Page 69 - Records of Bahrain (3) (ii)_Neat

The pre-war economy: pearl fishing, 1899-1915 485

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water, and which consist of a fine whitish sand overlying coral; it is
behoved that a mixture of mud or earthy substance with the sand js detri­
mental to the pearl, and that beds having this defect arc liable to
exhaustion.
The oysters are not firmly attached to the bank on which they grow,
but either lie loosely on the sand or adhere feebly to piece's of coral or
seaweed. Sometimes they cling together in a mass, called Tabra
(plural, Tabari ), and it is said that such concretions are
frequently pearl-bearing, and that the discovery of a single rich Tabr.i will
frequently make good the failure of a boat during a whole season. *

The pearl oyster, t

Varieties. The pearl-producing oysters of the Persian Gulf arc of three kinds
each yielding mother-of-pearl as well as pearls.
The first sort or pearl oyster proper, called in Arabic M ahharah
ijlL* (plural, Mahhar jl** ) , is the most prolific source of pearls;
it is found all over the Gulf from a little boneath low water mark down
to a depth of at least 18 fathoms.
The second kind is the Zanniyah (plural, Zanni u<3j) ; it
occurs chiefly in the waters on the coast between Ras-al-Khaimah and
Ghubbat Ghazlrah, where the largest specimens are found, but the finest
in quality are obtained from the banks round the islands of Shaikh
ShiPaib, Hindarabi and Qais; this shell-fish is also common in the
neighbourhood of the islands of Arzanah and Daiylnah. The Zanniyah
is found at the same depths as the M ahharah, chiefly on hard muddy or
6helly bottoms ; but the pearls which it produces are few and of inferior
quality.
The third variety is the Sadaifiyah (plural, Sadaifi )
which occurs chiefly round the islands of Shaikh Shu’aib, Hindarabi and

• In Ceylon waters the oysters generally ocour on hard bottoms called paars ;
but they Rro aUo found on sand near paars, generally adhering to one another
or to hard objects such ns fragment of dead coral. A bunoh of Ceylon oysters may
coupist of 3 to 16 individuxU, and aa many ns 4 generations may bo represented in
the sninc bunch. (Vide Herdiunn’s Report.)
t In acrordnnoo with general usage the word ° oyster " is employed throughout this
article to doscribe a pearl-bearing mollusc, but the term is not scientifioxlly correot.
The Mahhfirah belongs to tho family Aviculidae and is more nearly related to the
European mussol (MytiluA than to the European oyster (Ostrea). The pearl
“ oyster" and the mussol both produce a byssus or bundle of tough threads by which
they attach themselves to*rock, etc., while tho edible oyster has no byssus. According
to ono classification the Mahharah is Mcleagrina vulgaris or Margaritifera
vulgaiis\ the Zanniyah is Mcleagrina margaritifera var. persica; and tho
Sadaifiyah is Avicula macroptera : according to another tho Mahharah is Melea•
grina (jMargaritifera) vulgaris \ the Zanniyah is Avicula■ macroptera j and the
Sadaifiyah is Met eagrina (Margaritifera) margaritifera Soo, howovor, an article
by Mr. A. Galletly in the Proceedings of tho Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh,
vol. XI, 1890*02. There is apparently considerable diAYronoe of opinion regarding
tho correct names of theso molluscs.