Page 152 - Arabian Gulf Intellegence

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GRANE—PIIELEECHI—KATEEF.
The place to the land side is surrounded by.a dilapidated mud wi ll
with round towers for bastions; in some parts the wall is levelled to tl ’
ground, and in others the sand has been allowed to drift nearly to i'ts
top. The seaward side has never been fortified, and in no part has
anything like a ditch ever existed.
The water is all brought from wells about a mile beyond the walls
that inside of the town being too bad to drink, excepting in eases of
extremity.
Piieleeciii.*
Pheleechi, an island about ten miles distant, and in fact formin
. g one
side of the harbour, is about eight miles long, by two or three wide,
extremely low, and to all appearance swampy after rain or high tides.
The soil, though sandy, is by no means bad, and there is plenty of fresh
water at no great depth from the surface. The only village at present
inhabited is Zoor, situated on the western side of the island, containing
from a hundred to a hundred and fifty families, mostly engaged in
fishing, and governed by one of the relatives of the Koweit Chief. The
climate is said to be very bad, fever being very prevalent. On the
western and protected side of the island the shoals run out so far that
steamers and the smallest sized ships could not approach nearer than
four miles. On the eastern side there is water enough at half this
distance, but then the anchorage is exposed, and there are no inha­
bitants.
Koweit has unquestionably for the last twenty years been considered
as closely connected with the Pashalic of Bagdad. The vessels
belonging to that port all carry the Turkish flag, and Shaikh Subah,
the Governor, receives an annual allowance of 200 karahs of dates from
Chubda, by the express order of the Pasha, in return for which he is
bound to protect Bussora from foreign aggression.
Koweit is one of the ports which have benefited by the internal dis­
turbances and hostilities on the island of Bahrein.
Kateef,
Situated forty miles to the north of Bahrein, possesses a very respect­
able and spacious fort. The citadel is strong, having been built by the
Portuguese when they had possession of Bahrein ; and the whole fort is
in good repair, but surrounded by dense groves of date trees, which run
sea.
close up to the walls on three sides, the fourth being washed by t le
Kateef contains 500 houses, and at least a like number of fighting men.
(Lieutenant Edmunds, 1839.)
ssels of small draft,
The approach by sea can only be attempted by ve e for
There is, however, good anchorag
and then only at high-water.
* Vide Trigonometrical Plan, at page 52 of this Selection.