'The Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society. From January 1863 to December 1864. (Edited by the Secretary.) Volume XVII.' [‎119] (286/524)

PORTION OF THE PERSIAN GULF The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. .
^ 111)
March 4th .—Yesterday evening we were visited by Moombarek,
the second son of Sheik Subbah, Chief of Koweit. He had been sent
out here by his father to accompany us into town. Suliman, a son of
\usuf bin Eider came with him.
V
To-day we mounted at 6-30 a. m. and rode East and a little South,
with the sea on our left through a low, flat, salt plain, here and there
snghtly raised with sand and a little grass, something like the links of
Scotland.
After two hours our direction was East and little North, We now
met Sheik Abdullah, the eldest son of Sheik Subbah. He came out
mounted on a fine camel with a number of horsemen, and after the
usual salutations, we moved on and arrived at the gate of Koweit
at 11-52 a. m. A very good house, with the courtyard opening on
the harbour, and consisting principally of one long room, had been
prepared for us.
Scarcely had we entered it, when Sheik Subbah himself came. He
is a tine, stout, hale, old man, upwards of 80 years of age, rough in
appearance and manner, but kind at heart. He has a son only about
five years old. He sat a long time and seemed pleased and contented
with his lot. Ours was an open house constantly filled with Arabs,
bm being the month of the Ramazan they would neither smoke nor
drink. However, in the evening*after sunset, Moombarek, Dowad, and
Suliman would drop in and have a cup of tea with a cheroot.
March 5^.—This morning we visited Sheik Subbah. He sat in a
min which had been his father’s house, on a coarse reed mat manufac
tured at Bussorah. He was very kind, and told us all of the origin of
his family and the rise of Koweit. He told us how his father, grand-
lather, wandering iEneas like, first settled at the top of the Boobian
Khore, and there plundered caravans from Bussorah, and vessels
coming down the Shat-ul-Arab. Driven from there he sailed for the
ancient Granensis, and founded the city of Koweit a free port.
Koweit is a compact town of about 15,000 inhabitants, built on a
promontory of loose sandstone covered with sand.
Vessels of 50 or 60 tons bear the produce of the countries at the
i orthern end of the Gulf from Bizea, Dillum, Ghonawah, Bunder
ive^h, and the smaller seaport towns round to Koweit, for tranship
ment to bugalows, for conveyance to Bombay. In the same way goods