even to blows, and threatened death to all intruders. Theirs is the religion of the sword. "Blood for blood" is a maxim of every-day life. The hours intervening be tween their acts of solemn worship were spent in gam bling. They gambled for gold, for the swords they carried, for the jewels they wore. Occasionally, the game was suspended long enough for prayer, and then resumed with renewed zest. Their love for a game of chance was not peculiar to them, for it is a ruling passion in the East. Gambling is universal in Japan and China, in Persia and India, in the islands on the equator, in Egypt and Palestine, in the cities of Asia Minor, in the palaces of Constantinople, in the Turkish empire from the Persian Gulf to the banks of the Danube. Those who cast lots on Mount Calvary for the seamless garment have more followers than the prophet Mohammed.

We should have been at Guadur at 5 P.M. on the second day from Kurrachee; but the fog was dense, the harbor difficult to enter, the officers indifferent to the lapse of time, and fearful to make a bold venture. As night came on we slowed, and moved at the rate of a mile an hour till morning. The fog and the darkness passed simultaneously away. The sun rose clear and bright, but no one knew where we were. For twenty hours we steamed up and down the coast, looking for the har bor. Each man had his opinion, charts were consulted, landmarks were scanned, and each mountain and inlet was carefully viewed through the glass. It was appar ent to every one that we were all at sea. For three hours we ran along the bold white bluffs of Ras Noo. All agreed that we were near the place. At length we sighted the low white sandy beach extending from Ras Noo to Castle Hill, a bluff five hundred feet high, composed of white rock, whose summit the elements had

wrought into the semblance of a castle, which had given name to the place. Fancy could discern columns and galleries and pinnacles, and, when viewed in the moonlight, seemed weird, like the haunted ruin of some for saken palace.

It was high noon when we anchored in the harbor, which, though difficult to find, is one of the best on the coast. As Kurrachee is the most north-westerly port of British India, so Guadur is the extreme north-western limit of Beloochistan. It is an insignificant place, but has long been the disputed ground between Beloochistan and Persia, and the battle-field of many a struggle for possession. It has a population of four Europeans and three hundred natives, whose rags their poverty proclaimed. Near it is a larger town, wherein is a telegraph station, the only sign of a better civilization.

Once more afloat, we were now bound for Muscat, Arabia, one thousand and twenty-five miles from Bombay, and located on the Gulf of Oman, which is intermediate between the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean. The bold bluffs of Castle Hill and Ras Noo

"O'er the deep their shadows flung,"

as in the evening twilight we turned our prow toward the Arabian shore. All that night, all the next day, all the ensuing night, we steamed over a placid sea, not faster than seven knots per hour. It was a run of two hundred and forty-five miles, and occupied more than thirty hours to accomplish. While yet the stars were bright, we anchored in the outer harbor, and waited for the dawn. And when the sun rose, the cove, the forts, the city of Muscat, lay before us. On our right and on our left were rock islands, the dreary home of fishermen and pirates. From out the sea appeared rocks, six hun

dred feet high, and beyond them, and far inland, could be seen the mountains of Northern Arabia. The increasing light revealed the deep caves along the shore, that echoed the roar of the waves; and far up the rugged rocks ap peared Arabs in white, climbing the narrow, winding paths. On the boldest peaks were the old forts of the Portuguese, now the watch-towers of the Arabians. Conspicuous among the buildings of the town, were the king's palace, the English residency, and the customhouse. The scene in the harbor was no less pleasing to contemplate. The beautiful cove is a semicircle, and therein fifty vessels can safely anchor at the same time. A mile long and three-fourths of a mile wide, it is safe and well sheltered. When we arrived, an English gunboat, a Turkish man-of-war, and many coasting boats, were at anchor in the quiet waters of the bay.

Commercially and politically, Muscat has had an eventful history. Three centuries ago, Alphonso d'Albuquer que, of Portugal, conquered all the islands of the Persian Gulf, and the Portuguese held them till 1707, when the Muscat Arabs gained the ascendency. On all the higher rocks commanding the entrance to the harbor the Portuguese constructed strong forts, that for two centu ries bade defiance to Turk, to Arab, and Persian. During all those years of possession and prosperity the merchants of Portugal controlled the commerce of the gulf, and amassed immense fortunes. Under their prosperous reign Muscat became a city of wealth and luxury, and the genius and beauty of Europe adorned society; and under those Catholic conquerors, churches and monasteries were built, and priest and monk held undisputed sway. In the rocks by the sea are the cells of the an chorites, while here and there may be seen the prostrate column of some grand cathedral. But all now is changed.

The Portuguese were expelled by the Arabs. The ca thedral became a mosque, the monastery became a ha rem, and from the summit of the rocks the monk and the nun were cast into the sea. Ten thousand Christians were massacred. The recluse was burned to death in his cell; the priest was sabred at the holy altar; and the Sister of Mercy, with her helpless orphans, were hurled from the precipice, and dashed against the rocks below.

Originally, the kingdom of Oman embraced the southeastern section of Arabia, from Ras-ool-Hud, on the south, to Zobara, on the north-eastern coast. It consisted of two principalities; the capital of one was Rastag, and the capital of the other was Julfar. The male portion of the population was then estimated at eight hundred thousand, and furnished an army of brave warriors. But since the expulsion of the Portuguese, frequent quarrels have occurred between the Arabs and the Persians, resulting now in Persian conquest and anon in Arab as

cendency. At present, Muscat is the capital of all that portion of the former kingdom bounded by the Gulf of Oman, and contains a population that fluctuates from ten to thirty thousand. Still retaining somewhat of its for mer commercial importance, the Banians are the brokers, the Arabs are the merchants, and the king is the chief trader. The present imaum, as he is sacredly called, is an independent sultan, whose will is absolute, and whose authority is maintained by the force of arms.

On going ashore, we called upon his majesty, who is now in his forty-fifth year, but in feeble health. On the left of the royal entrance is a lion's den, wherein was a young lion, the plaything of the king's domestics. Adjoining the palace is the sultan's harem, filled with young and beautiful Arabian women. Opposite the residence are the royal stables, well supplied with the best native horses, that were cleaner and fatter than the men who had them in charge. Near the palace is the custom-house, which presented a busy scene. Extending along the bund for hundreds of yards were stacks of wheat, wool, and dates in sacks, ready for shipment to foreign parts. The chief article of export is the Muscat date, considered the finest in the world. From four to six American vessels arrive here annually, and load with dates for the United States. Those sent to America are packed in bamboo sacks when fully ripe, by which proc ess the rich juice is preserved, and hence they are called "wet dates;" but they are much inferior in flavor to the "dried date," sold here in the bazaars, and which constitute the principal article of food of the natives when on a journey. Were these dried dates shipped to America, they would be esteemed a luxury, and would find a ready market. In 1833, a commercial treaty was concluded between the United States and the Sultan of