Page 59 - Arabian Gulf Intellegence

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PIRATE PORTS.
Lahsa for sale. Their pearl fishery is accounted to produce yearly
10,000 Tomans. They do not commit piracies on the high seas, but
take advantage of the approach of the smallest boats to their coast, and
seize them ; for which reason their conduct is not so openly stigmatized
as that of the other inhabitants of Sir. They have small date groves
dispersed among their sand hillocks, which yield a scanty supply of
fruit, and amidst which they live during the summer, until their crop
is consumed. In this season, the water is very brackish, and in the
wintry months the shepherds ascend Lahsa and Qutar, to find
pasture for their cattle. They can furnish twenty thousand excellent
musketeers.
Hu AIL AH.
Huailah lies to the southward, by one day’s journey, of Khor Hassan,
and is a small station of Baddoos. Its maritime population exists by
pearl fishing, while that of the interior follows the occupation of hus­
bandmen, and are less impoverished than their clansmen on the sea
coast.
Zukhirah.
The port Zukhirah, under Shaikh Nasir bin Sal min, in common
with the other ports of the Arabian shore, fish for pearls.
Kiior Hassan.
From hence three days’ journey lies Khor Hassan, the former retreat
of Shaikh Rahmah bin Jabir Yalahimi, a tribe derived from Nujd. The
town is composed of 400 houses, among which his own is conpicuous,
from its height, and from the upper story bearing the appearance of a
fortification, pierced with loopholes for the convenience of musketry.
Towers, too, are erected for its defence. The port within has two fathoms
at high-water, and two or three feet at low-water. Ships cannot approach
nearer than two or three miles, but the large Native boats come within
musket-shot of the shore. The anchorage is rocky, and exposed to the
north-west wind, which excites a tremendous swell. Within the space
of twelve hours, five thousand Baddoos may be marched down from
the interior to defend the coast.

ZOBARA.
Near this is the port of Zobara, the inhabitants of which are allied to
those of Khor Hassan ; it has a town of 400 houses.
Ogair.
Ogair lies opposite to the island of Bahrein, and may be esteemed
the chief seaport of the Wahabees. A custom house, at which all
imports direct for Lahsa and Dareyah are landed, is established at this
place, as their conveyance to their several destinations by land is thus