'Extracts from Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia by J G Lorimer CIE, Indian Civil Service' [‎67r] (138/180)

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There is also a quarter called Hamasah on the west of the Qasr.
Except the fort none of these quarters are walled; some of the houses are of
mud and some are huts of date branches. There is no bazaar except that
mentioned as situated in the Hillah quarter.
The resources of the village are estimated at 100 camels, 50 donkeys, 50 cattle,
500 sheep and goats and 10,000 date palms.
The Baraimi fort consists of a square with sides about 150 feet in length: the
whole construction is of sun-dried brick. At each corner stands a tower about
40 feet high; but the curtains connecting the towers are less than 20 feet in height.
A ditch 25 feet broad surrounds the place: both the scarp and counter-scarp are
steep and faced with brick. Two wells in the interior yield water, apparently of
good quality and sufficient for a large garrison. The situation of the fort, standing
in a plain, is generally good; but on the north and west it is too nearly adjoined
by houses and cultivation, and on the opposite side the ruins of another fort were
(in 1875) capable of affording shelter to an attacking force. A wooden gate in
the south face was (in 1875) the weakest feature of the work. The Baraimi fort
is not equal to the best of those in the Sultanate of 'Oman, but it is the key of the
'Oman Sultanate on the west, and must necessarily, as has been observed, be
reduced or masked by an invader of the Sultanate approaching from that direction.
An island off the coast of Abu Dhabi territory in Trucial 'Oman, a little to DALMAH
the south of an imaginary line connecting Abu Dhabi Town with the entrance of [^- 363]
Khor-al -'Odaid and rather more than twice the distance from the former that it is
from the latter. Dalmah is elliptical in shape, with its longer axis running north
and south, and it has a narrow projection Any method by which the earth’s curved surface may be transposed (or projected) on to a flat surface. at its southern end. Its length is 5 and
its breadth 2^ miles, and the surface, except for a very low, narrow plain at the
south end, is hilly, the highest point being 244 feet above sea level. Plenty of
brackish water is obtainable from wells, and there are deposits of red oxide of
iron which are not at present considered worth removal. A small settlement of
about 15 families of the Qubaisat section of the Bani Yas tribe exists on the west
side of the southern plain; the inhabitants wade for pearls in winter, besides
diving for them in summer, and are keepers of goats. Dalmah is a place of some
importance at the end of the pearl season, when a temporary bazaar of some
10 shops springs up, and a number of persons engaged in the pearl trade meet
there to settle their accounts. Among these are the majority of the Indian traders
on the coast of Trucial 'Oman, who come here to recover debts and make purchases
of pearls. Several pearl banks exist in the vicinity, among which are:—Umm-as-
Sulsul and Manyokh, 8 and 5 miles respectively to the north; Hawad Bin-
Musammih, 9 miles to the south-east; Abu Dastur 4 miles to the south-west;
and, besides several others which are nearer, Halat Dalmah 27 miles to the north
west. Dalmah belongs to the Shaikh of Abu Dhabi.
An Arab principality, the most extensive and one of the two most important DHABI
in Trucial 'Oman. princi-
Bomdaries and divisions.- —Upon the coast Abu Dhabi reaches from Khor-al- polity
Ghanadhah, which divides it from the Shaikhdom of Dibai, on the east to Khor- r 405-11]
al -'Odaid on the west—a distance of over 200 miles. The Shaikh of Abu Dhabi
in 1895 claimed that his frontier extended to the bay of Umm-al-Hul near Wakrah
in Qatar, but his claim was not approved by the Government ot India: Bishairiyah
has also been named as the limit of his state in this direction, but no good reason
has been adduced for supposing that his jurisdiction ever extended beyond Khor-
al -'Odaid, though the northern shore of that inlet should perhaps be reckoned as
included with the inlet itself in his territories. Inland the frontiers of Abu Dhabi
are not defined: it is asserted that on the east they reach to the Baraimi Oasis,
but without taking it in; and on the south they may presumably be placed at the
margin of the Ruba'-al-Khali.
The principal divisions of Abu Dhabi upon the mainland in order from west
to east are 'Aqal, Mijan, Sabakhat Matti, Dhafrab (including Bainunah, Liwah
and other minor tracts), possibly Khatam, and finally what may be called the home
district in which the capital, Abu Dhabi Town, is situated: these tracts, except the
last, all form the subjects of separate articles. The insular possessions of the
Shaikh of Abu Dhabi are the islands of Arzanah, Daiyinah, Dalmah, Das, Qarnain,
Salali, Yas and Zirko, and, these also being described elsewhere under their own
names, it only remains to deal with the geography of the home division.
* For authorities, maps, charts, etc., see first footnote to the article Trucial Oman A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. .