saying they knock you on the head."1
Most of the Wahabi pearlers congregate in the mat-hut settlements of
Dobai, Abu Thubi, and Ras-el-Kheima, located at the mouths of creeks
which form fairly good harbors for the small boats. The Batina coast
also furnishes some pearl fishermen, these coming principally from
Fujaira, Shenas, Sohar, Suaik, and Sib.
The
headquarters for the pearling fleet are at Bahrein Island, the largest
of the insular group bearing the same name, the islets of Moharrek,
Sitrah, and Nissan completing the group. This is the early home of
Chaldean civilization, and one of the traditional sources of the
Phenicians, and whence came that fish-god who—according to the
Babylonian myth—bore the ark over the deluge. This island, the center
of the greatest pearl fishery in the world, is half-way down on the
southern side of the Persian Gulf, and twenty miles from the mainland
of "Araby the blest." It is about twenty-eight miles in length, and ten
in width at the widest part. The population approximates 60,000, all
Moslems, except about 100 Banyan traders from Sindh, India. The
northern half of the island is described as of great beauty, being a
garden of pomegranate, lemon, citron, and quince-trees, and especially
the magnificent date-palms, with numerous springs furnishing an
abundance of excellent fresh water. The principal settlement, Manama,
with about 10,000 inhabitants, is poorly built, the houses consisting
mostly of huts of mats and palm-leaves ; yet it presents a better
appearance than any other settlement along this coast.
The
one great industry, and the center of all interest throughout this
region, is the pearl fishery. The present conditions are precisely as
Palgrave wrote in 1863 : "It is from the sea, not from the land, that
the natives subsist; and it is also mainly on the sea that they dwell,
passing amid its waters the one half of the year in search of pearls,
the other half in fishery or trade. Hence their real homes are the
countless boats which stud the placid pool, or stand drawn up in long
black lines on the shore, while little care is taken to ornament their
land houses, the abodes of their wives and children at most, and the
unsightly strong boxes of their treasures. 'We are all, from the
highest to the lowest, slaves of one master—Pearl/ said Mohammed bin
Thanee to me one evening ; nor was the expression out of place. All
thought, all conversation, all employment, turns on that one subject;
everything else is merely by-game, and below even secondary
consideration." 2
According to recent returns, the Persian Gulf fisheries employ about
1 Malcolm, "Sketches of Persia," London, 2"Personal Narrative of Journey through
1827, p. 27.
Arabia," London, 1865, p. 100.
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