MUSCAT', or MASXAT, an independent Arab state, forming the sea-cost of Oman, in Eastern Arabia. It extends front the strait of Ormus to the island of Moseirah, and nowhere exceeds 100 m. in width. The coast and interior are both sterile, but the country is studded with very fertile oases. The capital is Muscat; pop., 60,000, on the Persian gulf, a fortified town, surrounded with gardens and date-palms. It has a very good harbor, which, in the winter months, is reckoned the best refuge in the Indian ocean, and is a most important center of trade, where the productions of Europe, of Africa, and of the cast are exchanged. The principal exports are Arabian coffee and pearls obtained from the Persian gulf; but wheat, dates, raisins, salt, sulphur, drugs, and horses are also exported. The independence of Oman dates from 751, when the people elected a sovereign of their own. For COO years the Imaums were elected for personal merit, and afterwards from members of a ruling family. Muscat was taken by Albu querque in 1507, and remained in the hands of the Portuguese till 1648, when the Arabs recovered possession of it. The Imaums afterwards made extensive conquests in eastern Africa, including Zanzibar, Membas, Quiloa, etc. In 1798 they acquired possession of the coasts of Laristan and Mogistan, the islands of El Kishitn and Ormus, and the town of Bender Abban in Persia, paying to the shah a rent or tribute of 6,000 toma us. The
state was very prosperous under the wise. and mild sway of Said aid, the late Imanm. He ascended the throne in 1803, at the age of 16, and reigned till his death in 1856. He was long a faithful ally of England. In 1854 the lmaums were driven from their Persian dependencies, which in their opinion belonged to them in perpetuity so long as they paid the rental. They recaptured Bender Abbas, hut in consequence of English interfence, they were compelled to conclude a treaty with Persia in April 1856. This is said to have broken the heart of the old Seid, who died Oct. 19, 1856. He appointed his son Majid to succeed him in Zanzibar, and his son Thuwany to succeed hint in Mus cat. The latter was murdered by his son Salim in 1868, who reigned for a short time, but was driven out by his uncle Sayed Tuky. In consequence of the unsettled state of affairs in Muscat, Persia has assumed the government of Bender Abbas and the Persian coast territory. Sec ZANZIBAR and Wanants.—See History of the _Timmins and Seyids of Oman, by Saldb-itm-Razik, from the Arabic, by Rev. G. P. Badger (1781); Markham's History of Pcrsie (1874).