Page 267 - Records of Bahrain (5) (i)_Neat

Background and claim to Ilawar islands, 1936-1942 255
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Govornmont, I propose therefore to examine this evidence and

make some attempt to eotimate ita value. Before doing ao how-
ever it may be well to moke eome brief mention of the earlier
history of those islands.
6. (a) In the i’orsian Gulf Qnzeteor, Volume II, page 1313
it is stated that the Dawasir of Zelloq in Bahrain hov«> houses
in two plaoos in the island which thoy use in ;vinter, ('/.ollaq
is a village on the west coast of Bahrain and the Dawasir of
that place have lived there for generations).

(b) In paragraph 7 of letter No, 207 dated the 4th April
1909 the then Political Agent, Bahrain, statod that on a visit
to llawar he had been told by tho Dawasir who were then in resi­
dence that they regarded Howar as their own independent terri­

tory, the ownership of the island having been awarded to them
by the ;adhi of Zubarah more than one hundred, years earlier.
Ho odds that tho adhi at that time wna an official of the Al
Khalifah, who were then in possession of Zubarah, and It would
seem to follow therefore that lawnair ownership of Hawar derived
directly from the authority of the Al Khalifah. The Political
i
Agent mentioned a written decision, which howevor now seems to
have disappeared. I might add that on a recent visit to Hawar
i
I received corroboration of this story, the local Dawasir claim­
ing that they had possessed more or less independent rights in
Hawar since the days when the Al Khalifah were in Zubarah. That

the main island of Hawar has been inhabited for generations is
evident from the fact that thero are two quite considerable
cemeteries in the island.
7. I hove myself verified the accuracy of the statement
mado in the Bahrain counter-claim (dooument No. 4) that there
are two villagos in the main Hawar Island. These are quite
small villages, occupied by about 36 and 20 families respectively

living in housoo of the type known as *kubare*, i.e, built of
unfaoed atone and held togother with mud and roofed with date
palm. These are definitely more permanent constructions than
fishermen's /-