'Gazetteer of Arabia Vol. II' [‎1402] (463/688)

1402 'OMlN SULTANATE
bajri; other crops are must melons, water melons, lucerne, cotton, suearcanc , .
places, indigo and tobacco. aric '. in
Domestic animals. —Camels are numerous in Sharqlyah and Batinah and a
in Ha jar and elsewhere, but horses are everywhere few. The dromedaries ?
are esteemed the best in Arabia. Cattle, sheep, and goats are found ev
the sheep being most common in the hilly tracts and in the possession of u'
Jess numerous than the goats. The cattle are of the humped Indian variet ^ ?
coast livestock are largely fed on fish heads boiled up with date stones remnlL ? !
bags and other refuse. ' mn ants of mat
Inhabitants and tribes.—The great majority of the inhabitants of 'Oman ^ nf a u
race and, with regard to their main characteristics, mav bo dosrrih^i a i ab
population. ' may 1)6 descnbed ^ a homogeneous
Supposed racial divisions. —According to their traditions* thev bolnnt* fo + .
Arabian stocks, the Qahtani or Yamanj and the'Adnani, or Nizari but t hf! K r fu dlstinct
yet been scientifically verified. The Yamani tribes according fn fill n0t as
were the first Arab settlers in 'Oman ; while the Nizaris whose ^ r tradltions ,
less purely Arab, were for the most part later immigrants' Each of 18 regarded 818
groups is divided into a large number of separate tribes and theJ. SUI ? posed racia I
and subsections. 1 ' and thcs e again mto sections
Political divisions. —In the 18th centurv there arr>«te ^
war, two large factions knowns as the Hinawiyah and the Th-fi a general civi '
which almost every Arab tribe found in 'S aTthe Le^J ^ t00ne 0r 0ther of
Hinawi faction consists chiefly of Yalni and the ChS f The
tribes; but there is a residue both of Yamanis and Ni ^nf I v 10n . mainly of Nizari
of their hereditary rivals, and transfers of allegiance from one faet vT the faction
now occasionally take place. Throughout the length and breadth of eVen
wiyah and Ghafiriyah live intermingled, usually in groups of villa v? i the Hm a-
«r section, and thus the political balance of power is maintain^ beIon g m g to one tribe
Ghafiriyah are predominant in the north-western and the Hinawt' u .?" whoIe the
regions. nawiyah m the south-eastern
Fixed and nomadic population.—AnoiheT broad division ^ ^ , . .
t)r Hadhr and nomad or Badu ; but this distinction has no T settled
either condition of life being adopted indifferentlv bv ^ polltlcal basis '
Ghafiriyah. The Bedouin element is relativelv strona fn 'n - TJ HmawI y ah and the
and generally upon the verge of the desert • in the nfh a - , . nian - Pro P er and Dhahirah,
are completely predominant. ' the 0ther dlStnct8 ^ settled populations
Tribal constitution. —^Tribal organisation is loose anH j 0
are scattered territorially and have no local centre • whil pb zard - ® ome of the tribes
are compact, are broken up into sections headed by'chiefs who^ ^? their domains
authority. In a few cases the tribe is governed bv a ^o acknowieclge no common
power extends over all the branches of the tribe Jh* lami j nah . or president whose
Tamimah is nominally elective, but in practice 0Ia ' c ^ ed » the office of
political factions had also a Tamimah, the headship o?th'e r ^ 0 . rmerl { each of the great
Dhahirah family and that of the HinSwivah h. S f ^ffi^yah being vested in a
A1 Bu Sa'id. As a rule small and 3tib" atL^hZ f" 0f ^ h0U8e 0f th0
powerful neighbours, but they retain their names anrl « mSelves . as clients to more
Armament. —The tribesmen of some of tHLerl eX ! Stence -
Ja'alan, are now well armed with modem rifles mosflv^r' ®!P? ciall y at s " r and in
In other parts, such as Eastern Hajar, arms of precision I inferior patterns.
Religion.—A great majority of the Hinawi tribes H p I a f lll i COl r 11 P ara tively scarce,
whose tenets were adopted as the national 'Omani form o/f .vf Ibadhi secfc of Islam,
the Chri^ian era. Of their Ghafiri opponents a in the8th centui T of
Sunnis, Shd a few tribes are Wahhabi, notably the P™.P 0rtion are orthodox
who were converted at the time of the Wahhshi' .v, , Al1 and the Bani Rasib
but the dominant sect in 'Oman is still the Ibad^i' 0 " in tbe 19th cen t«ry 5
' short-lived character of
•J.n, Colonel ta.nd
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