Page 367 - 3 Persian Trade rep KUWAIT 1_Neat

[ iii ]

The Principality of Kuwait and its Inhabitants.
The recognised frontier of the Kuwait Principality con?i«ts of a semi-circle with the town of Kuwa't
as centre, and a radius of 42 miles, to which may he added the islands of Hu/.fyan, Warbah, hailafcah
with its northern and routhern outliers of Mushjar.rmd, Auhah, and t lie islets of Kubhar, Qaru and
Uimn al-Muradim. The capital itself has a jopulation of a little over 50,000 souls of whom the
great majority arc Arabs. The Persian community, however, ha* gn.utly increased in recent years, and
now consists of about 10,000. There are over l,0»J0 Negroes and a few Jews. Out.-ido the capital the
inhabitants of the principality arc all Arabs and are mostly nomads, ihc only js-nnanenlly Bottled
\illugc8 being Jab rah, which is situated near the foot of Kuwait Bay, about two miles inland, and
distant twenty miles by road from Kuwait town, and has a population of about 500 souls ; Zor, with
a similar population, on the inland of Faililcah at the entrance to Kuwait Bay, and the small villages of
Hawaii, Dimnah, Fautas, Abu Hulaifab, FuhaiLiland SLu’aihah, all to the south and south-east of
Kuwait.
Currency.
Kuwait ba6 no currency of her own. Indian rupees and smaller coins—particularly copper pice—
are chiefly used in the town, and accounts are now kept in Indian currency; but Maria Theresa
dollars are used for all dealings with the desert.
,Y. £,—The cosTcr.-ion uf the trade Cj;un>» ia tL!i rc;«.rt ii :oade it t j< rate of RIG per pool tlrozjl cat
Weights and Aleasures.
The ordinary unit of weight in Kuwait is the raqiy.th, of which there are three kinds ; rtz, one
of 41bs. 10*22 oz., another of 4 lbs. 15" I OS oz., an! a thirl of 9 lb*. -Ilf oz. being respectively the
weight of 75*80 and 15u Maria Theresa dollars, on which coin the iraqiyak i.< baj-ed. The icaqtyak of
4 lbs. 15TGS oz* is only used by the lo«aI customs for imports from the desert and that of 9 lbs. 4-14
oz. only for the sale of fish and beyond this mention of them no further notice will be taken of them
here. The tcaqlyah of 4 lbs. 10*22 oz. is used by the local customs for sea imports, and is universally
used in the town. A larger weight is the ua»/t3 of which th»re are six distinct varieties, all based
on the waqlyak of 4 lbs. lU*22 oz., riz.:—
1. The mamt of 27 tcaqlyakt, or 125 lbs. 3 91 oz.; this is the T,ocal Government's measure for
weighing goods for assessment of duty; it is also used in the town for weighing all commodities
for which there is not a special measure.
C. The niann of 30 raqlyakt, or 139 lbs. 2*6 oz^ used for wheat, barley, ‘Iraq rice and
firewood.
3. The Mann of 12 x-aqlyalt, or 55 lbs. 10*G1 oz., used for sail cloth only.
4. The mann of 24 Kaqlyakt, or 111 lbs. 5*23 oz., used for clarified butter, fat, salt and
gypsum mortar.
5. The matin of 4B traqTyakz, or 222 lbs. 10 56 oz., used for sugar only.
6. The mann of 3G Kaqlyakt, or 166 lbs. 15*92 oz., used for wheat and barley when imported
from Basrah.
20 manut of the last named variety, or approximately 3,340 lbs., make one taykHr.
Firewood is normally sold by the rafa9 of 4 manxt of 30 tcaqljakt or 5,55G lbs. 10*4 ox.
* Gypsum mortar is sold by the kirak of 100 vtznut of 24 raqiyaht or 11,133 lbs. Tho term
iarak is also used for date*palm branches, in which sense it means 1,000 branches.
Beams and masts are sold by the Calicut kanJy of 10 cabio ftet 29 cubic inches; round
rafters or spars by the lorjak or score; and boat ribs by the yari < r cart load, of 40 pieces or
upwards according to size, *