Page 219 - UAE Truncal States
P. 219

Chapter Five

                  they made little else hut the large trays covered with zinc on which
                  food is placed. The copper cooking-pots, up to a metre in diameter,
                  which were also covered with zinc, were usually imported from Iran.
                  Other items of daily use were made of brass, such as the mortar and
                  pestle used to grind coffee and spices. Blacksmiths, who were found
                  in the suqs of the ports and also in the Buraimi oasis, made chiefly
                  locks, nails and tools which were needed for building and repairing
                  boats.
                    Jewellery, most of which was made of silver, played a very
                  important role in the life of women, as part of the marriage price. In
                  the 191 h century, Maria Theresa Dollars became the only accepted
                  currency among both the settled people of Inner Oman and the
                  nomadic population of Eastern Arabia, because they could rely on
                  the high silver content being consistent. The dollars (Thaler) were
                  also melted down to make large arm-bangles, anklets, necklaces, hair
                  ornaments and rings. In some of the traditional necklaces the dollars
                  themselves were attached to chains in the same way as was common
                  with other coins throughout the Middle East. Much of this traditional
                  silver jewellery was imported into the Trucial Stales from the age-old
                  craft centres in Nizwa, Bahlah and elsewhere in Oman.55 There were
                  also some silversmiths in the ports of the Trucial Stales, whose
                  number, particularly in Dubai, increased when the pearling industry
                  was prosperous. Khanajr were made in Ra’s al Khaimah; the blades
                  for these curved daggers, which were carried by most men, were
                  imported from India and Iran.

                  Woodwork
                  A.part from the boat builders there were few carpenters in the towns
                  of the Trucial States. The locally-obtainable wood from the date palm
                  or acacia is unsuitable for carving and shaping. Most items of
                  furniture such as four poster beds, cooking stands, kitchen cup­
                  boards, large chests for dresses and small chests used by pearl
                  merchants were all imported. These items were almost exclusively
                  used by the section of the population which came into close contact
                  with India through trade and had adopted certain fashions which
                  were otherwise uncommon in the majority of households in the
                  Trucial States.
                    Wood for making doors also had to be imported. These doors,
                  which were decoratively carved, frequently have sentimental value,
                  and if people construct a new house they may well take with them a

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