'File 35/64 Mineral deposits in Dhofar' [‎4r] (9/126)

k) 11
by Islam.
loomm and
Frankincense growing wild, the milch cattle on the
hill grazings and the riches of the sea provide the clue to the
economics of Dhufar. Vast shoals of sardines frequent these
waters during the winter pursued by tunny and other species, in
their turn preyed upon by sharks, and provide a catch of up to
ten thousand bags of sardines round the town of Salala alone and
smaller catches along the coast. These are dried in the sun and
form the staple diet of all draught and milch animals and even
of the bedouin themselves in times of scarcity. It is not now
an uncommon sight to see bedouin women and children carrying
dried sardines from the beaches on their pack animals sharing
the latter^ diet of uncooked sardine. The tunny provide one of
the main items of the Dhufar townsman f s diet. The sardines are
caught by professional fishermen using a type of surf boat of
which the teak planks are sev/n together with coir rope to give
added flexibility to resist the buffeting of the surf. They are
sold to the merchants in return for grain, cloth and other
necessities. The merchants pass them on to the bedouin as forage
for their herds during the dry months of the year. Without them
the lactations of the milch animals dry up. Last year the
sardine catch was very poor and grain was almost unobtainable so
that distress among the bedouin was widespread. Bedouin met with
in February of this year said they had had no solid food for
two months and less than their usual supplies of milk. They were
certainly very emaciated. This distress was the main reason why
so many labourers were available for work on the aerodromes and
also one of the reasons why the labour was so poor. In normal
years the bedouin do not labour.
Sales of sardines were until recently made in terms
of Maria Theresa silver thalers, but cash seldom passed hands
because it was not available in sufficient quantities. Payment
in cash earned a reduction in price of up to 150%. Settlement
was usually made in terms of the milk of one cow for one month
to be collected in the following summer. Cash transactions
have/