'Extracts from Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia by J G Lorimer CIE, Indian Civil Service' [‎69r] (142/180)

127
Halalamah, 75; Dahailat, 200; and Baharinah, 120. To these must be added a
Persian community of about 500 persons and 65 Hindus.
The inhabitants of Abu Dhabi live almost entirely by pearl diving and fishing
or in a few cases by petty trade: they have no ordinary cultivation and very few
dates. Particulars of shipping are given in the article on Abu Dhabi Principality.
About 750 camels belong to the place, and there are 85 horses; but of the horses
all except 5 belong to the Shaikh and his family. Trade with the interior is
insignificant, being only with the Baraimi Oasis and with the Bani Yas and Manasir
tribes. There are over 70 shops of all sorts in the Abu Dhabi bazaar; 40 are
kept by Persians, 19 by Hindus and 10 by Arabs. Pearls are the sole export.
The Hindus import cloth, rice, coffee and sugar besides dealing in pearls.
British interests are represented here by the Hindu trading community, all
from Tatta in Sind; the majority have their families with them, and most of them
take leave to India at intervals of about a year. In the pearl season the number
of Hindus is about doubled. No Muhammadan Indians do business at this place.
The westernmost and least known part of 'Oman, a subdivision of Trucial DHAFRAH*
'Oman. [pp. 412-27]
Boundaries. —Dhafrah lies between the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. on the north and the
Ruba'-al-KMli or Great Desert of Southern Arabia on the south; on the west it
is bounded by Sabakhat Matti and Jafurah, and on the east by Khatam.
Divisions. —The huge area thus defined comprises at least 5 separate tracts
which are distinguished by names, but the absence of striking natural features
makes it difficult to determine their relative positions and extent. Indeed there is
reason to think that the internal boundaries of Dhafrah are somewhat vague, and
that the names of the tracts are not employed by all Bedouins in strictly the same
sense. The 5 tracts in question are Taff, Dhafrah proper, Bainunah, Qufa and
Liwah, of which last name the correct form is said to be Al-Juwa; of these Liwah
and Bainunah are the most important.
All authorities agree that Liwah is the southernmost and furthest inland of
the divisions of Dhafrah; that its length, which is eastwards and westwards,
approaches, if it does not exceed, 175 miles; that its breadth is insignificant in
comparison with its length; and that the village of Shah is situated in it almost
exactly midway between its two extremities. To determine the position of Liwah
it is therefore only necessary to determine the position of Shah, but here we are
confronted by serious discrepancies of evidence; the most probable view, however,
appears to be that Shah is situated 50 to 55 miles inland from the coast upon a
line drawn due south from Ras Miqaishit, the western point ol the Salali group of
islands, and that it is about 90 miles south-west by south ol Abu Dhabi Town.
If this opinion errs, it is probably by bringing Shah somewhat too near to the
coast and too far to westwards.
The position of Bainunah depends upon that of a well Da alas, which
undoubtedly belongs to this tract, though its position in the same is not, perhaps,
so central as that of Shah in Liwah. According to the report which for several
reasons appears most reliable, Da'afas is about 30 miles south-east of Jabal
Dhannah (on the coast opposite Yas island) and about 20 miles inland from the
nearest point on the sea. The alternative position attributed to Da afas is very
much more southerly and more easterly than that just described. It is not disputed
that Bainunah is between Liwah and the sea, nor that it reaches to the westci nmost
extremity of Dhafrah, in other words to the border of Sabakhat Matth
Of the remaining tracts Qufa is undoubtedly interposed between Liwah ana
Bainunah and is long from east to west and narrow from north to south.
Taff is, by general consent, a maritime strip extending the whole length o
Dhafrah with an average depth inland of about 15 miles. Its westei nmost section,
that reaching for about 25 miles on either side of Jabal Dhannah, is possib y
particularised as Taff Bainunah.
The last tract requiring to be located is Dhafrah proper, and the name may
be taken to signify so much of Dhafrah in the wider sense as is not included in
any of the foregoing divisions. The position of Dhafrah proper with reference to
* Authorities. —Major P. Z. Cox, Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. Captain F Pr ' de ^ :
Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. in Bahrain, and 'Abdul Latif, Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. Agent at Sharjah all from
also Col. Miles in his Route between Sohar and el-Bereymi in 'Oman. The mos rt information
interior is Map of Dhafrah, Liwah, etc., 1906, compiled by Major P. Z. Cox from '
Charts of the coast are specified in the footnote to article Trucial Oman A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. , especially cancelled Chart
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