'Extracts from Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia by J G Lorimer CIE, Indian Civil Service' [‎74v] (153/180)

138
A tabular account of the Bedouin portion of the tribe and its subdivisions
follows below:—
Section.
Subsection.
Fighting
strength (of
subsection).
Mindhir (Al Bu)
Ka'abarah
50
Do.
_
Mani' (Al)
15
Do.
Marashid
30
Do.
Matawa'ah
100
Do.
Midahimah
20
Rahamah (Al Bu)
Khail (Al Bu)
200
Do.
Taraif (Al) (also
called
Ahl-al-Janub)
50
Do.
Tararifah
7
Do.
Wabran (Al)
30
Sha'ar (Al Bu)
Ghuwainam (Al)
30
Do.
Rashaiyid (Al)
20
Do.
Thuwaibit (Al Bu)
10
Remarks (on section).
The Al Bu Mindhir winter in the direc
tion of Qatar. In summer they
occupy Dahin, Tdd, Sarait and
}■ Tharwaniyah in Liwah. Their lead
ing Shaikh is Rashid-bin-Mani'
whose summer quarters are at
Sarait.
The Al Bu Rahamah frequent Khatam
in the cold weather and also visit
Qatar, except the Abu Khail sub
section who winter about Samaih and
in the neighbourhood of Abu Dhabi
Town. In summer the Abu Khail
move to the Baraimi Oasis and the
remainder to Hamaim and Qa'aisah
in Liwah. The sectional chief is
Suwid-bin-Ghadaiyar.
The Al Bu Sha'ar winter in or towards
Qatar and their summer quarters are
}■ in Liwah where they occupy Jarairah,
Jarrah and Mosal. Their chief man
is Muhammad-bin-Jaraiw,
MATTI
(SABA-
KHAT)*
[pp. 1200-J]
From the above facts it may be inferred that the total number of the tribe is abou
1,400 souls.
The Manasir are Hinawiyah in politics and Muwalik in religion. They were
formerly subject to the Wahhabi government and in 1865 were understood to pay
a contribution worth $2,000 a year, chiefly in kind, into the Wahhabi treasury;
now they are independent ot all control but maintain some decree of intercourse
with the town of Abu Dhabi and its Shaikh.
This is the name used among the inhabitants of 'Oman; but by dwellers in
Qatar and the Hasa Sanjaq it is generally called Sabakhat 'Oman, and sometimes
it is even spoken of as Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Sabakhah. It is a coastal district in the Abu Dhabi
Principality near its western end, and by some it is regarded as forming the western
boundary of 'Oman in the strictly geographical sense.
The extent of the district upon the coast is from Jabal Wutaid in Dhafrah to
Dohat-as-Sila in Mijan, a distance of about 30 miles; and its centre is situated
veiy nearly upon the 52nd meridian of east longitude. Inland it extends probably
60 miles, and its length is possibly greater at a distance from the coast than it is
upon the sea. Sabakhat Matti is enclosed, landwards, by Mijari on the west, by
Jafurah and possibly the Ruba'-al-Khali on the south, and by Dhafrah on the east.
The well of Sufuk in Jafurah marks approximately the boundary of Sabakhat
Matti on the south.
The whole of the district appears to be a saline or nitrous marsh, the extreme
oi desolation, without wells or grass, or even mangroves at the coast. It is said
that the sea runs up the middle ot the Sabkahah at high tide for as much as 12 or
15 miles and that camels in that part of it are liable to be lost. Ordinary travellers
P u ivt ^ 0 -^- as i l 1 ^, sea .' an( ^ .^ le c ^ oss i n g is so difficult, and even dangerous, that
the Manasir Bedouins in their periodical migrations between Dhafrah and Qatar
avoid it by deviating into the Jafurah desert to the south.
■ „,! J h \ S / rtic ^^- par , tly from information by Captain F. B. Prideaux, Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. in Bahrain,
in whose Map oj Jafurah, etc., the tract in question is included.
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