Page 138 - Truncal States to UAE_Neat

Administering a Tribal Society

banks blit from taxes imposed on their own subjects and on persons
resident under their jurisdiction. A passage in the Gazetteer implies
that taxation by the Rulers was an innovation of the 19lh century.71
But Ibn Batutah’s description of theGulf, which he visited during the
second half of the 14th century, gives a very similar picture of the
contemporary pearling industry in places such as Basra, to what it
was during the 19th century on theTrucial Coast; the taxation levied
by the Sultan was one fifth, which was much higher than that levied
by the shaikhs of the Trucial Coast.72
There were over the decades several kinds of taxes connected with
the pearling industry. Some were designated contributions, such as
for defence or the maintenance of communal buildings, others were
taxes which the shaikh levied. Dues of the first category were
originally called laraz, and were used to pay a few beduin to protect
the towns and villages during the absence of most men on the pearl
banks in the summer, and to guard the pearling boats which were
beached during the winter in remote parts of the coast while the
owners were in the desert.
The amount of the various dues, the method of collecting them, and
the way in which the Rulers used the funds either for themselves or
for the benefit of the tribal community varied from port to port and
from one shaikh lo another. In some instances dues were paid in
kind, such as the payment of one bag of rice per boat to be handed to
the shaikh before the season began. In Sharjah the semi-independent
headmen of the dependencies were usually expected to remit a
certain share of their ports’ income from pearling to the Ruler of
Sharjah.73
As a basis for assessing the different dues, the boats, the
individuals, as well as certain pearls were used. During the time that
the Gazetteer was compiled the dues which were imposed on the
entire boat were called naub, regardless of whether they were taken
in money or in kind. Between one and four bags of rice74 were taken
from the small, medium and large boats in most ports of Sharjah in
the spring as naub, except for Hamnyah, where it was one hauler’s
(saib) share per boat in the autumn. In Umm al Qaiwain it was 20
Rupees and 2 bags of rice per large boat in the spring plus one
hauler’s share in the autumn. A tax called shufah was collected at
irregular intervals when funds were needed for a particular com­
munity project, for an emergency, or to pay a fine imposed on the
shaikhdom. In Abu Dhabi one diver’s or one hauler’s share was paid
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