'Turkish Arabia: Being an Account of an Official Tour in Babylonia, Assyria, and Mesopotamia, 1886-87' [‎11v] (22/72)

IO
In the event of supplies having to be collected, the good-will of the Dilem would be of
Relations of British Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. with much importance. A quarter of a century ago a good deal
Dilem. of friendly intercourse went on between their Shekhs and
the British Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. . On the recent occasion they recollected this with pleasure, evinc
ing the greatest regard for the British name and power, seeking for no favours or
presents, and vieing with one another in the display of courtesy and hospitality. Of three
things, his camel, his mare, and a guest, it is hard to say which comes first in the Bedouin
mind. The camel and the mare may be passing away from the Dilem; but in respect of
hospitality to strangers they are Bedouin still.
Data for an estimate of the numbers of the Dilem are wanting; nor would it be
useful here to insert anything so variable as a list of their
Other particulars. Shekhs. Their settlements run along both banks of the
Euphrates. The Baghdad Government has them tolerably well in hand, maintaining in
their country two revenue-posts which are gradually taking on the form of towns. One
of these, Saklawia, is on the Mesopotamian or Eastern bank of the Euphrates, and the
other, Rumadi, a military post, on the western, that is, just within the great desert terri
tory called Shcimia, connecting peninsular Arabia with Syria, within which the warlike
Ih-ni-zah roam. Though paying revenue to Baghdad the Dilem probably think the tribute
or blackmail yielded by them to their formidable Ih-ni-zah neighbours a better guarantee for
the safety of their flocks and herds. Not very long ago their desert blood came out, and
they allowed themselves to be drawn into a desperate raid upon the Shammar. Unlike
the generality of such affairs, this proved sanguinary. Besides suffering severe defeat, the
Dilem, as living under the law, were called heavily to account by Government: and have
given little trouble subsequently. 22nd to 27th October was spent among them ; now
halting, now moving, now on one side the Euphrates, now the other—thanks to the ferry
boat at Rumadi.
On 28th October the tents were pitched on the Euphrates, opposite Hit—the ancient
. Is—having a population of about three thousand. According
to Herodotus, Hit yielded the bitumen in which the bricks
used in the building of Babylon were laid. And to this day such prosperity as it enjoys
depends on its fountain of the same material. A worse supplied place than Hit, from an
equipment point of view, could scarcely be : not a mule or donkey could be procured in
it, and it seemed to have neither workmen nor material. Its inhabitants made many
applications for European medicines, especially for the eyes.
Not so much as a charitable dispensary seems ever to be thought of,by the Govern
ment at least,in all Asiatic Turkey.
Section V.—Across A1 Jazirah.
Jazirah means in Arabic anything " cut off." The great triangular space thus described
by the Arabs, covering some 55,000 square miles, corresponds generally with what the
Greeks were the first to call Mesopotamia—the country between the Tigris and Euphrates.*
In striking across its southern or steppe portion from Hit to Tikrit, October 30th to
November 2nd were spent. Direction north-east. As one did not keep with the kdfila,
but went off exploring, the pace depended too much on the muleteers for the distance
traversed to be measured by the time test. The first three marches lasted from about an
hour before sunrise to near sunset, while the fourth was only a half march. The weather
was perfect, though showery. A column of cavalry or mounted infantry carrying water
and other supplies could get over the same ground in three days. No trace of human
occupation presented itself, except the tents here and there of pastoral hordes, mostly of
the Shammar.
Swarming out, less than a century ago from that officina gentium Central Arabia
The Shammar division of the Ara- these Shammar soon spread over Mesopotamia. They
bian Bedouin. have more to do with Osmanli officialdom than their kins
men, and natural enemies, the Ih-ni-zah ; and it is to this more than anything else perhaps
that the split now dividing them into two great parties is due. One section comprising
the tribes that roam between Mosul and Baghdad follows Farhan, the elder of the sons of
Sufuk, who has accepted the title of Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , and identified himself more or less with the
Osmanli. But his younger brother Faris still clings to the life and traditions of his race ;
and round him assemble,to the east of the Khabur river in winter, and the. north of it in
* Known to the Jews 35 " Aram-Naharain," or " Syria of the two rivers."