an island in the Indian Ocean, off the S.E. coast of Arabia, between 20° 8' and 20° 44' N. Lat., and between 58° 37' and 58° 58' E. Long. It is about 38½ miles in length, and nowhere rises more than 600 feet above the sea. Parts of the surface are cultivated; and there are some copper mines, which were formerly worked by the Persians. The population is numerous, and the island is governed by two sheikhs, who seem to be mutually independent, but subject, at least nominally, to the Imam of Muscat.