"العراق والخليج الفارسي" [و‎‎٩‎٩] (٨٦٢/٢٠٢)

CHAPTER III
THE COASTS OF THE PERSIAN GULF
Introduction
T he Persian Gulf (fig. 32) is the great shallow trough which
continues the line of the Euphrates and Tigris valleys and divides
the Persian and Arabian plateaux. It runs south-east from its head
for 500 miles as far as the Musandam peninsula and Ruus al Jibal
promontory, which jut out from the Oman mountains and nearly
shut it off from the gulf of Oman and the Indian Ocean. Its breadth,
which is about 140 miles at the head, varies from 200 miles at the
widest part to 50 miles at the entrance, the strait of Hormuz.
The gulf has a coastline approximately 2,000 miles long, which will
be described clockwise in four sections: (1) the Musandam peninsula
and Ruus al Jibal promontory, from Musandam island to Ras ash
Sham; (2) the Arabian coast, from Ras ash Sham to Ras al Ardh;
(3) the head of the gulf, from Ras al Ardh to Ras al Bahrgan; (4) the
Persian coast, from Ras al Bahrgan to Minab. The whole coast is
forbidding: the Musandam peninsula and Ruus al Jibal promontory
are composed of precipitous barren mountains; the Arabian coast is
desert, with reefs, shoals, and islets extending off it for many miles;
the head of the gulf is formed by deltas, mud-flats, and marshes;
and the Persian coast is backed by many parallel ranges of barren
mountains.
The only perennial rivers that enter the gulf are the Euphrates,
Tigris, and Karun, which have a joint estuary (the Shatt al Arab) at
the head. Only intermittent and salt rivers enter the gulf from the
Persian side and none from the Arabian side. The water-supply is
scanty: on the Arabian coast it is from scattered wells, with freshwater
springs in the Bahrein islands and the Qatif oasis; at the head, water
is drawn from the rivers; on the Persian side there are scattered wells,
and the winter rain is stored in large covered reservoirs {birka).
The climate is very hot and enervating in summer, though pleasant
in winter. Rain is rare on the Arabian side. The prevailing wind is
the north-west shamal, which blows regularly for five or six months
of summer, bringing dense clouds of dust from June to August and
affecting visibility at sea (p. 179). The north wind of winter is often
interrupted by the south-east kaus or sharqi, by the north-east nashi,
and occasionally by the south-west suahili (p. 169). Land and sea