Page 201 - UAE Truncal States

Chapter Five

Mahammillyah near Ihe shore, and others were rich enough to make
il worthwhile for a Kuwaiti by the name of 'Abdullah al San'awi to
pay for a concession to collect guano in 1949 from these Abu Dhabi
islands. In the following year a certain Rashid bin Ahmad of Dubai
obtained a similar concession from Shaikh Shakhbut.

4 Agriculture

Date cultivation
The cultivation of the dale palm has always been by far the most
important form of agriculture in the area. The date palm (Latin
phoenix clactylifcra) provides its owner with a fruit which is higher
in calorific value than almost any other.20 Boiled and packed into
bags made of dried palm leaves, dates can be kept for a long time and
therefore were used as a staple food for men and beasts on long
journeys through the desert. When the families gathered in the oases
during the date harvest in the summer they consumed a fair amount
of the crop while it was fresh; another big share of the harvest went
straight to the many pearling boats which were at sea at the same
time. Throughout the year in every household, on board ships, or
when travelling in the desert, either fresh or conserved dates were
eaten at least as a supplement to other food, but often they were the
main source of nourishment other than milk.
Apart from its fruit the date palm provided the tribal communities
with a variety of other useful materials; the dead tree-trunks,
although too fibrous for most carpentry, have always served as
beams in the construction of houses;21 the branches, stripped of their
leaves and spikes were bound together into mats which formed the
walls of the houses,22 while the shashah used for fishing on the east
coast is made entirely from palm branches. The leaves of date palms
were used to make fans, baskets, bags, food trays and their covers,
and a variety of other household implements. The fronds were also
bound together and lined with pilch to form water tanks, or even
boats. The fibrous bark which grows al the bottom of the tree is
suitable material for making ropes and for such purposes as stuffing
camel saddles, mattresses and cushions.
Date palms can grow from a stone, but the usual way of obtaining a
new tree is by transplanting a shoot which comes up by the foot of a
mature tree. If well watered, such new plants may bear fruit after
three years. Because only female date palms bear fruit, very few male

176