Читать книгу The Book of the Pearl. The history, art, science, and industry of the queen of gems онлайн

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According to recent returns, the Persian Gulf fisheries employ about 3500 boats,^[103] large and small, of which 1200 of the best are owned at Bahrein, 700 on the coast of El Hassa from El Katar to Kuweit, and the remaining 1600 are from various parts of the gulf, and especially from the Pirate Coast east of El Katar. They measure from one to fifty tons. The smaller ones, with three to fifteen men each, work near the shores; the larger, carrying fifteen to thirty men, fish over the whole gulf, remaining out for weeks at a time. These craft are very picturesque with their artistic rigs and spoon-shaped sails, and when the fishery is at its height the scene is one of rare interest. The boats from Bahrein are of excellent construction made by native workmen using local materials, with home-woven sailcloth and rigging of twisted date-fiber. Each of the larger ones usually evidences a lingering trace of Semitic influence in its kubait, or figurehead, covered with skin of the sheep or goat sacrificed in the launching ceremonies.^[104] The boats from El Hassa and the Pirate Coast are usually smaller and less substantial than those from Bahrein, the fishermen from the latter place far surpassing those of the mainland in civilization and industrial wealth.