ORMUZ, a barren island in the Persian Gulf, on which was formerly built a city, forming a vast emporium of Indian trade, and celebrated for its wealth and its extended commerce all over Asia. This island is about twelve miles in circumference, and resembles, when viewed from the sea, a mass of rocks and shells thrown up by some violent convulsion from the bottom of the ocean. Not more than 500 inhabitants are contained within the walls of the fort and a wretched suburb. A range of hills intersects the island from east to west, from the suburb to these heights is about a mile and a half, and the ground continues level about two miles along the northern shore. This whole space is one mass of ruins; and it is only where the reservoirs of water have been made that the buildings are in any thing like a perfect state. According to the account of Kinneir, these appear to have been made in the shape of a hollow cylinder, covered by an arch of solid masonry; and it is probable, he adds, that every house of consequence had one of these reservoirs, as there is only a record of one well of fresh water ever having been on the island, and that is now dry. The rocks of Ormuz consist almost entirely of fine crystal salt; and, from various specimens which are found on the surface, there can be little doubt of its abounding with sulphur and a variety of metals, especially iron and copper. It is mentioned that the southern part of the island is one entire heap of cliffs and rocks. These sink abruptly, towards its northern extremity, into a plain, comprising an extent of six or eight square miles of comparatively level country, terminating in a sandy spit that divides the harbour of Ormuz into two parts, and on which stands the old Portuguese fort. The harbour is tolerably good, being surrounded on all sides by the land, though the bottom affords good anchorage. The fort, which is still in a good state of repair, is built on a narrow neck of land jutting into the sea, by which the walls are washed on the northern and western sides, and was never of great extent or regular figure. The walls have been most carefully and substantially built of the rock afforded by the island. Strong bastions command each face, and the height from the water to the ramparts may be about eighty feet. The walls are in good repair, but the interior is in ruins. Two large reservoirs for supplying them with water still subsist, and both are covered in. The roof of one rests on two rows of massy pillars, and its diameter is about 100 feet. The fort was formerly separated from the mainland by a canal cut through the neck of land, and this was crossed by a drawbridge; but it is now chiefly filled up, the eastern part serving as a dock for repairing boats. A rotten plank is the only passage to the gateway, which is strongly defended by guns from the neck of the opposite bastion. Several iron and two brass guns are mounted on the walls, bearing the Portuguese arms. The carriages of the guns are so bad that they would not bear a single discharge. A mud wall, just beyond the old ditch, encloses between itself and the fort the few miserable huts that are occasionally tenanted on the island. “Beyond this,” says Frazer, in his Narrative of a Journey through Khorassan (p. 47), “upon the plain extending to the feet of the mountains, he scattered the ruins of the ancient Arabian and Portuguese city, with its villas and seats, which are constructed of such perishable materials that scarcely [7:16:544]any relics of importance are to be seen.” The only remarkable object is a tower near the wall, which Frazer conjectures to have been a minaret built by Shah Abbas after he had captured the place. Along the shore both of the eastern and western bays, not far from the water’s edge, may be still seen a row of ruined houses, arcaded into apartments of various sizes and dimensions, which, in the opinion of Frazer, have been sirdabs or underground apartments for retiring to in warm weather, or cellars for receiving merchandise. The whole was of the same solid architecture as the first. The ground beyond, for a considerable space towards the mountains, was thickly strewed with broken tiles, pottery, glass, and the other usual destructible relics of an eastern city thrown into heaps of rubbish. Ormuz thus was possessed of no natural advantages, either from soil or climate; the heats during the summer being scarcely supportable by the human frame. It produces no articles of provision, not even a drop of water; so that it required a great exertion to render it habitable. The greater portion of the island consists of volcanic rocks, and the remainder of uneven stony places, strongly impregnated with salt; so that the means of improving the country do not exist. Not a tree nor a shrub can be raised; for the first necessary, water, is entirely wanting, and all vegetable supplies come from Kishmee or the mainland. Considering the barrenness of the island, Frazer doubts where the blooming and aromatic shrubs, that in former times were said to have decorated the streets, could have been found. The surface of the plain, though level when contrasted with the mountains beyond it, is still found extremely rugged on a nearer approach, and broken into ravines. The rocks are strongly impregnated with iron; they rise in rugged amorphous masses, strewing the ground with ruins, from which the mountains rise abruptly in bare desolate crags, and sharp, lofty peaks, of every variety of form and hue. “In many parts,” says Frazer, “these, as well as the plains below, have a volcanic appearance, and a looseness of texture that alarms the traveller lest the surface should give way under his foot, and swallow him up in yet smoking ashes.” The only products of Ormuz are iron in various shapes, sulphur; salt, which is produced from several salt springs, and is the only source of revenue in the island. The export in the company’s ships is prohibited, lest it should interfere with the monopoly of salt in India. But the export to other places is considerable. The garrison of Ormuz consists of eighty soldiers belonging to the imaum of Muscat, who live immured in this desolate spot in great wretchedness. The broadsword and the target are their chief arms. These swords are sharp and thin, and previous to an attack they make them quiver and ring in the hand, with a jerk, whilst held in an upright position, and then charge with loud shouts. Ormuz was entirely indebted for its pre-eminent splendour to commerce, and it was long the great dépôt both of Indian and European produce. When the Portuguese fleet had found their way to India round the Cape of Good Hope, they soon cast a covetous eye on the wealth of Ormuz. They made several attempts to gain possession of it, but without effect, till in 1514 it surrendered to Albuquerque, who approached with an overwhelming force. It continued to be one of the chief seats of the Portuguese power till the reign of Shah Abbas, who conceived the plan of its conquest, and of attaching it as an appendage to the Persian empire. His attempt would have been vain had he not been aided by an English squadron which happened to be cruizing in these seas; and the commanders of which, being hostile to the Portuguese, readily fell in with the schemes of the Persian monarch. Their combined forces having landed, obliged the Portuguese to evacuate the town and to retire to the castle, which was at last reduced, chiefly by famine. Under the Persian regime the town decayed; the trade was ordered by the Shah to be transferred to Gombroon, on the opposite coast; and all the inhabitants at last followed, leaving only a Persian garrison. About the end of the last century Ormuz was taken possession of by the imaum of Muscat, and the inhabitants were then reduced to forty families. But the fort has since been repaired, and now contains 500 families. Long. 56. 40. E. Lat. 27. 8. N.