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Strictly speaking, Bahrain consists of a group of coral islands situated half-way down the (Persian) Gulf some twenty miles off the coast of Eastern Arabia, but for all practical purposes Bahrain means Bahrain Island and Muharraq Island. The chief towns are Manama in the former (population 39,648) and Muharraq in the latter (population 25.577). A causeway unites the two. The total population is 109,650 including over 18,000 foreigners. Bahrain Island is roughly thirty miles long from north to south, and ten miles broad from east to west. An abundance of natural springs renders it comparatively green, so that the Arabs, accustomed to the pitiless prospect of sandy deserts, call it "a pearl set in an emerald sea."
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