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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

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