Page 260 - A Hand book of Arabia Vol 1 (iii) Ch 6 -10

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DISTRICTS 307

The principal villages of the oasis are : ‘Anile, a hamlet on the
coast, 4 miles SSE. of Qatlf town, with a fort formerly garrisoned
by a Turkish battalion, and date plantations owned by Beni
Khiilid ; ‘ Aicdmlyah, walled, with 300 houses, 3 miles NNW. of
Qatlf, and 1-2 miles inland, watered by excellent springs ; Jishsh,
4 miles S. of Qatlf, and 3 miles from the sea, walled, with 250 houses,
and three fine springs near a mosque outside the E. wall ; Safwa,
5 miles N. by W. of Qatlf, walled, with 350 houses and the two
copious springs of Danish, and ‘Atiqah 1 mile to S. ; Ldjdm, walled,
with good springs, in the centre of a cultivated area 6 miles WNW.
of Qatlf. Dammam, on the coast, 9 miles SE. of Qatif, is now
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deserted, but has ruined houses and two ruined forts, one on the
mainland, the other on a reef.
The towns and port of Qatif are as follows :
1. Qatif,.situated on the bay containing Tdrut Island, 230 miles
SE. by S. from Koweit, 64 miles N. by W. of ‘Oqair, and 36 miles
NW. by W. from the nearest- part of Bahrein. A reef opposite the
town extends 10 miles seawards ; upon this, 2 miles E. of the town,
is an islet with a ruined fort, Burj Abic’l-Lif, on the N. side of which
is a basin where three channels from the open sea converge ; from
here a passage leads to the town, but boats of over 6 ft. draught
cannot reach an inner berth.
The town consists of the Kut or fortified quarter, outside which
are a long bazaar and various suburbs. The Kut has bastioned
walls 30 ft. high, with a frontage of 400 yds. towards the sea, where
there is a gate, and a frontage of 300 yds. towards the W. and S..
where there are also gates, the former opening upon the suburb
Bab esh-Shamdl, to which it gives its name ; to the N. is a dense
forest of date-palms. The fort contains 700 houses, mostly of stone
and gypsum-mortar, but no shops; the Turkish Government
offices were in the extreme SE. comer. The bazaar runs a quartei
of a mile S. from the SW. corner to the suburb of Kaiceikib ; it i.c
stone built and roofed, with 300 shops. Other suburbs are Jardri
Maddris, Mayyas, Dabeibiyah, and SharVah.
The’.population of the town is computed to be 5,000, and that of
I' the suburbs an equal number ; nearly all are Bahdrinah. There are
no Oriental Christians, Jews, or Persians; the 70 Hindu traders, whe
were once settled here, withdrew after the Turkish occupation. But
in June 1910 an Indian firm from Bahrein opened a shop and did
mostsatisfactory trade,anexamplewhich has no doubtbeenfollowed
2. Seihat, on the coast, 2 miles SE. of ‘Anik. A walled town of
600 houses with its own sheikh ; it has abundant water, and I
occupied with agriculture.
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