'IRAQ AND THE PERSIAN GULF' [‎107v] (219/862)

140 COASTS OF THE PERSIAN GULF The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
south-west from Doha on the east coast to Salwa at the south-west
corner of the peninsula, and joins the Hasa-Baraimi route about 20
miles south-east of Salwa. There are tracks connecting the wells of
the peninsula. The Shaikh of Qatar, one of the Trucial principalities,
has granted an oil concession which may prove to be valuable, and
Dukhan oil camp (Petroleum Development (Qatar) Ltd.) has been
constructed on the west coast opposite Doha, to search for oil.
The coast trends north-east from the head of Khor al Odaid for
36 miles to Ras al Arq, bordered by white sandhills (Jabal Naqiyan)
for the first 30 miles. A low islet lies off an unexplored backwater
south of Ras al Arq. The coast then trends north for 20 miles to the
east entrance-point of Doha bay; it is low and sandy or stony, with
one rocky hill 85 feet high, n miles north of Ras al Arq. The town
of Waqra is north of this hill; it has a harbour for small craft, and
large vessels can anchor 3 miles east. Doha, the capital of Qatar, is on
the south side of its bay, which opens north-east and is bordered on
the south and west by stony flat-topped hills from 40 to 50 feet high;
there is an anchorage about half a mile off shore, a small jetty, and a
seaplane anchorage. The town has several forts and is partly walled;
its inhabitants are mostly pearl fishers. The water-supply is from
wells 1 mile west of the town. There are emergency landing-grounds
2 miles south-west and 3! miles north-w T est of the town. There are
several ruined villages inland of Doha bay, destroyed because local
superstition said that their date-gardens were the cause of plague.
The coast continues north from Doha for 43 miles to Ras Laffan;
after low hills for the first 10 miles it is very flat; a slight indentation
gives shelter to pearling craft, and north of it there are two small
shallow inlets, opening south-east and north-east, about 27 and 31
miles north of Doha respectively. Between Ras Laffan and Ras
Rakan, 27 miles north-west, the point of an islet off the north end of
the Qatar peninsula, there are two small bays: they afford shelter to
pearling craft, as does the islet of Ras Rakan; there are three villages,
the middle one deserted. The north-west end of the coast is bordered
by small sandy hillocks.
The west coast of the Qatar peninsula forms the east shore of the
gulf of Bahrein and Dohat as Salwa, a funnel-shaped bay more than
100 miles long, which is mostly unsurveyed and contains many reefs
and shoals. The sandy coast trends south-west for 20 miles, with
several indentations and two small towns, to Ras Ashairiq, the rocky
west point of a small bay. The ruins of two towns lie east and south
of it. The coast then trends south-south-west for 25 miles to the