国立情報学研究所 - ディジタル・シルクロード・プロジェクト
『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

Service des antiquités with a view to facilitating our labours. But fortunately the
officer in charge of the small escort, Naib Muṣtafa Khān Rashīdī, showed ready
comprehension of the harmless nature of our work, and proved in every way
helpful in spite of the trying conditions of travel to be faced. A foretaste of these,
as it were, was afforded by the serious attacks of fever to which every one of our
Indians became subject from the time of our halt. Yet the village of Naiband,
where the late Mr. Richardson, the retiring British Consul, had kindly secured
us quarters, was believed to be less exposed to malarial infection than the rest
of Bandar Abbās.
Towards the close of our stay at Naiband I was able to pay a day's visit to the
island of Hormuz. It has often been visited and described, both during the times
of its glory, while it was a great emporium of Eastern trade for three centuries,
and since its decay with the fall of Portuguese maritime domination in the Gulf.²
Nevertheless, I regret that the shortness of the time I was able to spend on the
island, between the slow crossings of the sea to and fro, done in a small rowing-
boat and without favourable winds, did not allow me to gather more than rapid
impressions of its remains of past glory. An imposing monument of it is pre-
sented by the strong castle which was built by the Portuguese after the king of
Hormuz had submitted to Albuquerque in 1507, and which remained the base of
Portugal's supremacy until its capture in 1622. The position chosen for it at the
end of a narrow spit projecting northward into the sea affords it protection on
all but one side. At the same time, this position assures command of both the
anchorages to the east and west of the spit where ships of some draught can
find good shelter alternatively from either of the strongest winds prevailing near
the mouth of the Gulf.
After three centuries of abandonment, during which the walls, particularly
towards the north, have served as a convenient quarry for building material to
be used on the mainland, the large portions of this ruined stronghold that still
survive afford impressive evidence of the solidity of its construction. The de-
fences are throughout built massively with rough blocks of stone set in very hard
mortar, which takes its reddish colour from the red oxide extensively found on
the island, and nowadays its sole export. The castle, which is approximately
oblong in plan, has its land face protected by a large bastion at the south-western
corner, while a massive kind of barbican guards the main gate towards the south-
eastern portion of the same face. Through that gate and an adjoining vaulted