Page 71 - History of Portuguese in the Gulf_Neat

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176 APPENDIX A.
usually in July, and goes on during that month and August. A
fleet is formed of about two hundred terradas> more or less—a
hundred from Barhen, fifty from Julfar, fifty from Nihhelu. They
1 commonly go to fish at Katar,1 a port of Arabia, ten leagues south
of the Isle of Barhen. When the oyster is fished up, it is presently
opened, and the seed pearls are taken out. The pearls of that sea
exceed all others in quality and weight. I say in weight, because, ! separate fisheries in September at Nihhelu, Barhen, and Julfar,
of two pearls, alike in size and shape, one of Barhen will always
outweigh one from elsewhere. The known value of the yearly
trade of the isle, in pearls and seed pearls, is five hundred
I-
thousand ducats; to say nothing of a hundred thousand more
Si which may represent those smuggled away, for fear of the wazir’s
extortions. The farm of this land is worth more than four
£ thousand ducats a year to the captain of Harmuz, exclusive of the
?! ! profits of offices therein.2
Si!
t]
:V its pearl fisheries, which rank with those of Ceylon. The island is
F; thirty miles long, and from six to nine miles broad. The pearl fishing
! at Bahrein lasts, according to an Indian report, from June to October,
1 and it is pursued not only at Bahrein, but along the entire Arabian
Hi coast. The Bahrein banks, stretching for a length of four to five
leagues are, however, the richest and most certain. At the season of
si the fisheries some 4,500 boats of every size and rig may be seen, all
a
t: busily employed. They carry from five to fourteen men each, and the
*•.!; i > total number of hands engaged is said to be 30,000. The scene is
.<•
one of the greatest picturesqueness and animation. Like most of the
gulf ports and trading settlements, it was taken early in the sixteenth
.h:
Hi century by the Portuguese, who established a station there and at El
Katif, to ensure a monopoly of the pearl trade. When the pearls have
I been picked out of the shells, they are handed to the master of the
boat, who proceeds to sort them by the manipulation of a triple set of
8! brass sieves, pierced with holes of different diameter. The pearls that
are unable to pass through the largest sieve are called * Ras,’ the resi­
4i the third sieve are known as ‘ Dzel.’ Made up into separate batches,
due of the second sieve are ‘Batin,’ while the resulting contents of
W-
§,■ according to their classification, the assorted pearls are then sold to
the pearl merchant upon an intricate scale of values, depending upon
I: the shape, colour, specific gravity, and size. The merchant rearranges
I them in small packets and despatches them to the Indian market,
whence a great many go back again to Arabia and Persia. Generally
speaking, the Bahrein pearls are not so white as Ceylon pearls, but
’
•• are larger and more regular in shape; while they are said to retain
if; their lustre for a longer period. The Ceylon banks require to be care­
fully watched, and fishing is only permitted by Government at various
periods. On the other hand, the Gulf banks give no indication of a
r failing supply.”—Journal of the Society of Arts, March 15, 1901.
: 1 There is now no port called Katar on our charts. But it is the
name of the whole peninsula east of Bahrein. I cannot identify
■!!
s: Julfar ; Teixeira says elsewhere that it was an Arabian port {Kings
U;. of Persia,, Bk. 1, chap, xxvii). [See infra, Appendix B.—D. F.]
I 2 Either there is some confusion here between the past and (the
y writer’s) present; or the captain must have managed to bargain for
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KINGS OF HORMUZ. !77
In the sale and weighing of pearls they use qucratcsy or quilales,
abas, of which three make a quirate, and maticals, each of twenty-
four quilates7 The small pearls are classed for sale as of 20, 30,
40, etc., to the matical. The Barhenis fish with a diving stone,
in from twelve to fifteen fathoms of water. Besides the general
fishery at Katar, during the season mentioned above, there are
and others at Mascatc, Teve, and Ro<;algate, all within the
narrow sea of Harmuz. But these last are not very productive,
though sometimes important enough to such as undertake them.
The second fishery that I have mentioned is called that of Chilao,
because it took place formerly2 in a port of that name in the isle of
Seylan, in the same region.3 And this port is so called because
“ Chilao ” means “ fishery ” in the Chingala tongue,4 which is that
spoken in the Island. It is carried on in April, and early in May,5
a month, and sometimes two, earlier than that of Barhen. For that
is about the difference of time in the approach of the sun; this place
being nearer the Equator, and the summer beginning earlier ;c and
at that time the sea is most calm.
The fleet is of four hundred to five hundred boats, each bearing
this farm with the Persians—a thing not improbable in 1610, when
the Portuguese were still in power on the Persian seas.
3 Quilate=“ carat,” Arabic kirdt. “ Mutual" = Arab rniskal (pro­
perly ?nithkal), an Arabian weight—about 73 gr. (see Hobson-Jobson,
s. v. “ Miscall”).—D. F.
no pearl fishery had taken place off the Ceylon coast for six years,
2 A royal letter of February 20th, 1610, in Doc. Rem., mentions that
owing to the tyrannous Ndyak of Madura’s preventing the divers
(Catholics) from coming. Joao Rodriguez de Sa e Menezes, in his
Rcbdion de Ccylan (cap. vi), says, that when his father, Constantino de
Sd, arrived in Ceylon, in September, 1618, as captain-general, the
pearl fisheries “ for many years had become extinct, because of the
great poverty into which the Paravas had fallen, for they made no
profit for want of accommodation and of boats.”-—D. F.
3 I.e., as Mandr. Chilaw is about forty-eight miles north of Colombo.
4 Teixeira makes the same statement in chap, xxxv of Bk. 1 of his
Kings of Persia. It is almost as erroneous as that of Barros, who in
Dec. Ilf Liv. 11, cap. i, says that Chilao means “perils or loss of the
Chijs [Chinese].” Yule, in Hobson-Jobson, says that Chilaw “ is a
corruption of the Tamil saldbham, the diving.” The Sinhalese name
is Haldvata or Saldvata(the “Bandar Salawat” of Ibn Batuta), which
appears to be derived from saldva = eddy, whirlpool (Sznsk. Jn/dvarta).
The Tamil word saldpam = “ pearl fishery” seems to be a corruption
of Sansk./a/<?z/<f/M=“ diver, diving.”—D. F.
6 A fuller description of the Ceylon pearl fishery is given by Ribeiro
(Fatalidade Historica da Ilha de Ceilao, Liv. I, cap. xxii).—I). F.
6 Mandr lies in 9 deg., and the centre of Bahrein Island in 26 deg.
N. lat.
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