Page 218 - A Hand book of Arabia Vol 1 (iii) Ch 6 -10

SULTANATE OF KOWlC. :
286

Population

The settled population of the Sultanate is estimated at about
37,00(1, all but a couple of thousandbeing resident in Koweit town (sec
p. 295 f.); such figures illustrate the general barrenness of a territory
extending over more than 20,000 square miles, with few settlements
beyond the capital. The chief tribes contributing to an estimated
nomadic populationof some 13,000 are the Hawazin and Rasha’iclah.
A few bands of Sulubba enter Koweit territory, and the Dhafir and
Muteir camp in parts of it at certain seasons, the latter principally
on the Summan tract. ‘Ajman, Hajar, and'Beni Khalicl are also
. *.
represented. The Bedouins visit Koweit to make purchases in the
market and to dispose of inland products, such as live stock and ghi,
and they have a regular camping-ground outside -Tahrah.

Products and Trade -•

Agriculture is almost entirely confined to the village of Jahrah,
the produce of/vhich is described below (p. 296 f.). The most ex­
tensive industries are fishing and pearl-fishing. The harbour
fisheries are valuable ; the chief fish is the zubeidi, caught by long
nets set across the tideway ; other fish are taken in tidal weirs
(hadhrahs) made of reed hurdles like those used at Bahrein. The
pearl-fisheries employ moro than 9,000 men, with 461 boats, in
Koweit town, and smaller numbers in maritime villages of the E.
coast; a series of good years from 1909 to 1912 were followed by a bad
season in 1913. The only considerable manufacture is boat-building,
for which the timber and fibre are chiefly brought from India. In
1912-13, 120 pearl-boats were built, with an approximate value of
£27,000.
The more important part of the Koweit trade is borne in steam­

ships, but much is carried by the native sea-going boats which
usually confine their operations to the region between Basra in
--- • the N. and Qatif in the S. These vessels are baghlahs (! buggalows ’),
x*:
with a capacity of 2,000 date packages, and bums and shu'ais
with a capacity of 1,200. Smaller bCuns, used in coasting, hold
about half the latter quantity.
In 1913-14, 63 steamships (all but one British) of 121,4S2 tonnage,
entered the port, and 36, with a tonnage of 65,097, cleared It!
In the same year 66S sailing vessels entered, with a tonnage of
8,355. The total trade amounted to £570,558, of which £370,817
represented imported goods. India claims far the greatest share
of this traffic, about 60 % of the imports, and an even higher

V;.'V •• .* .• •