Page 159 - 4 Persian Trade rep KUWAIT 2_Neat

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Report on the Trade of Kuwait for the year 1 929-30.

[1st April 1029 to list March JOT).)

r»Y
Lieutenant-Colonel H. R. P. Dickson, C.I.E.,

Political Agent, Kuwait
in the Tailoring Trade. Outside the Capital
General.
inhabitants of the principality are all Arabs, and
(.») The Princijeilihj of Kuwait.—Kuwait is an mostly nomads. At a rough estimate thea*
independent Arab State under a virtual British are
number about lU.OOO souls. The only settled
protection. It has a distinctive flag of its own : villages arc Jahrah, at the head of Kuwait Bay,
rod. with the word KUWAIT ” in Arabi«- «harac- which has a population of about !,<>» souls : Falikah
t.-re written in white acro>s it.
village, on the island of the same name at the entrace
On the Ruler’s own llag arc also writf-n the of Kuwait Bay with a similar population : and the
words vertically and to the tlagstaf -id** of smaller villages of Hawaii, Diinnah, Fantas, Abe
the flag ** There is uo God but God and ?!*-hanu;d Hulaifab. Tubaihil and Shu’aibah to the South
is his prophet and South-east of Kuwait.
(/,) The frontier.—The frontier line of Kuwait (c) The Town of Kuwait.—The Town now measures
is as follows :— about 3i miles along the shore, having extend*!
considerably in recent years towards the East
•Starting from the Southern portion of lias nl-
tjulai’ah (12 miles from Kuwait), with tin- town as Its greatest depth, about a mile and a quarter, i?
centre it describes an »r«- towards the \V<?j until near the centre of the Town, where the long suburb
it intersects 2'J5 latitud-. and from this p«-i:»t run.- called Murqab has grown out from it towards the
ill a straight line to th- Batin, opposite Ili— junc- South-east.
iiou of the Wadi aI-'Auj.:h with the Batin. The The streets are irregular and winding, and the
line then runs Northward along the Batin to a point- Town is uot laid out on any General Plan. Most
ju-t I^outh of the latitud.- of Safwan : then East­ of tin* houses have only a ground floor, but appear
ward. passing ju*t South of Jabal Sanam. higher owing to a parapet wall enclosing the roof.
>.tf\van and Umin Qa-r. and so on to the junction There are over forty mosques, of which nine are
oi the Kuwait with the Khaur ’Abdullah. The Friday congregational mosques. None of them
territory enclosed within ties line and th** IN-rsian have any architectural merit, and follow closely
Gulf, together with the i-s»::d of Warhah. Buhiyan. the severe and simple style of those found in Nejd
Ma.-kau. Failakah, Wuhah. Kubhar and L'mm and the Wahabi Capital of Riath : mosque minaret*»
il-Maradim. is recognised as belonging to Kuwait. from which the faithful arc called to prayer are ot
the Squat square type, and do not overlook the neigh­
{c) Kuwait Xnutfttl .!•>'**.—Tin* tract of <-«»'intry bouring houses.
bounded on the North by the Southern p**rti*»n of In the \\*ar 1920, the existing Town wall Wa­
rhv Kuwait frontier as described above. «*:i the built by the late Shaikh Salim al Mubarak al Subah.
East by the sea, and t!:*» W. $t hv the Sliaqq. and It is about 41 miles in length and has 3 gates. In
on the South by the straight line running da** East addition to the gates which are protected by tower.-,
from the Shaqq through Wil-al-’Abd to t1:** sea there is a bastion every two hundred yards through­
North of Ras al-Mish’ab. is recognised as common out the length of the wall. At its base the wall i>
to the two States of Nej*i and Kuwait, in which some 13 feet broad, but tapers to 3 feet at the top.
both enjoy equal right:*.
Its height is al>out 1G feet between towers.
(d) Population.—The Capital itself has a jn.pula- The Arab tribal portion of the population com-
tion of about GU,ih>i -..uls of whom the greatest prising $0 per cent, of the whole, is made up ol
majority are Arabs. The Persian community, how­ *Utuh. Awazim. Rashaidah, Bani KhaUd, Dawasi*
ever. has greatly increased in recent years ai.-I now *Ajman. ’Anazab. Mutair and Dhafir tribes besides
eou-ists of about KUSH souls. There ar** over a few Arabs from Hassa and the Ataiba confedera­
O.inKi negroes, some .3*** Iraqis and a few Jews. tion. The merchant- and shopkeeper class are nearly
There are also about a dozen Indians mostly * ngaged all of Ncjd (Qassiin) descent.