Page 218 - Truncal States to UAE_Neat
P. 218

The Traditional Economics

        during the course of a year while only about 10 were built in Dubai.
        The wood for boat building was imported from Malabar or East
        Africa, ropes of all sizes came from Zanzibar, and the canvas for the
        sails was usually imported from Bahrain or Kuwait, although some
        lengths were produced locally. Smaller craft and the dug-outs which
        were made from one single tree trunk were imported ready-made
        from India; it was not uncommon for a large trading vessel to carry
        wood and a ship-builder who made a small boat during the course of
        the journey, which he sold in one of the ports. Only the shashah,
        which was usually made by the man who later used it, was
        constructed entirely from parts of the local date palm.

        Pottery
        Some household pottery used in the towns and villages was imported
        from Iran, such as the large water storage vessels and big earthen­
        ware cooking-pots; other pottery came from further east via India.
        There is moderately good clay in some waclis near Ra’s al Khaimah
        town and around the Buraimi oasis. Bahlah in Inner Oman was and
        still is an important source of household pottery. The items which
        were manufactured in these three places and on a smaller scale in
        other villages of the Trucial States were brought by boat or camel
        caravan to the markets and sold to the communities in the area.52
        Much of the locally-made pottery consisted of storage jars of about 1
        metre in height, used for storage of water and sometimes oil; then
        there were water jugs with a round bottom and a long neck which
        were hung up in the breeze, so that evaporation through the pores
        kept the water cool. A conical pottery beaker was used for drinking.
        A speciality of the potteries near Ra’s al Khaimah and the Buraimi
        oasis was incense burners, which consisted of a bowl with slits in the
        side, set on a broad stem and with a handle; sandalwood Cud) on top
        of charcoal embers was burnt in this vessel.53
        Metal-work
        Most pots, pans and kitchen implements were made of copper and
        brass. Coffee-pots were in constant use in every household through­
        out south-eastern Arabia; in the Trucial States as in Oman they were
        made of copper and usually had a band of decorated brass around
        the neck. Most coffee-pots imported into the Trucial States came from
        the coppersmiths in Nizwa or 'Ibri by camel caravan.54 There used to
        be at least one coppersmith in each major port in the Trucial States;

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