Page 215 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

196 COAST OF ARABIA. [CH.

It derives a scanty and indifferent supply
of water during the winter season from some
wells near a sheikh’s tomb ; but the quantity
required by the inhabitants and the liajj boats
is mostly brought from the main. During
the warm season, the Arabs leave the coast
for this island, to avoid the greater heat of the
continent, and dispose of their grain, dates,
&c., to the liajj boats, which put in here.
They are all industrious fishermen, the sea in
this part abounding in fish, which, when dried
and salted, is exported for the Cairo market,
or disposed of to the neighbouring tribes, so
that they are more opulent than the other
Bedowins on the coast, who rarely engage in
this pursuit. During their stay they reside
in a long straggling village on the south side

of the island consisting of cadjan huts. It
speaks much in favour of the honesty of the
Arabs who navigate this coast, that we found
in these houses, on our first arrival, many
useful articles left without protection. On
the main this tribe possesses an extensive
tract of country, well irrigated by numerous
fresh-water tanks, yielding them an abun­
dant supply of dates, considered scarcely