"كتيّب الجزيرة العربية. المجلد I. ١٩١٧" [‎٣‎١‎٣] (٧٤٨/٣٢٢)

CLIMATE 313
comes the north wind, and in violence the south-wester
which is fiercely hot in August and blows irregularly between
December and April. See further, vol. ii, p. 346 f.
Population
Though no census has been taken, the population of the 4 towns
niS? tillages in the principality has been estimated as over
100,000, of whom 60,000, chiefly townsmen, are Sunni, and 40,000,
chiefly villagers, Shiah. The latter are for the most part Bahdrinah
(see p. 299), but this class, which is mainly agricultural, is here
hardly above the servile state. The most numerous Sunni com
munity is that of the Huwalah, who are townsmen of Manamah,
Muharraq, Budeyya, Hadd, and Halah Bin Anas, living by trade
and without solidarity among themselves or influence on others.
Tiig Utub 3 Sadah, and Dawasir are the most influential tribesmen,
the first on account of their connexion with the ruling family, the
second by virtue of their supposed sacred origin, the Dawasir
because they are well disciplined by their chief and comparatively
wealthy; there are also a few Beni Ivhalid (see below, p. 608).
The remainder of the Sunni population live mostly on the coast,
and depend for their subsistence rather on the sea than on culti
vation. There are at least 5,000 free negroes and 6,000 negro
slaves; a few Persians, Hindus, Basra Arabs and Jews com
plete the population. Life in Bahrein is more various and many-
coloured than on the mainland of Arabia : the exclusiveness of
a people cut off from intercourse with other races is absent, and the
opportunity to indulge a taste for luxury has not been disdained.
Direct relations with Persia and India have influenced costume,
domestic appliances, and the architecture of the larger houses, in
which the pointed arch is a conspicuous feature.
Industries and Trade
The most important occupation in Bahrein is pearl-fishing, and
the fisheries are the most valuable in the Gulf next to those of
imcial Oman. Were the fisheries to cease, most of the urban
population would have to leave the country. They employ more
than 900 boats, each with a crew of about 20, the total crews
amounting to nearly 20,000 men. The pearling season opens in
viay, and some boats continue operations until about October,
special measures had to be taken in 1915 by the Sheikh, in
conjunction with the British Resident, to enable the pearl-fishing
population to tide over the crisis caused by the stoppage of the