Page 60 - The Postal Agencies in Eastern Arabia

! No. llbO'l-Zsjr.&JS
l-Jl^AIN
Atlu
C/) ''' ^ \
*r. :$\\
*4 L

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;
>s .

A registered cover of 1912: the stamps on the reverse
(Edward VII, 3 annas and M anna) are cancelled with
Type 4.
Apart from the philatelic aspect, these two covers are extremely
interesting because they bear, above the address, the Arabic figures
“8642” (indicated by arrows). The figures may often be found in­
scribed on covers from Moslem countries — more usually in the last
century, for the practice has virtually died out. These figures are the
numerical equivalents of the letters forming the Arabic word
“BEDUH” (“e” being short, and having no value), a mystic word, used
as an invocation for the safe arrival of the letter on which it appears.
Covers from the period 1914-1918 may be found with a small
double circle violet hand-stamp “PASSED CENSOR. BOMBAY” with
number in the centre, though its use appears to have been somewhat
infrequent.
In the 1920s, as was also the case at Dubai, letters were occasion­
ally posted on board ship and the stamps were cancelled on arrival at
Bombay with a double-ring c.d.s. PERSIAN GULF SECTION,
BOMBAY G.P.O.

By 1919 the first of a long-lived series of double circle cancellers
had been introduced (Types 5 and 5A). Both were probably intended
for back-stamping, but both are known cancelling stamps between
1919 and 1931. Type 5B differed in that it had a wide date-band; it
was short-lived (1932-1934) and was used mainly for back-stamping,
but occasionally to cancel stamps. Whilst Types 5, 5 A and 5B were

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