THE TRUCIAL COAST of OMAN

Korero (AEWS), Volume 3, Issue 4, 26 March 1945, Page 22

THE TRUCIAL COAST of OMAN

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ED C ROSSLEY

They saw a stretch of desert which was arid, flat and bare.

Which was barren, drear and ugly, with'a death or glory air,

And they said “ The very limit. We shall build a station there.”

So they built one, and they laughed and called it Sharjah

The Trucial Coast of Oman, on the south-east shore of the Persian

Gulf, was called up to seventy or eighty years ago the Pirate Coast of Arabia, and it can still be found on old maps under that name. It was from here that large bands of pirates used to harry the East Indiamen. The capital or the pirates’ headquarters was Umm ul Qwain, the present sheik of which is a staunch friend of the British.

I was stationed for approximately nine months at Sharjah, about seventy miles south of Umm ul Qwain. On the outskirts of Sharjah was Dubai, a town of about seventy thousand inhabitants, probably one of the chief pearling ports in the Persian Gulf. From time immemorial the sheiks of Dubai and Sharjah have been enemies, and it is only a few years since the present sheiks were at war with each other. British Overseas Airways had established a base at Dubai, and a temporary truce while the flying-boats were landing, and taking off was part of the agreement under which the airways were operating.

About this time the sheik of Dubai had an old but very good cannon. He used to wheel this up periodically near the

sheik of Sharjah’s palace and fire off three or four balls, the number depending on the amount of scrap iron available. When night came he would send out foraging parties to collect the spent balls for the next day’s war.

It so happened that the two sheiks went off on a visit to India at the same time, and while they were away the son of the sheik of Dubai sold the cannon for a large sum to Sharjah. When the two sheiks returned, Dubai declared war on Sharjah to get the cannon back. But the war to-day is not the bloodthirsty business it was a hundred years ago. If the casualties amount to twenty or thirty, it’s considered pretty good go.ing.

The Trucial Coast owes no allegiance to King Ibn Saud, Supreme Ruler in Arabia, nor do the British exert any influence over the administration, which is entirely in the hands of the sheiks of the various townships, the largest of which is probably Abu Dhabi. Many years ago the British authorities from the naval base at Hormuz, at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, visited the coastal sheiks and suggested a truce amongst all of them for a short period. The sheiks agreed that gun-running and free-booting and slave-trading and piracy on the high seas should cease, and the British in return agreed not to interfere with anything done on land. This truce was extended to a year, then to five years, and then for

all time. Hence the name the Trucial Coast of Oman.

I believe the coast has the hottest climate in the world ; but that may be open to dispute. But I have known the night temperature there to be no degrees with humidity approaching 100 per cent. In July, August, and September the temperature probably averages about 100 degrees with humidity about 90 per cent. We worked only from 5 to 10 in the morning. The sea was literally too hot to bathe in after midday, and clothes, if left locked up, mildewed inside three days. The main industry in the Persian Gulf is pearling, and since the disappearance from the market of the Japanese cultured pearl the value of real pearls has increased. I was once offered a selection of pearls which were brought in to me wrapped up in a turban. There must have been several hundreds in the bundle, which the merchant priced at 70,000 rupees (about or After the pearling season is finished the pearls are generally exported to India, where the rajahs and maharajahs pay extremely good prices for them.

Purdah is still the order of the day, and I did not see a girl above the age of seven or eight not wearing this peculiar and barbarous form of headgear. Natives of the coast favour a black metal strip over the nose extending to slightly above the eves with eye-slits. By Mohammedan law —and 99 per cent, of the Arabs on the coast are of Mohammedan extractionthe Arab is allowed up to four wives at one time, and he treats his women with great respect. For a stranger or even his best friend to see any of his wives unveiled would be as bad as having raped them. Having acquired certain Western modes and fashions and wishing to abolish the veil, the Shah of Persia some years ago issued an edict that all women wearing the veil were to be regarded as prostitutes. The edict was received with much favour by the younger generation, but it was ultimately repealed because of the vigorous disapproval of the older people. The girls are often married very shortly after birth, and on one occasion I was invited to the wedding breakfast of a newly married couple, though throughout the whole evening no women were in

sight. A wife costs, on an average, roughly £ls, but the price depends to some extent on her beauty, position, and ability.

Visiting a well-to-do Arab is at first a difficult procedure, for there are many pitfalls for the unwary. For instance, business can never be tackled in the straightforward manner to which we are accustomed. You must always inquire after the host’s health at least four times in varied phraseology. Trivial conversation must be indulged in for at least fifteen minutes. After a reasonable time the host proffers sweetmeats and coffee. You must accept no more nor any fewer than three cups of coffee. If you take less than three, the coffee is of inferior quality, and if you take more you are being greedy. After the coffee, business can be tactfully approached. You must be careful never to force an Arab to lose face, for if you do so you have not -only lost a possible friend but made an enemy. On entering an Arab’s house it is customary to take one’s shoes off, but the educated Arab will not be offended if this is not carried out.

’ A follower of Sheik Saved of Dubai had the misfortune to lose an eye in some bazaar brawl and was sent to Bahrein at the sheik’s expense to be fitted with a

glass one. On his return he exhibited the eye very proudly, but one day reported for work without it. Asked why he was no longer in possession of the glass eye, he replied : “ Well, what is the use of it ? I can’t see through it, anyway.” And as far as I know, he never replaced it.

We used to have a regular sick parade every morning from the village of Sharjah, and it was always a trial to the doctor to deal with these patients. The main complaint was malaria, which, despite reports to the contrary, appears to affect the Arab there just as much as the white man. The doctor naturally prescribed quinine, but it was a moral certainty that by giving a man twenty pills and telling him to take six a day, two morning, evening, and night, he would be courting disaster. The Arab would reason this way : “ If I take six a day for three days, I will be better, so why not take the whole eighteen to-day and I will be better three days earlier ? ” Many of them did this, and there were some very sick Arabs about. To give a native a course of hypodermic injections was almost impossible, as he did not appreciate the treatment, but rather considered it a

favour for him to present his uncovered forearm for the doctor’s needle.

The staple food of the Arab on the coast is rice, which is provided during the war by the British authorities from India. Formerly supplies of rice, sugar, and attar (a form of flour) were given to the sheik of the district for distribution.

It was discovered, however, that in four cases out of five the sheiks were exporting the bulk of the supplies to the other side of the Gulf, where there was a famine, so the British Government, with the political agent’s assistance, established food centres in most of the towns, where the issue to the poorer people could be supervised and checked.

Bahrein Island is the largest inhabited spot in the Persian Gulf, and it was not many years ago that the sheik and his wife were presented at Court in London. This is probably one of the few times on record that a sheik’s wife has preceded her husband anywhere. Except for a few date palms, there is no vegetation on the coast. Building materials are almost non-existent, and the Town of Sharjah is constructed from coral, which is dug from the sea-bed at low tide and mixed with a local native

cement. The poorer people live in hovels made of ‘‘ barasti ” (closely-woven palm leaves). There is also a very serviceable fort which was built for British Overseas Airways and is occupied by them to-day.

The Bedouin Arab is a very different customer from the semi-civilized Arab of the coast. He regards all white people of whatever race or creed as being of the ferengi (foreign) tribe, and no matter if you are British, Italian, or German, you are still to him a ferengi. He does not view the white rack in general with any special regard, but because of the endeavours of the British political agents on the coast he is slowly becoming more friendly. Every so often the feared Benecitti tribe from the desert descends upon Sharjah, where, after several days of palavering, suitable presents in the shape of animals, women, pearls, and clothing are found for the tribe, and they depart in peace. They are warriors of great renown and are much feared by all coastal towns.

When flying over Arabia, pilots and aircrew are still furnished with blood chits, which are addressed to the Arab people in general soliciting good attention and delivery to the nearest civilized town with a promise of reward.

Now they said “ To fit the landscape we shall make it flat and bare, We shall give it barasti billets with a lily here and there, It shall be the very edge of desolation and despair.” And the Air Force drank a solemn toast to Sharjah. “ There shall be no sort of shelter from the all oppressive light, Neither bush nor shady palm tree to relieve the searing white.” And the only time a man may breathe is when he prays at night When he prays to God to take him out of Sharjah.