Page 218 - The Pirate Coast (By Sir Charles Belgrave)

than ^200,000,000, or Qatar, with over ,£20,000,000, or Abu
Dhabi which, it is believed, may one day rival Kuwait.
Some of the buildings which Loch mentions in Bahrain arc still
standing, and forty years ago, the bazaars were much the same as
when he saw them. Today, there arc big shops, with plate glass
windows, displaying goods from all parts of the world; the
number of cars is causing traffic problems, and there are more
Arabs wearing European clothes than Arab dress. New western-
style buildings, dual carriage ways, electric pylons and hundreds
of modern bungalows detract somewhat from its former pictur­
esque appearance. But the changes in Bahrain have not been as
sudden and dramatic as those in Kuwait and Qatar. Because it
always enjoyed moderate prosperity, though to a greater degree
after oil was found in 1932, it has developed gradually, which was
all for the best.
Qatar is not mentioned in Loch’s diary. It used to be an
appendage of Bahrain, a barren, primitive country inhabited by
a few Bedouin tribes. It is the newest of the Gulf Shaikhdoms
having been established for less than a century. Since oil was
found, in 1939, its one town, Doha, has become a flourishing
city, with all the attributes of newly acquired wealth, and a vastly
increased population of foreign immigrants, as in Kuwait.
If Loch were to see the Shaikhdoms of the Pirate Coast today,
he would find less to surprise him. The people themselves look
much the same as when he saw them, their dress has scarcely
altered, and their way of life has not noticeably changed. In
most of the Shaikhdoms, the rulers arc descended from the pirate
chiefs and, forty years ago, their appearance and outlook did not
differ greatly from that of their ancestors. Today, however, it is
not unusual to meet descendants of the pirate chiefs, dressed by
London tailors, staying at West End hotels, when they come to
London to discuss political matters or oil affairs, though at home
they wear Arab dress.
Some of the forts which existed in his day arc still standing,
but there are now schools and dispensaries in Ras al Khaima, once
the pirate capital, Sharja and Dubai. Dubai is now a thriving
port, producing a sufficient income from trade, not from oil, to
enable the Shaikh to carry out modern developments. Abu
Dhabi, the most recent oil state, is regarded as a problem child by
the British authorities. The Shaikh is unwilling to sec his country
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