'File 2/7 II Correspondence re precautions etc against malaria' [‎70r] (139/296)

the recorded rauxi-um of 107.5°F and a minimum of 40°F.
Roughly, the weather from Octoher to April inclusive is
pleasant; May and June are hot months, hut the heat is still
tempered by Barih which may vary and thus affect the tempera
ture prevailing in these months. From the middle of June till
the end of Ueptemoer the heat is oppressive with occasional
breezes, the temperature remaining permanently above 100°F.
^ The fortnightly averages of temperature and relative
bio U-i humidity for the years iyii2-1937 are given in Table I.
The average rainfall is inches a year, but the relative
humidity of the atmosphere is constantly high owing to the
proximity of the sea, the average being 79-80>. The rain is
strictly confined to the winter months and it all falls in the
course of a few days, the average number of rainy days being
3 to 6 each year.
. ooulutlon and Industry.
As no census has been taken, only approximate estirates
of the population can be given. Up to the last decade the
total population of the entire Archipelago was reckoned at
100,000, but recently there bias been a considerable increase
and it is now estimated at approximately 150,000.
The prosperity of the island, apart from the date
plantations and trade as a ’’clearing house” for the mainland
tol- Arabia, depended up to 1931 almost entirely on the pearl
^ fisheries which are conducted in the neighbouring; waters. The
pearling season lasts roughly from the middle of May till the
middle of October. The preparations for the operations, how
ever, commence in April, when a considerable Influx of divers
from the surrounding coastal and inland towns occurs and pearl
merchants arrive from all over the world. This produces a
large floating population in Bahrein during these months.
Recently, owing to the discovery of oil fields in the
islands a further immigration of Americans and Europeans
together with Indian and Iraqi labour has occurred.