Page 561 - Neglected Arabia (1916-1920)

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apologies at the time, even though inwardly we had felt otherwise.
He proved to be a thoughtful and generous host for the length of our
stay and we soon forgot the tiresome wait he had caused us in the
beginning.
The population of the city consists of the mixture common to all
gulf ports of eastern Arabia. There are Persians from across the
gulf, Baharanas (Shiah Arabs), negroes, both slave and free, and
Arabs, who form the bulk of the population. When we inquire with
amazement whence this large multitude in the midst of the barren
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J desert obtains its livelihood, we find the answer in the pearl. The city
sends out some 200 pearling-boats each year, which gives employment
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}; to thousands of men. The money realized from the pearls forms the
capital on which business is conducted for the remainder of the year.
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J PEARLING BOATS
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The pearling business is mostly in the hands of the Arabs, while the
trades and business generally are mostly in the hands of the Persians
and the Baharanas, for to a lesser extent the city is dependent upon
> trade. The bazaar counts about 200 shops and is a rather busy place,
i for it supplies not only the people of the city but also many villages
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! and thousands of Bedouins who come here from the surrounding
deserts for their yearly stocks of supplies.
The religious atmosphere is decidedly intense in the place. The
I spirit of Bahrein, due to the long residence of missionaries and its
i closer relations with India, is, in comparison, much milder. But Dohah
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is pretty well shut off from the rest of the world and the inhabitants :
are for the most part well satisfied that it should be so—they are quite
[ content to be shut up within the narrow limits of their own city and the
i surrounding deserts and the still narrower limits of their own religion.

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