Report No.67 of 1863 detailing the tribes, trades and resources of the Gulf Littoral [‎13v] (26/58)

2G
present channel, I would bear Koweit in mind, as a convenient point for a
telegraph station, for a coal depots for the meeting of sea-coins' and river ste^i in rrs
and other craft; and as a possible future Port of importance.
137. I was a little surprised to find the Sheikhs at Koweit well informed as
to distant politics. They took in an Oriental Paris Gazette. They admired the
generosity of our policy towards Turkey, hut wondered we did not do as much for
Christian Greece. They thought 90 millions sterling a heavy fee for the temporary
restoration of an invalid friend. One white-heard said that with States as with
individuals, when their hour strikes, it is of no use for man to alter the Clock.
To hind a crumbling government, was like darning a Bedouin's coat. Too worn
out to be mended, too rotten to be even washed, it would fall to pieces in spite of
you. They considered our efforts against the slave trade more humane than
successful; and they thought we might spend the money to better purpose on our
own poor, with whose condition they were unfavorably impressed, as summarized
in the " Paris Gazette."*
138. The chief Sheikh was a remarkable man in all respects, as he sat in
the gate, his eyes undimmed by 80 years, and his patriarchal hands grasping a
plated watch of the description, commonly known as warmino- pan, (I am
now sending him a gold watch and chain). He never wears shoes; and
Ins feet seem to have been the original of the Hercules at Florence. He
has a voice like a trumpet; stopping every now and again, with a loud
Hah, something between that of the Patriarch of the Flock, and the sudden
b ast and pause in a favorite polka. His speech recalls the larffe utterance
of the early gods. ^ He told me that among the heirlooms of his family
was an injunction, still daily religiously observed, to relieve the stranger: a large
dinner, in an allotted hall, is prepared every evening for all wanderers and stran
gers who may wish to share it. The sole restriction is that arras must be left at
the gate. Practices like this may perhaps account for much of the peace, good
will and neighbourhood, and mercantile prosperity of this Town. Charity;
attraction of sorrow; relief of actual want; these are sentiments little thouo-ht of
Yet they are, perhaps, beyond all else, unless justice, the keys of personal power
throughout the East. 1 r
Sheikh said that his family had always been tributary to Turkey.
But 1 learned from another source, that during some years, they had hoisted their
T> Wn , found, however, that the Customs levied on their exports to
Ijom bay, were more inconvenient when levied against an unrecognized fla^, than
when levied against a Turkish craft. Koweit, shrinking from this foreign pressure
turned to her Sultan, and suddenly changed color. Truly, trade is sensitive as
woman s modesty.
. 140. 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.
141. The territory directly under Turkey is that of Busreh. It does not
Class No. 7. fal | wit hin my charge, nor on the Gulf shore,
. , , , , unless at one point not worthy of analvsis, Faon*
/T • 1S S 1 U y . ® xtent 0 f the ruins at Ashureeah, out in the desert, near
o en ; but on examining the country it is found that this site was well chosen
as emg the last healthy spot, not flooded and a point the nearest practicable
a „ o nce to the Zobeir Bunder; to the land still covered with a network of hundreds
0 . an ' J 1 s Jjing between the Zobeir creek and the Busreh river, and to the line
ot the ohat-ul-Arab itself.
whi 1 ? ^T 1 ®' le ^ asked me why we took so much trouble to protect Dhows from piracy •
tht I was eno fhonsihanany other tribe. At this another Sheikh asked if it were true
with crZobpH " n 1 • 0Ur reCent seizure9 ? The old Chief sat silent looking in at his nose
* In my opinion
Faon would ill
suit our purposes.
Its climate and
locality amid Delta
marshes would
render it fatal to
Englishmen.