Page 219 - The Postal Agencies in Eastern Arabia

nothing more than an ugly excrescence on the Arabian Coast”. Before
the discovery ol oil, however, the State had depended upon pearls for its
prosperity.
The pearl beds that lie in this part of the Gulf were the most famous
in the world and in the early part of this century, before the development
ol Japanese cultured pearls, they produced half the world’s catch. There
was estimated to be as many as 3,500 pearling ships operating during the
season and a quarter of them were based on Qatar.
A traveller passing through Qatar a hundred years ago noted: “It
is from the sea, not from the land, that people subsist; and it is mainly
on the sea that they dwell, passing amid its waters the one half of the
year in search of pearls, the other half in fishing and trade. Hence, their
real homes arc the countless boats which stud the placid pool, or stand
drawn up in long black lines on the shore”.
The discovery, in recent years, of ancient burial mounds on the
West coast and of evidence elsewhere of habitation over the centuries,
indicates that Qatar was supplying pearls even in Babylonian days. And
an ancient belief that pearls originate from raindrops caught by the
oyster between its twin shells, as recorded by the 13th century Arab
geographer, Al-Qazwini in his “Wonders of Creation”, may have something
to do with the origin of the name ‘Qatar’; little is known of it but it can
be interpreted as meaning a ‘drop of water’. The nearest the English
tongue can get to the correct pronunciation is “GUTTER” (as at the
roadside) — not rhyming with “Later” or with “Catarrh”.
The development of the Japanese cultured pearl caused a decline
in the local industry and it was fortuitous that oil revenues came in time
to restore Qatar’s finances. The original concession was granted for 75
years from May 1935, and oil was eventually found on the west coast
near Dukhan in 1940.
Work was suspended during the war years and resumed in 1947,
when a pipeline was laid across the State to the loading terminal at Umm
Said. The first shipment of crude oil was exported in December 1949.
Off-shore oil was later discovered in the Idd al Shargi Field about 60
miles off Doha, and Halul Island was developed as a base and loading
^terminal.

216