"ملخص عن الخليج العربي. (الجزءان I و II)" [و‎‎١‎٣] (١٢٠/٢٥)

CHAPTER VIL
Kuwait.
In his report on the tribes, &c., around the shores of the Persian Gulf,
dcted 16th July 1863, Colonel Felly noted : —
" I he family of the present Shaikh have ruled at Kuwait some five genern-
tions, or about 250 years; for, as these men live to the good age of 120 years,
their generations are, of course, nearly double ours, or about 50 years each.
• or Um Kasr ? which is now in dispute. Originally the Shaikh's progenitors dwelt
yide page 47. i n a sma ii fort, called Mumgussur,*
situated at the head of the Khore Abdullah, near Bunder Zobair; they
were the pirates of the north of the Persian Gulf and lower channels of
the Shat-el-Arab; but about 250 years ago the Basrah authorities attacked
and expelled them. The original Shaikh then came down the Bubiyan creek
with his followers, and debouched on the bay, at present known as that of
Kuwait or Grane. Crossing the bay, he settled on its southern shore and there
erected a Fort or Khote; hence the name Khote; or Kuwait. The term Grane
is rather applied to the shore line of the entire bay, from its resemblance to
the curve formed by two horns, Keor or Ghern, 'meaning horn. The settle
ment was subsequently increased by the son of the founder, who erected the
longer portion of the present walls, which, however, have since been again
extended along the shore line as the increase of population from time to time
demanded
«»«*«*»
"The Shaikh said that his family had always been tributary to Turkey ;
but I learnt from another source that, during some years, they had hoisted
their own flag".
««««*»«
<£ Be the suzerainty of the sublime Porte, however, of old or recent date,
it is merely nominal; the Arabs acknowledge the Turks, as we do the 39
Articles, which all accept and none remember."
The boundaries of Kuwait as given in the Persian Gulf gazetteer are as
follows:—
*' The boundaries of the Kuwait principality are for the most part fluctuat
ing and undefined; they are, at any given time, the limits of the tribes which
then, either voluntarily or under compulsion, own allegiance to the Shaikh of
Kuwait. The northern and southern frontiers in the neighbourhood of the sea
may however be regarded as fixed; on those sides the question is not between
the Shaikh and nomadic Arab tribes, but between the Shaikh and the Turkish
Government. On the north the most advanced Turkish outposts upon the
mainland are at Um Kasr and Safwan and the influence of the Shaikh of
Kuwait is unquestioned up to the very walls of those places; we may
accordingly consider the frontier on this side to be a line running from Khor-
as -Sabiyah so as to pass immediately south of Um Kasr and Safwan to Jabal
Sanam and thence to the Batin. On the south the Turks have no station
nearer to Kuwait town than Musallamiyah island, nor does the Shaikh claim
to exercise any real control over the lladaif tract; his boundary on this side
may accordingly be considered to run westwards from Jabal Manifah on the
coast to the Na'airiyah hill at the north-western corner of lladaif. It is a task
of great difficulty to circumscribe the Shaikh's territories on the remaining
sides with even approximate accuracy. The Shaikh Mubarak states (1904)
that on the north-west his influence reaches to the Batin and somewhat beyond
it, and that on the west the inhabitants of Summan, but not those of Dahanah,
acknowledge him; and his assertion is to some extent borne out by known
tacts in regard to the occupation of Hafar which Ibn Bashid, though at one
time he seized it, was unable for long to retain. We may therefore consider
that the Shaikhdom is bounded between Jabal Sanam and Hafar by the Batin,
and that south of Hafar the border is the line dividing Summan from
Dahanaht as far south as the point where that line is intersected by the route