Page 487 - Belgrave Diaries(N)_Neat

485

1929

Sunday [13 October]

Started on the pearl case. Sent for the man who bought it. He told me all about it and produced the pearl itself. It is
what they call a cultured pearl. They do them in Japan. They fish up an oyster, put a little stone into the shell, shut it
up again and throw it back into the sea. The oyster then forms a pearl over the stone, in quite a short time. The centre
is of course false but from the outside it is difficult to detect till it is bored. This man got one of these, or perhaps a lot,
and gave it to a man to take out to sea to sell from his boat among his genuine catch of fresh pearls. It is a very serious
thing as these pearls injure the whole trade very badly and there are a lot about just now. Planted seeds in the garden in
the afternoon. Parke went back to the Fort. Dined at the Bank, Bridge. Had a long talk with Pack and Bienenfeld
about the question of the pearl. In the morning I called on Mohamed Ali Zainal. He discussed various things that the
Government could do to prevent such abuses as these cultured pearls and also a trick that some people have taken to of
colouring pearls. The colour is hard to detect and soon turns black. He is a very pleasant intelligent man. This time
instead of staying at the Savoy he took a house in Cavendish Square. He said it was less than half the price and far
more comfortable.

Monday [14 October]

The Shaikh came in but only for the day. I didnt see him. Had a meeting of the pearl experts, Pack, Bienenfeld,
Zayani and Sulman bin Muttar and showed them the pearl asking their opinion of it. They all said it was obviously a
cultured one. The buyer cut it a little in order to remove a mark and in doing so he exposed the inside which was false.
He bought it for Rs 15,00 about £200 and it was said to be worth about 15/-. I did not tell them the names of any of the
people concerned and they all emphasised the importance of the man being very severely dealt with. While we were at
the business Abdulla bin Jabr himself came in with a letter from The Shaikh, but it appears that the man is another of
the same name, a brother in law of Shaikh Mohamed's. I am very glad it is not the Abdulla bin Jabr I thought it was.
Court. In the afternoon I went up to the Fort to a sort of tea party given to celebrate Parke's return, quite a good show,
then Parke and I went out to Senobis to catch the man in the pearl case. I had sent out a launch and got the narhuda
from the pearl banks. The man was not at his house so we returned to his office in the pearl bazaar. Again we missed
him so sent out Police to get him. They brought him in, a nasty youth with the manner of a guilty man. Searched his
place in the bazaar and sealed up his safes then let him out on bail. There will be a lot of talk about the affair. His
manner was all the time extremly suspicious. The Shaikh sent me in two lovely carpets from the ones he was given by
the Shaikh of Dohar, really beautiful things. Spent a long time after dinner shifting round my other ones and putting
them in place. The drawing room is now entirely covered with carpets, one cant see an inch of the floor, it looks very
luxurious and is certainly far the best room in Bahrain, only I wish it was rather bigger. They are Persian carpets of a
kind called Bulis. Dinner very late as all the business in the bazaar took so long. We wandered about with lanterns.

Tuesday [15 October]

Meeting of Muharrak Biladya. Dull. They are such a lot of killjoys, they tried to make a law to put down the Sudanese
ex slaves who play on drums. Shaikh Abdulla and I stood up for them and in spite of much opposition we gave them
permission to carry on as they have been doing for nearly two hundred years. The morals of the people here are
notorious but from the tone of the Municipal councils one would suppose the place to be a heaven on earth, too good to