"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎٣‎٦‎٧] (١٧٨٢/١٥٢٢)

1367
" suburbs, and committing- every species of havoc and disorder." Simul
taneously a mixed force of Khaza'il, MaMan and 'Anizah Arabs were
beleaguering the Turkish garrison of Diwaniyah and cutting off its
supplies. As in the time of Najib Pasha, the Turkish troops had begun
to murmur at the privations and fatigue imposed on them by an appa
rently insensate policy ; and Shakir Pasha, the Army Commandant had
been suspended by Namiq Pasha for too freely expressing his opinion of
the inadequacy of the military resources of the province to the coercion
of all the Arab tribes at one and the same time. In these circum
stances, hampered also by a revolt at Najaf which we shall presently
describe, Namiq Pasha condescended to negotiate, though not in the
first instance with the arch-rebel Wadi Bey; but the final settlement
between him and the Euphrates tribes is not recorded.
There were at this epoch, as at the present day, two Arab factions in
Najaf known as the Shumurd and the Zugurd. In general they occupied
the town jointly, but a few years before 1852 the Shumurd altogether
expelled the Zugurd ; and in 1852, under a local Arab chief of some
notoriety who had been badly treated by Namiq Pasha, the Shumurd
seem to have set the Government of Baghdad itself at defiance. If the
Pasha had deigned to make use of the Zugurd against the Shumurd, Najaf
would probably have been recovered without difficulty; but he despised
the assistance of such allies and instead caused Turkish troops from
Hillah, Diwaniyah and Dagharah to be concentrated before Najaf under
an officer named Salim Pasha. Ihe task confronting this commander is
thus described in a British despatch of the day :
They {i .e., the Shumurd) look with contempt upon the Turkish troops and are well
aware that, while Wadi Bey and the Anizeh hold the open country, no military im
pression can be made on their position. It appears indeed that the plan of defence
adopted systematically by this tribe is one which would try the metal of the best
soldiers in the world. They place no reliance on the walls of the town, but intrench
themselves within the strongest and most populous quarter, throwing up barricades
across all the streets, connecting the houses by mines and galleries, loopholing the
walls, and occupying every commanding point with their matchlock men, who are
admirably armed and are the most expert marksmen in this part of Asia. Salim
Pasha's difficulties, if he thus attempted to expel the Shamerta by force, would be of
the same nature as those which met Cavaignac in the Faubourg St. Antoine, while
his chance of success would be infinitely less, inasmuch as the narrow streets and high-
walled courts of an Oriental city afford greater shelter to the defenders, and the
Turkish soldier, brave even to daring in the open field, quails before a hidden enemy.
In these circumstances Salim Pasha proceeded to negotiate with the
Shumurd through the Shi^ah Mujtahids of the town; and those iuter-