Page 139 - Neglected Arabia Vol 1 (2)

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Arab Life at Close Quarters

Rev. G. J. Pennincs

H \i who desires a clear picture of the populations of the Aral)
coast of the Persian Gulf—their variety, antagonisms and
affinities—can hardly wish for anything better than a trip
on a crowded sailboat as it coasts between the two cities oi
Mahrein and Dohah. He will then have a veritable cross-section of
ihe inhabitants, wherein he finds a trace of all the races and all the
various currents of feelings that exist in these regions. i
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Such a crowd of passengers constitute a most peculiar entity.
Thrown together by chance, as it were, necessity unites them in a
companionship from which there is no escape and where each one
has to live his life in the presence of all the rest, till the trip is over.
It was our privilege to make such a trip during the month of July
Usl ■.summer. When we boarded the boat we found it piled high
with a miscellaneous mass of merchandise, and on this assemblage of
M '
laics, boxes, chests and crates, on a space not more than 60 feet by
*
J5 feet, sonic sixty passengers were to make the trip with us.
We settled ourselves in the best place on the boat, a space about .Ul,
feel long by 2>/o feet broad, on top of two narrow boxes, placed side
by side, to be for two days,,both observer and observed.
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Kach of tile various classes represented on our boat merits a few
»urds of description. And first of all there is the captain. Verv
i.ftcii these captains have a wife in each of their two ports of call, so
dal. no matter what way they are going, they are on their way
Ihiiiic. Similarity of work and environment have made these captains • I
* distinct type, to which our captain was no exception. He was ,
.nergelic, unscrupulous, a master at tirade and an adept at cajoling
the utmost advantage from the richer passengers and extracting the
U.u penny from the poor.
True the fares, due to competition, are not high, being only Rs. 2
,*.05) for the trip of 100 miles without food, and Rs. 5 ($1.65) with • i
im.l ami that where the trip may last a dayr or a whole week, depend-
icjj oil the wind. But this seems more service than it really is. For
iLc passenger without food, it means only the privilege to exist as
U,l lie can on top of the merchandise, under the open sky, till the
fcAinicy is ended. Those with food have the additional privilege of a
tunas shade in tile day time and of being invited twice a day to
p»iuke of a mess of indifferent rice ami rancid fish. In sheer self-
|4»trv'lioii the better class passengers take with them on the jwuri -v
— )i luxuries as meat, coffee, tea, sugar and the like, which, orieiu 'l
iiihinii, they sliaie with all their immediate fellow-passengers ilu-
4»j,uiu mil excluded.
Ami then there are the sailors. They form a most curious and
crowd. Many „ them are negroes, some of them
rvaiwiyauml others mamumtlcd, Inn hailing Iron, everywhere O, .
(iJi also men from India, Beluehistan, Persia, Oman, and not'infr"