File 842/1912 'Sanitary Mission to Turco-Persian Frontier' [‎170r] (344/358)

“ Toutes ces routes presentent, au point de vue dela dissemination du cliolera et de
la peste, un interet en rapport avec leur importance; la plupart ne traversent au
voisinagc du Golfe, surtout sur la c6te arabique, que des regions desertes peu
favorables ti la propagation des epidemics. La grande voie fluviale du Chat-el-Arabe,
ffeste la plus dangereuse, et c’est elle qu’il importe surtout de surveiller et de
proteger. ,,
Dr. Theodore Thomson, also, in his later report of 1906 (July) (Foreign Depart
ment endorsement No. 4149-E.R, dated the 23rd October, 1906), referring to the
Arabian side of the Gulf below Koweit, wrote :—
“ The extension thence of cholera or of plague by land is not to be seriously
apprehended, because of the tracts of desert that lie along and beyond the shores of
the Gulfs of Oman and Persia on the Arabian side, in consequence of which there is
little or no communication by land with the countries from which these diseases
might conceivably spread in the direction of Europe.”
4. When Dr. Bussiere wrote the report in question he had only recently arrived
in the Gulf, and could have no first-hand knowledge of conditions ruling there in
respect of such subjects as the pearl fisheries, and his remarks in the latter regard
appear to me to be altogether inaccurate.
Firstly, the sorting and packing of pearl shells certainly does not take place in
the spring, i.e., before the pearling season begins. It is during the pearling season—
say, June to October—that the boats coming in from the pearl banks for supplies
bring with them their last batch of shells and sell them ashore, and any sorting or
packing goes on then until just after the pearling season. Again, Lingah has quite
enough to do with her connection with the pearl banks on the Persian side, and it is
by Persian and not Arab dhows that she is frequented. The latter use their own ports
of origin on the Arab coast for their supplies.
Again I would emphasise the fact that in 1904, when Dr. Bussiere wrote this
report, he was being specifically used by the Russian consulate-general and M. Naus,
to assist in the task of ousting us from the control of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. quarantine,
and his report must be regarded as coloured by the policy for the furtherance of which
he had been brought to Bushire. Dr. Feistmantel is apparently animated by similar
sentiments of hostility to our regime, and it is not surprising that he should have
bethought himself of Dr. Bussiere’s theory to further his aims.
5. As Dr. Thomson’s report had apparently acted as an antidote to Dr. Faivre’s,
Dr. Bussiere’s note was not taken very seriously at the time, but it seems possible
that Dr. Feistmantel may contrive to get his views aired at the Paris Conference; it
may therefore be well to have full rebutting information ready to hand, and I am
taking steps to get it.
6. From the political point of view it is easy to understand how convenient and
welcome to the Sublime Porte would be the existence of an accepted theory that
Central Arabia and the hinterland of the Arab coast were foyers of plague, and
that the pearl-diving fraternity formed the medium for the spread of infection in the
Gulf. Such a theory would furnish Turkey with means of consolidating her position ’
in Nejd, and strengthening her shaky footing at points on the coast or in the hinter
land, through the "instrumentality of quarantine measures dictated by the Board of
Health at Constantinople, and necessarily having the countenance of the European
Powers. She might even succeed in directing international attention to the question
of the rights of control and jurisdiction over the floating population on the pearl banks
during times of epidemic.
My apprehensions may perhaps be considered at present to have no very lively
foundation, but I submit" that Dr. Feistmantel’s remarks at least point to the
expediency of our maintaining a vigilant look-out for any further signs of a
disposition to push the policy of which his revival of this theory may be a harbinger.
7. On its merits the suggested explanation would appear to be purely conjectural.
There is not the slightest reason to suppose, as tar as I know, that there is any endemic
plague in Nejd, and as Drs. Faivre and Ihomson have admitted, it is on the face of it
unlikely that plague would get any footing there owing to the nomadic character of
the sparse population, the absence of settled villages near the coast, and the slowness
of communication between the coast and the interior. I here would appear to be in
fact as little fear of the spread of infection to or from that centre as there is in the case
of Mekran either inwards or outwards and for the same reasons.