Page 138 - UAE Truncal States_Neat
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                                             Administering a Tribal Society

          banks but from taxes imposed on their own subjects and on persons
          resident under their jurisdiction. A passage in the Gazetteer implies
          that taxation by the Rulers was an innovation of the 19th century.71
          But Ibn Batutah’s description of the Gulf, which he visited during the
          second half of the 14lh century, gives a very similar picture of the
          contemporary pearling industry in places such as Basra, to what it
          was during the 19th century on the Trucial Coast; the taxation levied
           by the Sultan was one fifth, which was much higher than that levied
           by the shaikhs of the Trucial Coast.72
            There were over the decades several kinds of taxes connected with
           the pearling industry. Some were designated contributions, such as
           for defence or the maintenance of communal buildings, others were
           taxes which the shaikh levied. Dues of the first category were
           originally called taroz, and were used to pay a few beduin to protect
           the towns and villages during the absence of most men on the pearl
           banks in the summer, and to guard the pearling boats which were
           beached during the winter in remote parts of the coast while the
           owners were in the desert.
             The amount of the various dues, the method of collecting them, and
           the way in which the Rulers used the funds either for themselves or
           for the benefit of the tribal community varied from port to port and
           from one shaikh to another. In some instances dues were paid in
           kind, such as the payment of one bag of rice per boat to be handed to
           the shaikh before the season began. In Sharjah the semi-independent
           headmen of the dependencies were usually expected to remit a
           certain share of their ports’ income from pearling to the Ruler of
           Sharjah.73
             As a basis for assessing the different dues, the boats, the
           individuals, as well as certain pearls were used. During the time that
           the Gazetteer was compiled the dues which were imposed on the
           entire boat were called noub, regardless of whether they were taken
           in money or in kind. Between one and four bags of rice74 were taken
           from the small, medium and large boats in most ports of Sharjah in
           the spring as naub, except for Hamriyah, where it was one hauler’s
           (saib) share per boat in the autumn. In Umm al Qaiwain it was 20
           Rupees and 2 bags of rice per large boat in the spring plus one
           hauler’s share in the autumn. A lax called shufah was collected at
           irregular intervals when funds were needed for a particular com­
           munity project, for an emergency, or to pay a fine imposed on the
           shaikhdom. In Abu Dhabi one diver’s or one hauler’s share was paid

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