Page 178 - The Pirate Coast (By Sir Charles Belgrave)
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although much of it is formed of date branches, yet with neatness
and cleanliness not to be observed elsewhere. The people also
appeared to be of a very superior class. Outside the town are
fields in the highest state of cultivation, intersected by rows of
date trees. Further inland arc large date groves, kept in excellent
order, but what struck me most forcibly at this season of the year,
were the fields, groaning under the most beautiful crops of clover.
The cattle were fed on it, which produced most excellent milk
and butter, such as we had not tasted since leaving England.’
The date groves of Bahrain, irrigated by innumerable little
streams of clear water, flowing from deep pools and springs, and
the fields of brilliant green lucerne beneath the trees, which grows
all the year round, arc still a beautiful and refreshing sight. But
many of the date palms arc now being cut down, to make way
for wide, dual traffic motor roads and, near the towns, whole date
groves have been demolished to provide space for Western-style
bungalows and houses, which at the present time bring in more
money than dates, contrary to the injunctions of Abu Bakr, suc
cessor of the Prophet forbidding the destruction of date trees.
When the horses arrived, Loch and Bruce set off for Rafaa,
escorted by a son of one of the Shaikhs and his retainers. After
riding through several miles of date groves, they emerged into
the open country and began to ascend the hill, passing through
the vast area covered with ancient burial mounds which, sur
prisingly, Loch docs not mention; perhaps he assumed that they
were the natural conformation of the country. In recent years,
a Danish archaeological expedition has been digging in Bahrain,
and has discovered a city and temples, buried under the sand,
dating from 2500 b.c.
Finally the party arrived at the town, which is now known as.
East Rafaa, so called because another Rafaa, near the Shaikh’s
country palace, has been built some miles west of the older town.
Dryden’s translation of Virgil’s Aeneid describes such a place:
‘High o’er the vale a steepy mountain stands,
Whence the surveying sight the nether ground commands.
The top is level - an offensive scat
Of war; and from the war a safe retreat/
In 1820, Rafaa was a strongly fortified hill town, with a large
population. The main fortress was built by Shaikh Sulman bin
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