File 3004/1910 'Tehran Sanitary Council' [‎101v] (207/516)

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Dr. Theodore Thomson also, in his later report* of July 1906, referring to
the Arabian side of the Gulf below Kuwait
wrote—
•Foreign Department endorsement No. 4I49*E.B.,
dated 23rd October 1906.
“The extension thence of cholera or 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 countries from which these
diseases might conceivably spread in the direction of Europe.”
4. When Dr. Bussidre 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, t.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 emphasize the fact that in 1904, when Dr. Bussiere wrote
this report, he was being specifically used by the Russian Consulate-General and
Monsieur Naus, to assist in the task of ousting us from the control of Persian
Gulf 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 infec
tion in the Gulf. _ Such a theory would furnish Turkey with means of consolida
ting her position in Nejd and strengthening her shaky footing at points on the
Coast or in the hinterland, 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
harbinger ^ 1 6 P ° ICy ° f Which his revivaI of this theor y be a
r-nrh e1 "^ su SS es ted explanation would appear to be purely
th Jp C - Ura * hP f 18 n °i thG sll S htest reason ^ suppose, as far as I know, that
admhted bY P ^ m and > as D ^s. Faivre and Thomson have
admitted, it is on the face of it unlikely that plague would »et anv footing there
Xfes t 0 neaX? dl r^ ter ^ Sparse thf absLce oTseUled
the interinr Th° aS ^ u 6 3 0wne ? s commun ’ ca '-‘ on between the coast and
nfec ion o or (Tom th a ? . aPP6a [ m - fa . Ct - to be as little of the spread of
or^wards^ndTor the s^sonr ‘ S ' n ^ ° f either inWardS