Page 246 - Records of Bahrain (2)(ii)_Neat

572 Records of Bahrain

192 TIIE ISLANDS OF BAHREIN.

to bo found at many places, noticeably in the Bilad-i-Kadhn.
Tho red ones on the left of tho high road to It i fa a, and the
chain of five or six largo ones facing the northern sea near
tho villago of Sirabo, which aro only some out of very
many groups, aro all more or less worthy of notice. I shall
have to recur again to theso monuments.
I have already given a slight sketch of tho individuality
of theso islands, if I may use tho term, in connexion with
tho lie of tho ground, and tho certainty forced upon even
tho most superficial observer that lie is standing upon no
common soil, but on that of a land which, although now
desolate enough, has probably teemed with life, and undor
whose dust may, possibly, lie the history of countless genera­
tions. I have also mentioned the tumuli, which covor
the island on all sidos, from tho coast to the ccntro or the
cliffs of the central basin. I will now take one glance at
what is known of tho earliest historic days of the raco that
peopled theso islands, and then give a brief account of
what three weeks of constant research have disclosed,
leaving it for others, who know more about these matters
than I do, to judgo whether my conclusions aro right or
wrong.
i
We know that theso islands have been ruled by Phoenicians,
Babylonians (?), Porsians, Arabs, and Portuguese. With re­
gard to the first-named Herodotus says that u the Phoenicians
first dwelt upon tho Erythrean Sea, having migrated thence
1 to tho Mediterranean, when, etc.,” and again, later on, in his
account of the forces that Xerxes paraded for the conquest
of Greece, after having mentioned that the Phoenicians of
Sidon had won tho regatta held at tho foot of that monarch’s
marble throne on Abydos, ho adds that “ according to their
own account this nation dwelt anciently upon tho Erythrean
it**'
Sea, but, crossing thence, fixed thomsclvcs upon tho Coast
of Syria, where they still inhabit.”
My first visit to the Sheikh resulted in an immediate call
for horses and a ride out from Muharrak to the date-groves of
!•:
in
.1 'Simabi, where tho Chief said they had lately come upon an
old well. Tho sand-hills on this sido of the island evidently
:
!•
1
S'
k