Page 496 - 3 Persian Trade rep KUWAIT 1_Neat

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(3) The maun of 12 tcaqiyahs,, or 55 lbs. 10G1 oz., is used for sail cloth
only.
(•1) The tnann of 21 tcaqiyahs, or 111 lbs. 5*28 oz., is used for clarified
butler, fat, salt and gypsum mortar.
(5) The Mann of IS tcaqiyahs, or 222 lbs. 10*5G oz., is used for sugar
only.
(G) The maun of 3G tcaqiyahs, or 1GG lbs. 15*92 oz., is used for wheat and
barley when imported from Basrali. Twenty maims of the last
named variety or approximately 3,310 lbs., make one taghdr.
Firewood is normally sold by the rafa of \ maims of 30 tcaqiyahs or
5.55G lbs. 10*1 oz.
Gypsum mortar is sold by the kdrah of 100 maims of 21 tcaqiyahs or
11'133'lbs. The term kdrah 'is also used for date palm branches in which
sense it means 1,000 brauches.
Beams and masts are sold by the Calicut kandy or 10 c.ft. 29 cubic
inches : round rafters or spars by the korjah or score and boat ribs by the
gdri or cart load of 10 pcs. or upward according to size.
The 1-gallon kerosinc oil tin is used as a measure of capacity ; it is chiefly
used for the sale of water, but clarified butter, fat and date syrup are also some­
times sold by the tin.
Of the smaller weights is the hahhah, equivalent to 3 grains Troy, is used
in the sale of gold and silver. Gold is normally sold by the mithqdl ’attdri of
18 Jtabbahs or 51 grains and also by the Turkish pound and fractions thereof.
Silver is sold by the mitliqdl Shirdzi or 21 halbahs or 72 grains. The mithqdl
* attdri and the mithqdl Shirdzi are also both used for drugs and silk thread,
but for this purpose they arc not divided into halbahs, but only into halves and
quarters, the niceties of weight being arrived at using the two mithqaIs and
their fractions in conjunction. Perfumes, as also geld thread, are sold by the
tolah or ISO grains.
In the pearl trade the following weights and measures are most commonly
used in Kuwait. 'Wholesale purchase of pearls from the captains of pearling
boats are made chiefly by size. For tin's purpose, after any exceptionally good
pearls which it is desired to dispose of sejxirately, have been removed, remainder
are assorted by being passed through a series of perforated brass or copper
bowls, the standard set of which consists of 1; the perforations of the largest ;
called ras are •IS"’ in diameter ; those of the second, bain '15* ; those of third,
dhail T3'; and those of fourth rabiah *llr. After being assorted into ras,
balti, etc., they change hands at a previously arranged rate, at so much the
mithqdl 'Arabi which is equivalent to 50 grains. The ordinary pearls then
usually pass from one dealer to another on a more precise kind of estimate
based upon weight : in Kuwait the Bombay mithqdl equivalent to 75 grains
Troy and sub-divided into 21 rattis each of 15 dnahs is usually employed.
The uuit in the dealer’s system is called a chau, and, although derived
from a weight, it is not in itself a weight. The number of chaus in a pearl
is found by squaring the weight of the pearl in mithqdls and multi­
plying the result by 330. The chau is divisible into 100 dukrahs, and the
dukrahs into 100 baddms. There arc other kinds of chaus also occasionally
used and obtained by an identical process from other mithqdls, such as the
Poona mithqdl of 68} grains.
The normal unit of length is the dhira* or cubit of 19"', but for rope,
which is also sold by the weight, the ba or fathom is usually employed. There
is no square measure in use ; and a plot of ground is described as being so
many dhira's according to the 6um of its sides.

The year 1924-25.
The year was unfavourable for trade, as the interior remained unsettled
and there was no trade with NajcL. The pearling season too was not good,
especially on the northern banks, and the pearl market was poor.