Page 229 - Truncal States to UAE_Neat

Chapter Six

harvest of every 10 jirabs (one jirah in the LTwa was 100 lb., and in
Buraimi 80 lb.), one jirah was paid as lax; but people who harvested
less than 20 jirabs from all the trees they owned were exempt. The
latter circumstance obtained in most of the gardens east of Thar-
waniyah, which is a village situated near the centre of the crescent-
shaped string of oases. The Manaslr were exempt from paying tax on
dates to the Ruler of Abu Dhabi, thus the wali did not need to visit any
of the oases east of Tharwaniyah because they either belonged to
Manaslr or were in any case too small. In 1950 45 jirabs of dales were
collected from the LTwa, but, due to an invasion of locusts in June 1951
the crop was very poor in that year and only 15 jirabs were collected as
tax. According to the statement made by the wali of Dhafrah at the time
only ten people were taxed in the LTwa in 1950 and 1951.°
The Ruler of Abu Dhabi did not collect tax on animals, but some of
the Manaslr, A1 Murrah, and a few of the Mazarl' section of the Bani
Yas who at times left Dhafrah to find grazing further west were
visited by Saudi tax-collectors, who obtained from them 10 Rupees
tax per camel per year in the spring of most years between 1937 and
1951. This shows that the importance of camels as the most valuable
property had not yet declined among the traditional nomads of the
area. Among the people who owned properly in the LTwa in the early
1950s about three dozen owned a pearling boat—in a very few cases
even two boats, manned by their relatives and neighbours.10
Although these boats might be left at various places along the coast
during the winter months, most of them were regarded for purposes
of administration and taxation as being based on Dalma Island, the
remainder being based on Abu Dhabi Island. Dalma was an
important trading centre during the summer, but many families in
Dhafrah used the suq in Dalma all the year round, rather than
travelling all the way to Abu Dhabi town.
Within the context of the tribal society of the LTwa, owning a boat
frequently meant that the proceeds from this property—just like the
date gardens—were shared between the members of an extended
family; some probably assisted in the building of the boat and its
maintenance, and many relatives helped as crew. The proceeds of the
season’s catch were therefore not divided up in the same meticulous
fashion as had to be the case among hired crews of unrelated town-
dwellers. Although resources were usually shared within the
extended family, an individual was always identifiable as the owner
of a garden, a boat or a camel. He was the person who dealt with the
tax collector or the qadi in case of a dispute.

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