File 1407/1918 'Kowait Trade Reports. (1911-1930)' [‎9r] (22/746)

Report on the Trade of Kuwait for the year 1 929-30.
(1st April 1929 to 31st March 1930.)
BY
Lieutenant-Colonel H. R. P. Dickson, C.I.E.,
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. , Kuwait.
General.
(a) The Principality of Kuwait. —Kuwait is an
independent Arab State under a virtual British
protection. It has a distinctive flag of its own :
red, with the word “ KUWAIT ” in Arabic charac
ters written in white across it.
On the Ruler’s own flag are also written the
words vertically and close to the flagstaff side of
the flag “ There is no God but God and Moharaed
is his prophet ”.
(b) The frontier. —The frontier line of Kuwait
is as follows :—
Starting from the Southern portion of Ras al-
Qulai’ah (42 miles from Kuwait), with the town as
centre it describes an arc towards the West until
it intersects 29° latitude, and from this point runs
in a straight line to the Batin, opposite the junc
tion of the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. al-’Aujah with the Batin. The
line then runs Northward along the Batin to a point
just South of the latitude of Safwan : then East
ward, passing just South of Jabal Sanam,
Safwan and Umm Qasr, and so on to the junction
of the Kuwait with the Khaur ’Abdullah. The
territory enclosed within this line and the Persian
Gulf, together with the island of Warbah, Bubiyan,
Maskan, Failakah, ’Auhah, Kubbar and Umm
al-Maradim, is recognised as belonging to Kuwait.
(c) Kuwait Neutral Area. —The tract of country
bounded on the North by the Southern portion of
the Kuwait frontier as described above, on the
East by the sea, and the West by the Shaqq, and
on the South by the straight line running due East
from the Shaqq through ’Ail-al-’Abd to the sea
North of Ras al-Mish’ab, is recognised as common
to the two States of Nejd and Kuwait, in which
both enjoy equal rights.
(d) Population. —The Capital itself has a popula
tion of about 60,000 souls of whom the greatest
majority are Arabs. The Persian community, how
ever. has greatly increased in recent years and now
consists of about 10,000 souls. There are over
5,000 negroes, some 300 Iraqis and a few Jews.
There are also about a dozen Indians mostly engaged
in the Tailoring Trade. Outside the Capital the
inhabitants of the principality are all Arabs, and
are mostly nomads. At a rough estimate thes •
number about 10,000 souls. The only settled
villages are Jahrah, at the head of Kuwait Bay,
which has a population of about 1,000 souls : Falikah
village, on the island of the same name at the entrace
of Kuwait Bay with a similar population : and the
smaller villages of Hawaii, Dimnah, Fantas, Abu
Hulaifah, Fuhaihil and Shu’aibah to the South
and South-east of Kuwait.
(e) The Town of Kuwait. —The Town now measures
about 3| miles along the shore, having extended
considerably in recent years towards the East.
Its greatest depth, about a mile and a quarter, is
near the centre of the Town, where the long suburb
called Murqab has grown out from it towards the
South-east.
The streets are irregular and winding, and the
Town is not laid out on any General Plan. Most
of the houses have only a ground floor, but appear
higher owing to a parapet wall enclosing the roof.
There are over forty mosques, of which nine are
Friday congregational mosques. None of them
have any architectural merit, and follow closely
the severe and simple style of those found in Nejd
and the Wahabi Capital of Riath : mosque minarets
from which the faithful are called to prayer are of
the Squat square type, and do not overlook the neigh
bouring houses.
In the year 1920, the existing Town wall was
built by the late Shaikh Salim al Mubarak al Subah.
It is about 4| miles in length and has 3 gates. In
addition to the gates which are protected by towers,
there is a bastion every two hundred yards through
out the length of the wall. At its base the wall is
some 13 feet broad, but tapers to 3 feet at the top.
Its height is about 16 feet between towers.
The Arab tribal portion of the population com
prising 80 per cent, of the whole, is made up of
’Utub, ’Awazim, Rashaidah, Bani Khalid, Dawasir,
’Ajman, ’Anazah, Mutair and Dhafir tribes besides
a few Arabs from Hassa and the Ataiba confedera
tion. The merchant and shopkeeper class are nearly
all of Nejd (Qassim) descent.