Those were the Parched Days, We’ve Come a Long Way Baby……….
“Parched and stinking, Bahrein Island barely breaks the surface of the Persian Gulf. European pates soon addle, uninsulated from its vicious sun. Before its troughs of rotting oysters, queasy European nostrils quail. Impervious to sun and stink, Arab traders hunker down, paddle the bubbling compost, comb it with their fingers. A blue-gummed, henna-bearded gaffer, Jack Horner-like, pulls out a lump. Feverishly he wipes the gluey carrion on a corner of his burnoose. Marshallah! A rose-pink pearl, pale, perfect, which—flesh-embedded—escaped the first casual pawing of the opened shells……”
Another interesting Western view of the Gulf in the old days. Parched, yes, but I don't agree with the "stinky" view though. And I am not sure that many things could make "European nostrils" quail in those days.
Cheers
mhg
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