'The Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society. From January 1863 to December 1864. (Edited by the Secretary.) Volume XVII.' [‎125] (292/524)

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PORTION OF THE PERSIAN GULF The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . j 25
The houses are made principally of reeds, only a few are of sun-dried
bricks.
* There is a broken-down mud wall with ruined bastions, made to
enclose a much larger town. Between the wall and the houses it is
all swamp : beyond all marsh. The whole affair looks like a bad edition
of Baghdad on a small scale.
In the forenoon I wandered through the town. I was soon followed
by a small army of matchlockmen and children. After staring at my
dt ess they discussed my cigar. One wise-acre made sure it was a kind
of Nargelah, but most believed it to be a Sebyle, and the length of
time it lasted seemed to tickle their fancy greatly. They then discussed
the important problem as to whether I ate pork, to which the servant
behind me, a Seedy, swore by all that all is holy I never touched it.
The bazaar is a miserable place built of sun-dried bricks, imperfectly
covered with matting. There are not above twenty shops in it ; most
of the shops are in reed-huts.
The people are very much like the Madan on the banks of the
Tigris, but better dressed and much more sickly. All the men wear
black turbands, and carry long flintlocks manufactured in Baghdad.
I should not think that there are more than two hundred houses in
the town itself, but the suburbs are populous.
The climate here is said to be very bad. For three months at this
season it is endurable, but in the hot weather it is dreadful. Bussorah*
and we all know that is bad enough, it is said is paradise compared
with it. In the hot season, during the clay, the wind is hot and moist,
and the water is hot and no means of cooling it in the night, the people
lie panting for breath. Fever commits great ravages from the time of
the cutting of the dates to the falling of the first rain, that is, from
July to December, and then the inhabitants, it is said, die in hundreds,
especially the Persians.
The principal diseases at present are ulcers, caries bone, rheumatism,
and a little ophthalmia. Among my numerous patients were two
Persian ladies. They seemed to have no love for the Arabs. They
called them a set of savages fit only to eat and pray, and when they
cleansed themselves, which was seldom, they went to the river, as
they had no bath. The appearance of these ladies’ skins would seem
to justify the assertion that there is no bath in Felaheah.
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