Giving an excellent insight into the seafaring heritage of Kuwait, the entrance of this museum is graced by three magnificent dhows. Dhows and boons like these brought water from the Shatt Al Arab waterway near Basra to the bone-dry city, making a tidy profit from thirsty inhabitants. Photographs inside the museum show the transport of water from boon to home before desalination plants brought water to the taps of all householders.
The pearling displays upstairs comprise a fascinating collection of daily-use objects, such as a heavy lead weight, a turtle-shell nose peg, leather finger ends and a wool suit to guard against jellyfish. These objects speak volumes about the deprivations of a life spent prising pearls from a reluctant seabed. The sieves of tiny mesh used to sift pearls according to size show that the effort was barely worth the dangers involved.
The museum is marooned in the middle of the bondu (waste ground) off Arabian Gulf St.
