They have never been known _wilfully_ to injure them; but occasionally when they were in full chase after a _school_ of _small fry_ who were playing truant within their submarine garden, they would unluckily upset the water carriage of their neighbours; however, as no offence was intended, an apology was deemed wholly unnecessary, and the natives acted a very wise part by not showing a useless resentment to their benefactors. Hourly the happy pair may be seen moving along very lovingly together “cheek by jowl,” occasionally sinking to the bottom, but not in search, as some may foolishly imagine, for---- “Wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl, Inestimable stones, unvalued jewels, All scattered in the bottom of the sea, Some lying in dead men’s sculls; and in those holes Where eyes did once inhabit, there were crept As ’twere in scorn of eyes:”-- but after something more useful; they are now seen rising with great swiftness perpendicularly half their length out of water, and with wide expanded jaws, catching all that comes within the vortex, filling the enormous sacks under their throats full to overflowing; and “thereby suck they _in_ no small advantage.” Whenever the water is too shallow to rise in this manner, they dash forward with the rapidity of lightning, making a great breach; their ponderous body being thrown frequently entirely out of water. Many fishermen follow them to catch the fish they kill, but do not swallow; and by these means obtain during the day a great number. Muscat Tom and his wife are never known to sleep in the harbour, having sufficient sagacity to know, that they might be cast on shore by the current, and so caught _napping_. I observed that the same silly custom prevails here with the fishermen, as in many parts of the United States and elsewhere, by spitting on their bait to _insure good luck_. During our stay about two thousand Bedwin (Bedouin) Arabs arrived by order of the sultan; they were to be embarked on board the ships-of-war at the commencement of the northeast monsoon for Mombas, and other parts in Africa; they are a little darker coloured than the Arabs of Mocha, slender built, of good open countenances, and with fine sparkling eyes: the hair dressed in small-sized spiral curls, and profusely oiled, wearing a bandage around the head to confine it. They had no covering to the head, were naked excepting the waist, and were generally armed with spears.