Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/74

66 MUSCAT sable. Half the town is in ruins. Many of the houses are mere mat huts, and even those of the better class are seldom more than one story high. The sultan's residence is a very plain edifice. There is no police, and no con- straint on the citizens, who have the largest liberty, and eat, sleep, and sometimes die in the open streets. The climate is excessively hot, and the land breeze at night is suffoca- ting. The thermometer rarely falls below 90 in the shade. The inhabitants are composed of Arabs, Persians, Syrians, Kurds, Hindoos, Afghans, Belooches, and negroes. The pre- vailing language is a corrupt Hindostanee, the Arabic tongue being confined to the native Arabs. Most of the merchants live at Muttra and other towns along the coast, and bring in boats each morning the produce of the inte- rior and of the places along the Persian gulf, even fire wood being thus imported. Muscat has an extensive transit trade with Arabia, MUSCATINE Persia and India. Corn and cloth are the principal imports ; the exports are dates, horses, salt fish, hides, and madder, which are sent to India; sharks' fins, to China; and asses, to Mauritius. The harbor abounds with nsn, and large quantities are cured. The district of Muscat comprises the city and its suburbs, and the city and suburbs of Muttra, which, about 4 m. W. of Muscat, is connected with it by a good road. Muttra stands in an open plain exposed to the sea breeze, and is much cooler than Muscat. It has docks for building and repairing ships, and a large part of its popula- tion of about 25,000 are fishermen, boatmen, sailors, and pilots. The sterility of the coun- try around Muscat is only apparent. In the valleys back of the hills are woods, streams, gardens, and villages. In the 15th century Muscat was a place of considerable importance, and was subject to Ormuz. Albuquerque took it in 1507", and it soon after became the centre Muscat. of the Portuguese commerce in that part of the world. In 1648 the natives expelled the Portuguese, and took possession of several places in the Persian gulf. In 1707 they ob- tained permission from the king of Pegu to build vessels in his territory, constructed ships armed with from 30 to 50 guns, and committed great depredations on the coasts of Malabar and the Persian gulf, and on vessels in the Indian ocean. During the latter part of the 18th cen- tury they gave up their piratical habits and engaged largely in commerce. (See OMAN.) MUSCAT or Muscatel Wine. See FEANCE, WINES OF, vol. vii., p. 411, and GERMANY, WINES OF, vol. vii., p. 775. MCSCATINE, a S. E. county of Iowa, bordering on Illinois, from which it is separated by the Mississippi, and intersected by Red Cedar riv- er ; area, 440 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 21,688. It has a diversified surface and fertile soil, and contains extensive beds of coal and quarries of freestone and limestone. It is traversed by the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific railroad. The chief productions in 1870 were 333,147 bushels of wheat, 36,726 of rye, 1,208,640 of Indian corn, 320,256 of oats, 96,049 of barley, 147,005 of potatoes, 28,090 Ibs. of wool, 380,- 382 of butter, and 29,841 tons of hay. There were 9,238 horses, 7,101 milch cows, 12,656 other cattle, 7,173 sheep, and 24,504 swine ; 5 manufactories of boots and shoes, 13 of car- riages and wagons, 9 of clothing, 4 of machi- nery, 11 of saddlery and harness, 10 of tin, copper, and sheet-iron ware, 6 breweries, 4 flour mills, 2 planing mills, and 3 saw mills. Capital, Muscatine. MUSCATINE, a city and the capital of Musca- tine co., Iowa, on the W. bank of the. Missis- sippi, at the apex of the great bend, and on the Muscatine division of the Burlington, Cedar Rapids, and Minnesota railroad, and the south- western branch of the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific line, 130 m. E. of Des Moines; pop. in 1850, 2,540; in 1860, 5,324; in 1870,