Page 254 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

XII.] COAST OF ARABIA. 235

CHAPTER XII.
Hardmil Island.—Shei'm XJb-hur—Pearl-fishers—Arab Divers—
Old Serur and his Sons—Killing Sharks—Anecdotes—Shark's
tenacity of Life—Sea Lawyers—Mountain Range—Tehdmah
—Reefs—Absence of Surf—Power of the Wind—Objections
against an inner Passage—Climate—Diseases—Atmosphere—
General Appearance of the Inhabitants—Habitations—Arms
—Account of the Huteimi Tribe.

HarAmil* Island, about two hundred yards

in length, is merely an accumulation of drift-
sand on the upper ridge of a reef. It rises
about ten or twelve feet, is covered with high
bushes, and may be discerned about eight
miles off. On the main, nearly opposite to
the island, there is a Bedowin village called
Tuwal, containing about two hundred inha­
bitants, who subsist by fishing and collecting
of pearls. Of these, the northern part of the
Red Sea furnishes but a scanty supply, infe-
■*
* The plural of Harmalah, the Peganum of Linnrous. Haram
in Niebuhr's map; omitted in his text.