Page 208 - UAE Truncal States

The Traditional Economics

Qaiwain 70 and 'Ajman 40. The average annual value of pearls
exported from the Gulf at the turn of the century was estimated al
£1,434.399 and £30.439 was earned from the export of mother-of-
pearl.34
Within theTrucial Stales the techniques used in pearling did not
vary from one port to another. There were, however, considerable
differences in the socio-economic context of the industry; the tribal
groups subject to the Ruler of Abu Dhabi, for instance, operated more
frequently as genuine co-operatives, while in some of the ports in the
northern Trucial Stales entrepreneurs played an important part in
the organisation of the industry.

The oyster
Three types of oysters which grow al different depths between the
low water mark and about 36 metres water depth and prefer different
types of ground are all possible sources of pearls in the Gulf. Where
conditions such as light, sea bed, currents and feeding materials are
right these oysters are found, sometimes forming extensive banks. A
pearl is formed by the secretion of nacreous matter inside the oyster
after a minute parasite or another foreign particle has penetrated the
shell. Subsequent layers of this secretion may form within a sac and
if this sac is located in the mollusc’s body and is not subject to
deforming pressure it becomes globular or pear-shaped, and the
pearl that develops inside it also becomes round or pear-shaped. If
this cyst is lodged in muscular tissue or between the shell and the
mantle, an oddly shaped pearl (baroque pearl) is formed in the first
case and a blister pearl, which has to be scraped off the hard outer
shell, is the result in the second case. Mother-of-pearl is thick layers
of nacreous material often covering the entire inside of the shell.35

Pearl banks
The majority of the pearl banks of the Gulf are situated nearer to the
Arabian than to the Persian shore. Their positions have been known
to the inhabitants of the Arab littoral for millennia, and individual
banks have their own place-names.36 But none of them were actually
claimed as belonging to any particular shaikhdom and their use was
free for all pearling boats from Arab ports. Until the latter half of the
19th century most pearling boats made their way to a particular pearl
bank of their choice without charts and compass, the latter being
fitted only on the big trading baghlahs. The captain of a boat used the

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