170 CIVIL HISTORY AND 



with great force through a sandy bottom, at the 

 depth of three fathoms. A jar is fitted to the mouth 

 of this spring ; and to procure the water a person 

 dives with an empty bag of goat's skin rolled under 

 his arm : this he dexterously places over the mouth 

 of the jar, and being filled in a few seconds it floats 

 up with him to the surface. There are four or five 

 springs of this kind round the island,, and in this 

 way is obtained all the water that is drunk at Arad. 

 Strabo mentions a similar spring near the Phoenician 

 island of Aradus, on the coast of Syria,, from which 

 the ingenious inhabitants contrived to draw a sup- 

 ply by means of a leaden ball and a leathern pipe. 



The chief celebrity of these islands is derived from 

 their valuable pearl-fishery, which is carried on in 

 June, July, and August. In the sixteenth century, 

 the produce was estimated at five hundred thousand 

 ducats (147,395) ; at present it is calculated to 

 yield annually pearls to the value of about twenty 

 lacks of rupees (193,750) ; the greatest portion of 

 which is shipped for India, and the remainder are 

 dispersed throughout the Persian and Turkish em- 

 pires, by way of Bushire, Bussora, and Bagdad. 

 From thence the best specimens are conveyed to 

 Constantinople, Syria, Egypt, and even the great ca- 

 pitals of Europe. The bank on which this fishery is 

 carried on extends nearly southward to Ras el Khy- 

 ma, and the finest of the pearls are found among the 

 group of Maude's islands, near Haloola, so called 

 probably from loolo, the Arabic name for a pearl. 



About two thousand boats are annually employ- 

 ed in this trade, of which the islands of Bahrein 

 furnish one-half, and the small ports on the coast 

 the remainder. In the summer months the bank 



