'Handbook of Arabia. Vol II. 1917' [‎17] (21/542)

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THE CAMEL TRADE OF ARABIA 17
In Central Arabia, the Shammar of Jebel Shammar, the Ateibah,
the Qahtan, and the Dawasir. Of these the most-renowned camel
breeders are the Qahtan, though they cannot rival the Anazah.
Some of the Harb, the sub-tribes of the Beni Salim, and the Beni
'Ali are camel owners.
In Eastern Arabia, the Muteir, the 'Ajman, to a lesser extent the
Dhafir and the Murrah. The Manasir, south of the Murrah on the
edge of the great sand desert, have few camels and are seldom seen
by the merchants of the QasTm. The camels of Oman, like those
of Aden (see above, p, 14), are to a great extent absorbed by local
requirements.
The camel trade has its centre in Damascus, where almost all
the capital is supplied. The principal merchants were, in 1914,
Mohammed el-Bassam, a native of the Qasim, who held half
the trade in his hands, Yasim edh-Dhiyab, Suwwah, Ibn Rawwaf,
and 'Abdullah Haleisi. These bring yearly into Damascus 300-400
ra'iyahs, i. e. 24,000—32,000 camels. There are one or two dealers
in Baghdad, such as 'Assafi and Da'ud ibn Juweili, but these handle
a much smaller number of beasts. They buy from the tribes near
the 'Iraq, chiefly from the Shammar and the 'Amarat, and sell in
Damascus, where alone there is any market. About 300 camels
are sold in Aleppo every Wednesday for six months in the year.
These are mostly from the Siba' and Fed'an, but some come from
the smaller people in the Jebel el-Hass and the Euphrates valley.
Most of the beasts are driven from Aleppo straight over the Amanus
into Asia Minor, but a few go south to Hamah for Damascus.
The dealers of Damascus and Baghdad employ as buyers men
of the 'Uqeil. In the days when the strong hand of Mohammed
ibn Rashid kept the desert under control, a number of Damascenes
used to go out and buy from the tribes ; but when he died. Central
and Western Arabia became so turbulent that caravans could no
longer pass through them with any degree of safety, and the well-
known Ma'rawi family are now almost the only Damascenes em
ployed as buyers. The 'Uqeil are all Nejd Arabs, townsfolk, or
nomads chiefly from the Qasim, but always chosen from among
tribes such as the settled Beni Tamim, who are not engaged in
interminable blood-feuds with other tribal groups. They are the
recognized guides and conductors of caravans in Arabia, an organi
zation partaking of the nature of a club and a benefit society, with
a president who is always a native of Boreidah and head-quarters
at Baghdad. But though men of the Qasim carry on all the dealings
with the tribes, they do it on behalf of the merchants of Damascus
or Baghdad ; there is no one in the Qasim with sufficient capital
arabia 11 -r