'File 11/46 Publicity in the Persian Gulf' [‎13r] (25/314)

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oysters torn from the sea bed. They go down on one rope,
to which a heavy stone is attached; they are pulled up on
another rope, two tugs on which are the signal for their
"puller * 1 to bend to his task and get them as quickly as
possible to the surface where they can ease their strain
ing lungs. Among the anchored n sambuqs w move the
sailing boats (or more often, now-a-days. launches) of
the M tawwafe**, merchants who regularly visit the banks
and buy their pearls direct from the M sarubuq" captains.
These latter are no mere " deck off leers". They are
the business head and representative of the w'hole toiling
community that comprises their ship's crew. One fifth
only of the season's takings is reserved for the captain;
the rest, after paying the ship's expenses and the share
of the owner, is divided among the crew, divers receiving
twice the share of the pullers, and even the ship's boys
a small share. One may imagine how the captain is on trial
in the eyes of his men as he sits on the poop of his ship,
and hands coffee to the visiting Arab or Indian "tawwaf",
before engaging on long and technical arguments about the
merits of the pearls he has to sell.
16. In these days, the natural pearl trade is facing
grave competition from the growth cf the science^culturing
pearls. Heavy punishment attends the introduction of
a cultured pearl into the Gulf market; but other waters too
produce oysters which can be artificially stimulated to
make pearls by the introduction of a tiny grain of grit
between the flesh and the shell. It is^fortunate circum
stance that at the very time when the pearl trade of the
Gulf began to wane, a bright new star of prosperity
appeared on the horizon in the form of the scintillating
dividends of oil concessions. At present every ruler
in the Arab ccast, from the Sultan of Muscat down to the
Shaikh of tiny Ajm&n, holds a concession with one company
or another. The pearl fleet has grown smaller and smaller
year by year; but the men who formerly sought their living
with bursting lungs and straining eer-drims, can now earn
better pay helping to manipulate a drilling rig, driving
a lorry or regulating refinery gauges. I^will not say
whether this is progress or not; but it is at least
prosperity.
17. Naturally, venturesome Indians have not been slow
to avail themselves of the change of well-paid jobs that
the Gulf now affords. In all oil companies a very high
percentage of responsible technical and office posts are
held by Indian, whose salaries add to that great sum which
represents the commercial value of the Gulf to India.
18. Airways have not yet been mentioned , but this is
not from any lack of importance. They may in the future
become India's strongest link with the Gulf, but it will
perhaps suffice to say this much, as a further paper
specifically on communications in the Gulf is to be pre
pared by the writer The lowest of the four classes into which East India Company civil servants were divided. A Writer’s duties originally consisted mostly of copying documents and book-keeping. for the Institute.
19. If then we may draw a general conclusion, it
must be that on this highway to the heart of the Middle
East, which is India’s most natural sphere for commercial
expansion, as it is the sphere in which she can most
usefully contribute to the security of Asia, India has a