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BAHREIN ISLANDS

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 213 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BAHREIN ISLANDS , a See also:

group of islands situated about 20 M. See also:east of the See also:coast of El See also:Hasa, in the See also:Persian Gulf, a little to the See also:south of the See also:port of El Katif, which, if rightly identified with the See also:ancient See also:Gerrha, has been celebrated throughout See also:history as the mart of See also:Indian See also:trade, the starting-point 'of caravans across See also:Arabia. The largest of the group is called Bahrein. It is about 27 M. See also:long from See also:north to south and about to wide—a See also:low See also:flat space of sandy See also:waste with cultivated oases and See also:palm groves of See also:great luxuriance and beauty. The rocky See also:hill of See also:Jebel Dukhan (the " See also:mountain of the mist ") rises in the midst of it to a height of 400 ft. The See also:rest of the group are of See also:coral formation. The next See also:island in See also:size to Bahrein is Moharek, curved in shape, and about 5 M. long by i m. in breadth. It lies 1 m. to the north of Bahrein. Sitrah (4 M. long) Nebbi, Saleh, Sayeh, Khasifeh and See also:Arad (4 m. long) See also:complete the group. Of these See also:minor islands Arad alone retains its classical name. The See also:climate is mild, but humid, and rather unhealthy. The See also:soil is for the most See also:part fertile, and produces See also:rice, pot herbs and fruits, of which the citrons are especially See also:good. See also:Water is abundant.

See also:

Fish of all kinds abound off the coast, and are very cheap in the markets. The inhabitants are a mixed See also:race of Arab, Omanite and Persian See also:blood, slender and small in their See also:physical See also:appearance; they possess great activity and intelligence, and are known in all the ports of the Persian Gulf for their commercial and See also:industrial ability. The See also:sea around the Bahrein islands is shallow, so shallow as to admit only of the approach of native See also:craft, and the See also:harbour is closely shut in by reefs. There is very little doubt that it wasfrom these islands that the Puni, or Phoenicians, emigrated north-wards to the Mediterranean. Bahrein has always been the centre of the See also:pearl fishing See also:industry of the Persian Gulf. There are about 400 boats now employed in the pearl See also:fisheries, each of them paying a tax to the Sheik. The pearl export from Linja is valued at about £30,000 to £35,000 per annum. The See also:capital See also:town of Bahrein is Manameh, a long, straggling, narrow town of about 8000 inhabitants, chiefly of the Wahabi See also:sect. Manameh is adjacent to the most See also:northern point of the island, and looks across the narrow strait to Moharek. Fish and sea-See also:weed See also:form the See also:staple See also:food of the islanders. The water-See also:supply of Moharek is probably unique. It is derived from springs which burst through the beds below sea-level with such force as to retain their freshness in the midst of the surrounding See also:salt water.

Scattered through the islands are some fifty villages, each possessing its own date groves and. cultivation, forming features in the landscape of great fertility and beauty. Most of these villages are walled in for See also:

protection The Portuguese obtained See also:possession of the islands in 1507, but were driven from their settlements in that See also:quarter by Shah Abbas in 1622. The islands afterwards became an See also:object of contention between the Persians and See also:Arabs, and at last the Arabian tribe of the Athubis made themselves masters of them in 1784. The See also:present Sheik of Bahrein (who lives chiefly at Moharek) is of the See also:family of El Kalifa. This ruling race was driven from the mainland,(where they held great possessions) by the See also:Turks about 1850. In the See also:year 1867 the Persians threatened Bahrein, and in 1875 the Turks laid their hands on it. See also:British interference in both cases was successful in maintaining the integrity of Arab See also:rule, and the Bahrein islands are now under British protection. To the south-See also:west of the picturesque belts of palm trees which stretch inland from the northern coast of Bahrein, is a wide space of open sandy See also:plain filled with gigantic tumuli or See also:earth mounds, of which the See also:outer layers of See also:gravel and See also:clay have been hardened by the See also:weather See also:action of centuries to the consistency of See also:con-glomerate. Within these mounds are two-chambered sepulchres, built of huge slabs of See also:limestone, several of which have been opened and examined by See also:Durand, See also:Bent and others, and found to contain See also:relics of undoubted Phoenician See also:design. Scattered here and there throughout the islands are isolated mounds, or smaller See also:groups, all of which are of the same appearance, and probably of similar origin. (T. H.

H.*) See also:

BAHR-EL-GHAZAL, the See also:chief western affluent of the See also:river See also:Nile, N.E. See also:Africa, which it joines in 90 30' N., 30 25' E. The Bahr-el-Ghazal (Gazelle river) is a deep stream formed by the junction of many See also:rivers, of which the See also:Jur (see below) is the most important. The See also:basin of the Ghazal is a large one, extending north-west to See also:Darfur, and south-west to the See also:Congo See also:watershed. The See also:main northern feeder of the Ghazal is a large river, whose headwaters are in the See also:country west of 240 E. where the Nile, Congo and See also:Shari watersheds meet. Reinforced by intermittent streams from the hills of Darfur and by considerable rivers flowing north from See also:Dar Fertit, this river after reaching as far north as about 10° 3o' pursues a See also:general south-easterly direction until it joins the Ghazal 87 m. above the Deleb confluence (see below). This main northern feeder passes through the country of 'the Homr Arabs and Bahr-el-Homr may be adopted as its name. On many maps it is marked as the Bahr-el-Arab, a designation also used as an alternative name for the Loll another tributary of the Ghazal, which eventually unites with the Bahr-el-See also:Home. The Bahr-el-Homr in its See also:lower reaches was in 1906 completely blocked by See also:sudd (q.v.), and then brought no water into the Bahr-el-Ghazal. The See also:Sudan See also:government, however, sent See also:engineering parties to remove the sudd blocks and open out a continuous waterway. This Bahr-el-Homr .is the only affluent of 1 The Lol is also called the Kir, a name given likewise to the lower course of the Bahr-el-Homr. The confusion of names' is partly attributable to the fact that each tribe has a different name for the same stream.

It is also due in part,to the belief that there was a large river flowing between the Bahr-el-Homr and the Lol. This third river, geperally,called the Kir, has proved to be only the lower course of the Lei or Bahr-el-Arab. importance which has tributaries coming from north of the main stream; the rest of the very numerous affluents have their rise in the hilly country which stretches from See also:

Albert See also:Nyanza in a general north-west direction as far as 23° E., and forms the water- See also:shed between the Nile basin and that of the Congo. Chief The most See also:westerly is the Lol or Bahr-el-Arab. It rises, affluents. as the Boro or Telgona, in Dar Fertit, and receives from the south and south-west the Raga, Sopo, Chel and See also:Bongo. Dem Zobeir, formerly the chief station of Zobeir Rahama (q.v.), is near the See also:Biri tributary of the Chel, in 7° 40' N., 26° 10 E. The Lol maintains a fairly straight course east to about 28° E., when it turns north-See also:cast, and in about 282° E., 92° N., joins the Bahrel-Homr. The chief of the See also:southern affluents, and that tributary of the Ghazal which contributes the largest See also:volume of water, is the Jur, known in its upper course as the See also:Sue, Swe or Souch. The Sue rises north of 4° N. in about 29° E., within three or four days' See also:journey of the navigable See also:waters of the Mbomu, a northern sub-tributary of the Congo. After flowing north for several See also:hundred See also:miles the Sue, now the Jur, is joined on the See also:left See also:bank, in about 7° 30' N., 28° E., by the Wau, a considerable river whose headwaters are west of those of the Jur. The See also:united stream now turns east and joins the Ghazal through a See also:lake-like expansion (see below).

The town of Wau (7° 42' N., 28° 3' E.), on the Jut, is the capital of the Bahr-el-Ghazal See also:

province of the Anglo-See also:Egyptian Sudan. Meshra-er-Rek, the chief station and trading centre of the first See also:European visitors to the country, is on a backwater south of this lake. Between the Jur and the Nile, and following a course generally parallel with these rivers, several streams run north from the Congo-Nile watershed and join the Bahr-el-Ghazal. The Tonj, the most westerly of these rivers, joins the Jur a little above its confluence with the Ghazal. The Rohl (or Yalo), farther east, empties into a wide channel known as Khor Deleb, which joins the Ghazal some 9 M. above Lake No, and from the confluence the stream is known as the Deleb. Lake No is little more than a depression into which the waters of the Ghazal See also:system pass near the point of junction with the Bahr-el-Jebel. The lake is about 7 m. long from west to east, and the Bahr-el-Jebel, after passing through its eastern corner, changes its name to Bahr-el-Abiad or See also:White Nile. In their upper courses all the southern affluents of the Ghazal flow across a See also:plateau of ferruginous See also:laterite, their valleys having steep See also:banks. North of 7° 20' N. (where rapids interrupt the currents) the valleys open out and the rivers See also:wind in tortuous channels often choked by sandbanks. This alluvial region, flooded in the See also:rainy See also:season, gives See also:place about g° N. to a sea of swamps, forming in fact part of the huge swamp region of the Nile (q.v.). Through these swamps it is almost impossible to trace the course of the various rivers.

The Bahr-el-Ghazal itself is described as a drainage channel rather than a true river. From the confluence of the Lol with the Jur, above which point none of the rivers is called Bahr-el-Ghazal, to the junction with the Nile at Lake No, is a distance of about 200 m. Just above the Lol confluence the Jur broadens out and forms a lake (Ambadi) 10 m. long and over a mile broad at low water and very much larger in See also:

flood See also:time. This lake is the home of many sudd See also:plants of the " See also:swimming " variety—papyrus and ambach are absent. The Balaeniceps rex, elsewhere rare, is found here in large See also:numbers. At first the Ghazal flows north with See also:lagoon-like expansions having great breadth and little depth—nowhere more than 13 ft. Turning north-east the channel becomes narrower and deeper, and is characterized by occasional reaches of See also:papyrus. Finally, the Ghazal turns east and again becomes broader until Lake No is reached. As a rule the banks in this See also:section are marked by anthills and scrub. The anthills in one valley are so See also:close together that they somewhat resemble a gigantic graveyard " (See also:Sir See also:William Garstin). The rise of the Ghazal river in flood time is barely 3 ft., a See also:depth sufficient, however, to place an enormous See also:area of country under water. Exploration of the River.—Rumours of the existence of the Bahr-el-Ghazal led some of the See also:Greek geographers to imagine that the source of the Nile was westward in the direction of Lake See also:Chad.

The first See also:

map on which the course of the Ghazal-BAHYA 213 is indicated with anything like accuracy is that of the See also:French cartographer d'See also:Anville, published in 1772. The exploration of the river followed the ascent of the White Nile by the Egyptian expeditions of 1839–1842. For a considerable portion of the See also:period between 1853 and 1865 See also:John See also:Petherick, a Welshman, originally a See also:mining engineer, explored the Ghazal region, particularly the main stream and the Jur. In 1859 a Venetian, Giovanni Miani, penetrated the southern regions of the Ghazal basin and was the first to bring back reports of a great river (the Welle) flowing west beyond the Nile watershed. In 1862 a Frenchman named Lejean surveyed the main river, of which he published a map. In 1863 See also:Miss Alexandrine Tinne (q.v.) with a large party of See also:friends and scientists ascended the Ghazal with the intention of seeing how far west the basin of the Nile extended. The chief scientists of the party were the Germans, Theodor von See also:Heuglin and See also:Hermann Steudner. Considerable additions to the knowledge of the region were made by this expedition, five out of the nine white members of which died from See also:blackwater See also:fever.' Georg See also:Schweinfurth (q.v.) between 1869 and 1871 traversed the whole of the southern See also:district, and See also:crossing the watershed discovered the Welle. The efforts to destroy the slave trade in the Ghazal province led (1879–1881) to the further exploration of the river and its tributaries by Gessi See also:Pasha, the See also:Italian See also:governor under General C. G. See also:Gordon. Wilhelm See also:Junker (q.v.) about the same period also explored the southern tributaries of the Ghazal.

These were carefully surveyed, and the Jur (Sue) followed throughout its course by See also:

Lieutenant A. H. Dye and other members of the French See also:mission under See also:Colonel (then See also:Captain) J. B. Marchand, which crossing from the Congo (Oct. 1897) reached See also:Fashoda on the White Nile in See also:July 1898. Like the Bahr-el-Jebel the Bahr-el-Ghazal is liable to be choked by sudd. Gessi Pasha was imprisoned in it for some six See also:weeks. The river became almost blocked by the See also:accumulation of this obstruction during the rule of the Mandists. In Igor and following years the sudd was removed by British See also:officers from the Bahr-el-Ghazal, the Jur and other rivers. Uninterrupted steamboat communication was thus established during the flood season between See also:Khartum and Wau, a distance of some 930 M. In 1905–1907 R.

C. Bayldon, a British See also:

naval officer, Capt. C. See also:Percival and Lieut. D. See also:Comyn partly explored the northern and western affluents of the Ghazal, and threw some See also:light on the puzzling See also:hydrography and nomenclature of those tributaries. See NILE and the authorities there quoted, especially Sir William Garstin's See also:Report upon the Basin of the Upper Nile, See also:Egypt, No. 2 (1904), and Capt. H. G. See also:Lyons's The Physiography of the River Nile and its Basin (See also:Cairo, 19061; also The See also:Geographical See also:Journal, vol. See also:xxx. (1907).

(W. E. G.; F. R.

End of Article: BAHREIN ISLANDS

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