Page 657 - Arabian Gulf Intellegence

GULF OF PERSIA. G13

Remarks.—The centre of llic Gulf, off the Pearl Bank, is clear of
danger, with soundings, over a bottom of mud, from twenty at the upper
part to forty and fifty fathoms through most of the other parts, to eighty
fathoms off the Quoins. At the entrance the Gulf abounds with all
kinds of fish, which arc cheaply purchased from the boats.

INHABITANTS OF THE GULF OF PERSIA.
The inhabitants on the Arabian side are Mahomedans of all sects,
Wahabcc, Soonee, and Sheea. In most of the ports are to be found
Banian merchants, also Jews and Armenians. The trade of the Gulf is
extensive, and most of those maritime places which have not the means
or a demand among themselves are the carriers for the other places.
Some of the finest of the Buggalows trading from the Gulf to India
belong to these places. At the time the pirates were in power, there
were not more than one hundred and twenty Buggalows and Buteels
belonging to the Gulf of above seventy tons: three-fourths of these be­
longed to Grane, Bahrein, and Musical.
Since a regular force has been kept in the Gulf to keep the pirates
down, they have increased to near six hundred ; and the trade with India,
particularly with the Malabar Coast and Bombay, has become very
considerable. The Arabs take off every year a large part of the rice
grown in Malabar, and large quantities of timber, for which they pay
in dates or hard cash, but mostly the latter. I may add here, that though
the pirates are kept down, they are not suppressed, and if opportunity-
offered they would soon be up again. They possess some of the finest
vessels in the Gulf. One thing—the surveys of the Gulf will in future
times prevent their escape among the islands and shoals, as they did
before, while the Officers of the Indian Navy, from constantly navigat­
ing the Gulf, will be able to follow them wherever they go.

WINDS AND CURRENTS.
At the head of the Gulf, during the months of November, December,
January, and part of March, the winds blow alternately from north-west
and south-east, but with no regularity, as during those periods when it
blows hard the wind will be in opposite directions within a very short
distance. During these strong breezes, which seldom last beyond four
days in the north-westers, the air is clear, cold, and bracing; in the
south-easters the air is generally moist, and rainy. When the winds are