'Extracts from Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia by J G Lorimer CIE, Indian Civil Service' [‎62r] (128/180)

113
Revenue from the pearl fisheries is not as yet included in the Pessian Tumar or
list of revenue assets for each district, and the local Shaikhs conceal the amount
of their incomes from this source as best they can from the Persian Government.
When the Nizam-as-Saltaneh was Governor of the Gulf Ports he aspired to levy
a Malyat of 4,000 Tumans on the pearl banks of the Shibkuh and Lingeh Districts;
but the Shaikhs refused to pay % and he was unable to give effect to his intentions'.
In the Governorship of the Sa ad-ul-Mulk, however, with the connivance of the
merchants of Lingeh, a Malyat of Rs. 800 per annum was assessed by the Persian
Deputy-Governor on 30 pearl boats of the A1 Bii Samait tribe at Lingeh Town
and has ever since been regularly collected; this is the sole item of revenue which
any Persian official recovers from pearl fisheries, and it is believed that the proceeds
are divided between the Governor of the Gulf Ports and the Deputy-Governor of
Lingeh.
Political questions connected with the pearl fisheries.
We have seen that the pearl fisheries are, on the western side of the Persian
Gulf, the chief means of livelihood of the people; that they are participated in by
the subjects of a number of separate states and principalities; and that they are
at present carried on entirely by the native inhabitants of the Gulf. From these
facts spring political considerations of great importance, which we propose to
explain and illustrate in a short historical review, dealing first with matters of a
purely local kind, and then with issues of a wider and international character.
TABLE OF BOATS AND MEN EMPLOYED IN THE PEARL
FISHERIES OF THE PERSIAN GULF The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , 1907*.
[p. 22J61
Arabian Side
Region.
District.
Port.
Number of
boats
belonging to
the port.
Number of
men employed
on the boats
belonging to
the port.f
Country under
protection (or
virtual protec
tion) of which
the boats are.
Trucial 'Oman.
Ras-al-Khaimah.
Rams.
3
45
Great Britain.
Do.
Do.
Ras-al-Khaimah
Town.
33
707
Do.
Do.
Do.
Jazirat-al-Hamra.
25
608
Do.
Do.
Umm-al-Qaiwain.
Umm-al-Qaiwain
Town.
70
1,759
Do.
Do.
Sharjah.
Hamrlyah.
17
259
Do.
Do.
'Ajman.
'Ajman Town.
40
781
Do.
Do.
Sharjah.
Hairah.
25
405
Do.
Do.
Do.
Sharjah Town.
183
3,680
Do.
Do.
Do.
Khan.
74
1,295
Do.
Do.
Dibai.
Dibai Town
335
6,936
Do.
Do.
Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi Town
(and minor ports).
410
5,570
Do.
In Trucial 'Oman the total number of boats is 1,215 and of men 22,045, the
average crew is thus about 18 men per boat.
* The figures given in these tables do not always agree with those given in the Geograp ica
Volume of the Gazetteer. Numbers of boats fluctuate from year to year at any given port according
to the treatment of the owners, etc., by the Shaikh or other authority. . „ j ^
t In some cases a number of the men belong not to the port but to some o er p ace, n
throughout the remainder of the tables.