Southern Arabia | Page 4

though we were
close upon the tropics we found our abode chilly enough after sunset;
and our nights were rendered hideous--firstly, by the barking of dogs;
secondly, by cocks which crowed at an inordinately early hour; and,
thirdly, by pious Mussulmans hard at work praying before the sun rose.
From our elevated position we could look down into a sea of bamboo
huts, the habitations of the pearl-fishers: neat enough abodes, with
courtyards paved with helix shells. In these courtyards stood quaint,
large water-jars, which women filled from goat-skins carried on their
shoulders from the wells, wobbling when full like live headless animals;
and cradles, like hencoops, for their babies. They were a merry idle lot
of folk just then, for it was not their season of work: perpetually
playing games (of which tip-jack and top-spinning appeared the
favourite for both young and old) seemed to be their chief occupation.
Staid Arabs, with turbans and long, flowing robes, spinning tops,
formed a sight of which we never tired. The spinning-tops are made out
of whelk-shells, which I really believe must have been the original
pattern from which our domestic toy was made. The door-posts of their
huts are often made of whales' jaws; a great traffic is done in sharks;
the cases for their swords and daggers are all of shagreen. The gulf well
deserves the name given to it by Ptolemy of the Ichthyophagorum
sinus.
Walking through the bazaars one is much struck by the quaint, huge
iron locks, some of them with keys nearly two feet long, and
ingeniously opened by pressure of a spring. In the commoner houses
the locks and keys are all of wood. In the bazaars, too, you may find
that queer El Hasa money called Tawilah, or 'long bits,' short bars of
copper doubled back and compressed together, with a few characters
indicating the prince who struck them.
The coffee-pots of Bahrein are quite a specialty, also coming from El

Hasa, which appears to be the centre of art in this part of Arabia. With
their long beak-like spouts and concentric circles with patterns on them,
these coffee-pots are a distinct feature. In the bazaars of Manamah and
Moharek coffee-vendors sit at every corner with some huge pots of a
similar shape simmering on the embers; in the lid are introduced stones
to make a noise and attract the attention of the passers-by. Coffee-shops
take the place of spirit and wine shops, which in the strict Wahabi
country would not be, for a moment, tolerated. In private houses it is
thought well to have four or five coffee-pots standing round the fire, to
give an appearance of riches.
Besides the coffee-pots, other objects of El Hasa workmanship may be
seen in Bahrein. Every household of respectability has its wooden bowl
with which to offer visitors a drink of water or sour milk; these are
beautifully inlaid with silver in very elaborate patterns. The guns used
by Bahreini sportsmen are similarly inlaid, and the camel saddles of the
sheikhs are most beautifully decorated on the pommels in the same
style.
The anvils, at which the blacksmiths in the bazaars were squatting,
were like large nails with heads about six inches square, driven into the
ground and about a foot high.
The old weapons of the Bedouin Arabs are still in use in Bahrein: the
long lance which is put up before the tent of the chief when he goes
about, the shield of camel-skin decorated with gold paint and brass
knobs, the coat of mail, and other objects of warfare used in an age
long gone by. Every other stall has dates to sell in thick masses, the
chief food of the islanders. Then you may see locusts pressed and
pickled in barrels; the poorer inhabitants are very fond of this diet, and
have converted the curse of the cultivator into a favourite delicacy. As
for weights, the stall-holders would appear to have none but stones,
whelk shells, and potsherds, which must be hard to regulate.
An ancient Arab author states that in Oman 'men obtain fire from a
spark, by rolling the tinder in dry Arab grass and swinging it round till
it bursts into flame.' We often saw this process and bought one of the
little cages, hanging to a long chain, which they use in Bahrein.

Of course pearl-fishing is the great occupation of the islands, and
Manamah is inhabited chiefly by pearl merchants and divers. Bahrein
has in fact been celebrated for its pearl-fishing ever since the days of
the Periplus of Nearchus, in the time of Alexander the Great.
Albuquerque, in his commentaries,[1] thus speaks of Bahrein
pearl-fishing in 1510:--'Bahrein is noted for its large breeding of horses,
its barley crops, and the variety of its fruits; and all around it