"تقرير عسكري عن بلاد الرافدين (العراق)" [ظ‎‎٣‎١] (٢٢٦/٦٧)

50
The Baggabah.
The Baggarah appear to have been one of the earliest
emigrant tribes from Arabia. When the Shammar
invasion rolled north from Najd in the seventeenth
century, it found the Baggarah in much the same social
and geographical conditions as they exist under to-day.
At present the tribe illustrates the transition stage from
nomadic to sedentary, with the resultant clashing of
sections and lack of cohesion. A part of the tribe has
settled in riverine villages, and practises a crude but
self-sufficient agriculture, while the rougher and more
contained portion—in this case the majority—still
follow with their flocks the seasonal changes in grazing.
( 1 ) Mode of Life and Supplies—Tbz sedentary
Baggarah are settled along the left bank of the
Euphrates above Dair al Zpr, and from their fields
irrigated by “ Karrad ” or lifts, produce annually about
500 tons of wheat and barley. The Baggarah grazing
grounds extend along the right bank of tbe Khabur as
far north as the Jabal Abd al Aziz. On a rough com
putation the pastoral sections possess 25,000 sheep, 700
horses and 1,000 camels. The usual migrating tracks of
the herdsmen lie west of the Khabur in order to avoid
encroachment on the grazing grounds of friendly Jubur.
In the Jabal Abd al Aziz—during the winter—there is
continuous conflict between the Baggarah and Chechens
from Has al Ain. Dair al Zor and Aleppo form the
main supply base of the tribe, although Baggarah
caravans often make their way via Tel Afar to Mosul.
( 2 ) Feuds and Alliances.—HrihaA strength is much
impaired by internal feuds. Mahmud al Gahit and
Thiab ibn Bishra, the two most important chiefs, have
quarrelled over a marriage inheritance, to which both
men have rather a shadowy claim. A further cause of
ill-feeling arose from an ill-division of loot captured
from the Anizah in 1920. The third section under Salih
ibn Hasan maintains a strict neutrality. Externally the
tribe carries on an annual struggle with the Chechens
in the Jabal Abd al Aziz. The Jais often cross the Balikh
and descend on Baggarah herds, while in the south-west
the Anizah are a continual thorn in the flesh. The
Baggarah maintain friendly relations with the Jubur
and Tai, and, owing to their enmity with the Chechens
and Anizah, are looked on as allies by the Milli and
Shammar.