File 1407/1918 'Kowait Trade Reports. (1911-1930)' [‎118v] (241/746)

(3) The mann of 12 waqlyahs, or 55 lbs. lO’Gl oz., is used for sail cloth
only.
(4) The mann of 24 waqiyahs, or 111 lbs. 5’28 oz., is used for clarified
butter, fat, salt and gypsum mortar.
(5) The mann of 48 waqiyahs, or 222 lbs. 10-56 oz., is used for sugar
only.
(6) The mann of 36 waqiyahs, or 166 lbs. 15 92 oz., is used for wheat and
barley when imported from Basrah. Twenty manns of the last
named variety or approximately 3,340 lbs., make one taghdr.
of 24 waqiyahs or
branches in which
10 c.ft. 29 cubic
boat ribs by the
Firewood is normally sold by the rafa of 4 manns of 30 waqiyahs or
5,556 lbs. 10-4 oz.
Gypsum mortar is sold by the kdrah of ]00 manns
11-133 lbs. The term kdrah is also used for date palm
sense it means 1,000 branches.
Beams and masts are sold by the Calicut kandy or
inches : round rafters or spars by the korjah or score and
gdri or cart load of 40 pcs. or upward according to size.
The 4-gallon kerosine oil tin is used as a measure of capacity ; it is chiefly
used for the sale of water, but clarified butter, fat and date syrup are also some
times sold by the tin.
Of the smaller weights is the habbah, equivalent to 3 grains Troy, is used
in the sale of gold and silver. Gold is normally sold by the mithqdl 'attdri of
18 habbahs or 54 grains and also by the Turkish pound and fractions thereof.
Silver is sold by the mithqdl Shlrdzi or 24 habbahs or 72 grains. The mithqdl
'attdri and the mithqdl Shlrdzi are also both used for drugs and silk thread,
but for this purpose they are not divided into habbahs, but only into halves and
quarters, the niceties of weight being arrived at using the two mithqdls and
their fractions in conjunction. Perfumes, as also gold thread, are sold by the
tolah or 180 grains.
In the pearl trade the following weights and measures are most commonly
used in Kuwait. Wholesale purchase of pearls from the captains of pearling
boats are made chiefly by size. For this purpose, after any exceptionally good
pearls which it is desired to dispose of separately, have been removed, remainder
are assorted by being passed through a series of perforated brass or copper
bowls, the standard set of which consists of 4 ; the perforations of the largest ;
called rds are T8" in diameter ; those of the second, batn -15" ; those of third,
dhail T3 ; and those of fourth rdbia'h 'll". After being assorted into rds,
batn, etc., they change hands at a previously arranged rate, at so much the
mithqdl Arabi which is equivalent to 50 grains. The ordinary pearls then
usually pass from one dealer to another on a more precise kind of estimate
based upon weight : in Kuwait the Bombay mithqdl equivalent to 75 grains
Troy and sub-divided into 24 rattis each of 15 dnahs is usually employed.
The unit in the dealer s system is called a chau, and, although derived
from a weight, it is not in itself a weight. The number of chans in a pearl
is found by squaring the weight of the pearl in mithqdls and multi
plying the result by 330. The chau is divisible into 100 dukrahs, and the
dukrahs into 100 1 here are other kinds of chans also occasionally
used and obtained by an identical process from other mithqdls, such as the
Foona mithqdl of 68f grains.
, . formal unit of length is the dhird y or cubit of 19 r/ , but for rope,
w ich is also sold by the weight, the ba or fathom is usually employed. There
is no square measure in use ; and a plot of ground is described as being so
many dhird s according to the sum of its sides.
The year 1924-25.
The year was unfavourable for trade, as the interior remained unsettlec
and there was no trade with Najd. The pearling season too was not good
especially on the northern banks, and the pearl market was poor.