(4 of 9)
Anxious to spend his money, he has asked the British to send him another 100 experts to plan other improvements. Says he: "Do not judge our people harshly. We are just starting towards progress. Any place you go, you will find things you can praise and things you can blame—even in President Truman and among the greatest people. Perfection is only with the Almighty."
TRUCIAL SHEIKS
Four hundred miles down the coast live the seven Trucial Sheiks. There are fishtail Cadillacs for them, but no free schools for their 80,000 people. The sheikdoms—6,000 square miles of low, arid barrens fringing the southern approach to the Persian Gulf—look as though God here carried out a great scorched-earth policy. They typify the Persian Gulf without oil —nothing but sand, rock-bottom Arabs and hard-living sheiks.
But the Trucial Sheiks (socalled because they signed truces with the British to stop piracy) are hopeful. A subsidiary of Iraq Petroleum (which is American, British, French and Dutch owned) is prospecting the area for oil, meanwhile paying the Sheiks a small subsidy. So far the wells have been dry, but the drillers—a hardbitten, windburned American crew who live in primitive tent camps, drinking distilled water, eating out of cans—are convinced that next year fortune will strike the sheikdoms.
Evidently the British think so too. They recently sent an emissary to 70-year-old Sheik Shakabut at his cement fort, decorated him as Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
QATAR
Qatar (pop. 25,000), to the south of Kuwait, marks the next stage of the evolution of a sand-blown sheik into a millionaire. Seventeen years ago, Qatar (rhymes with butter) was no more than a sunburned thumb—120 miles long and 50 wide—sticking out into the Persian Gulf. Periodically, howling shamal winds blistered the low, monotonous plateau. Doha, seat of government, was a mud village, and the only sign of industry was a few palm groves by the sea and a few fishing boats. The only foreigners were American missionaries.
Enter the ubiquitous Iraq Petroleum Co., through a subsidiary, called Petroleum Development (Qatar) Ltd. It dragged in equipment, pitched tents, and started exploring for oil. By the time war broke out in 1939, Qatar was ready to begin production. The British ordered the wells jammed, to prevent their capture and use by the enemy; Qatar went back to sleep.
At war's end P.D.Q. came back, and two years ago it shipped its first crude. Last year total production reached 18.5 million barrels. Last week 57-year-old Sheik Ali, a dull but honest fellow, was getting an average $1,360 a day in royalties. As soon as the British can find a suitable teacher, they promise to open the first school in Qatar's history. P.D.Q. has built a network of roads, and now the big new Cadillacs and Buicks in Doha have some place to go. The Eastern Bank has opened a branch. The Sheik's royalty will shortly be increased when he finishes negotiating a new 50-50 deal.
BAHREIN