Page 162 - PERSIAN 9 1941_1947

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make purchases in Kuwait, The Ruler's assistance was sought by
the Agency and with the cooperation of the Kuwait Government
Departments'it was not long before notes were being cheerfully

accepted by the general public at their full value and the
pendulum continued to swing so that at the end of the year notes
were in demand and coin was not, merchants insisted on being paid

in notes or by cheque.
At the end of the year money was in demand in Kuwait and
drafts on Bombay were at 5i% discount.
V. DESERT INTERESTS.
The tribes of the desert have been very quiet and there

have been no incidents of tribal fighting or raiding in Kuwait
territory or in its immediate neighbourhood. The rains have been
poor, the grazing inadequate, and the summer abnormally hot with

the result that there has been high mortality among the flocks
and the herds so that the bedouin have been absorbed in their
own struggle for existence and have had little time or inclination
to quarrel with their neighbours.

The food shortage is being felt throughout nomadic Arabia
more severely than in the towns owing in part to the difficulty
of supply, no tyres being available for the lorries, and many

camels having died and many more having been sold to .'.ilitary
formations, and in part to the very high prices being asked for
such supplies as may be available. The bedouin though a pictures­

que and amusing fellow is a shiftless drone with a margin between
income and essential expenditure so narrow as to be wellnigh
invisible even in the days of plenty and low prices, now with

high prices and scarcity combined with his inherent dislike of
manual labour by which he might gain a reasonable livelihood
the margin has become non-existent, and in the desert areas

adjacent to Kuwait the tribesmen are faced with what looks very
like starvation unless they alter their way of life. In Kuwait
territory the situation is not so serious but is still a cause for
anxiety/