tion for some very old but very great debts the Persian state owed of the High Government pointed out that the

ThereisnodoubtthatLeoneCaetaniwasoneoftheleading authoritiesinArabstudiesfromthebeginningofthetwentieth century.Descendedfromalargeandnoblefamily,whoseoriginsgo backtotheMiddleAges,hewasaneminentandself-taughtscholar. HewasadeputytotheItalianParliament,becameasoldierduring WorldWarI,andeventually,mainlyforpoliticalreasons,emigrated toCanada.HepassedhislastyearsinVancouver,wherehediedin 1935.Caetaniwasstronglyanti-fascist,aslaterwereMonneretde VillardandLevidellaVida.Hismostimportantwork,knownallover theworld,istheAnnalidell'Islam,'TheAnnalsofIslam,'an indispensablecollectionofdata,basedondifferentsources,thatwas plannedtoembracealongperiod,butunfortunatelyendswiththe year661AD(40AH).1Itisamonumentalworkofextensive historicalvalue,theauthoraddingpersonalcommentsonthemain topicstoenlargewhatcouldhavebeenamerechronicle.Asfaras Bahrainisconcerned,wecanstatewithoutanydoubtthatCaetani's researchesareasimportanttoourunderstandingofthebeginnings ofIslamasLorimer'sfamous'GazetteerofthePersianGulf.'