The inland forms an extended plain, and is partially covered with
thin underwood. Great numbers of people come from the neighbouring
mainland to fetch wood from here.
The captain had spoken very highly of the remarkable beauty of this
voyage, the luxuriance of the island, the spots where the sea was so
narrow that the tops of the palms growing on the island and mainland
touched each other, etc.
