Page 214 - UAE Truncal States

The Traditional Economics

and Lingah. But after new customs regulations on the Persian side of
the Gulf, introduced during the first decade of this century, made
trade on that coast very difficult, Lingah was supplanted by Dubai,
which became the centre for the pearl trade, and indeed other trade
too, of the Trucial Stales.
The actual export of pearls and mother-of-pearl was effected by
the lujar selling to the Indian pearl merchants who came for the
season, mostly from Bombay. None of the dealers resident in Arab
pearling ports could dispose freely of the pearls themselves in either
Bombay or Baghdad, because the receiving markets were closed to
anyone but the community of Indian pearl-merchants or the traders
in Baghdad. For a few seasons in the 1920s jewellers from Paris and
New York came to Bahrain to purchase pearls.
The trade among the various types of dealers as well as the sale to
visiting Indian merchants involved rather complicated systems of
assessment of the value of pearls, at least for those not quite perfect
pearls which were sold by size and weight. The specimens of over
about 30 grains troy (two grammes) were bought and sold singly, and
there seemed to be no precise method of assessing their value. There
were recognised differences between the basic unit of dealers’
systems in Bahrain, Qatar and Bombay because the chau (a formula),
although in itself standard to all, is derived mathematically, using for
instance 150 grains troy for the weight factor in Bahrain and only 74
in Bombay. Within the local trade every dealer was usually well able
to cope with the rather complicated mathematics of these deals, and
he could also make use of people who specialised in the mathematics
of the trade. No la wwash or lajir parted with his pearls before having
sounded out the market completely and having offered his precious
merchandise to several of the visiting pearl merchants. A great risk
was involved in buying a majhulah, an “unknown” pearl, that is one
with a very imperfect surface. Underneath this first layer might be a
perfect pearl worth a great deal of money or there could be a
shapeless mass of sandgrains and nacre. Some Bahraini clallal was
usually prepared to buy such a pearl and “operate” on it.
While the pearls changed hands within the Trucial Shaikhdoms
both Arabs and resident Indians participated in these transactions.
The pearling trade was the only reason why Hindu and Khojah
merchants initially took up residence on the coast, whereas some of
the Persian residents in the towns of the Trucial States were content
to trade in ordinary merchandise. Indians were engaged in the pearl
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