'Gazetteer of Arabia Vol. I' [‎855] (910/1050)

HUW—HUW
855
HCJWAISHIM (T RIBE)—
See Malik (Bani).
HUWAITAT (T ribe)—
A large and powerful tribe scattered over a considerable area of country, extending
to the land of Moab on the north ; to the Mediterranean Sea and the northern portion
of the Sinai peninsula on the west; to Wajj in Tihamah on the south; and to Jabal
Tubayk and the edge of the Ardh as Sawwan on the east. The dlrdh of the Huwaitat
however, does not extend towards the south-east as far as Al-'Ula.* Their Mediterra'
nean seaboard town is Ghazah, where they are mostly of the Tiaha and Saidiyian
sections, the latter occupying the deep, underlying. Dead Sea plain known as A1
Ghor. Round Ghazah they are tent-dwelling husbandmen ; in the Tihamah, nomad
herdsmen, except for a few who, living in little clusters of tents in the valleys, cultivate
palms and grain. In the Hisma district they are barley sowars; and in the lands
between Ghazah and Egypt their clans, the Tayrabln and Suaki, are nomads just as
those are towards the Nafud where they are feared cattle-robbers. Many of the
Huwaitat of south Palestine are merchants, trafficking more especially with the
Bedouin; and some of them have storehouses built of mud.
As a general rule the Huwaitat are clumsy in body, having large, bony frames like
the Syriain farmers. Their speech savours of peasantry ; in fact they are more like
fellahin Arabic for ‘peasant’. It was used by British officials to refer to agricultural workers or to members of a social class employed primarily in agricultural labour. than Bedouin. Their plough is a sharpened stake shod with iron, and
drawn by one camel; and certain of their clans are said to be in the habit of calling
in their cattle by ringing a bell. Their origin is obscure, being variously attributed
to two brethren who came from Yemen; to Qahtan, also of Yemen; and to the
Nasara Their nomad circuit corresponds with that of the western Nabateans, from
whom they are possibly descended. Their women are not veiled. Amongst them
selves the price of a man slain is five camels.
The following is a more recent account of this tribe
The Huweitat are a stout and warlike tribe whose country extends from near Teima
in the south to Kerak in the north, and on the east to the Nefud and the Wady Sirhan
On the west it is scattered down the Gulf of Akaba and through Sinai into Egypt!
Huweitat are nomads in the desert north-east of Cairo, and settled as cultivators round
Tanta. The Huweitat of Akaba, Sinai, and Egypt have no political link with the
Sheikhs whose head-quarters are at or near Ma'an ; but they recognise certain claims of
kinship, and if a Huweiti of the Tawayeh or Beni Jazi got into difficulties with the Otto-
mon Government, he would seek refuge, if he could escape, in Sinai or in Egypt.
The Huweitat have, however, an exceptionally bad name for treachery. They are
divided among themselves, and do not respect their own blood-ties. Oneclan will set
upon a caravan under the convoy of a rafik of another clan, shoot the rafik, and rob and
murder the merchants.
On the Syrian side the leading sub-tribe is the Beni Jazi and Arar ibn Jazi is nominal
ly the paramount Sheikh ; but he is not recognized by the Abu Tayi, and the two groups
are frequently at feud. The Tayi are an off-shoot of the Jazi, and owe their position
to the restless energy of their Sheikhs. The present man, Audeh, is one of the most
famous raiders of his time, and does not hesitate to carry his expeditions across the
Hamad to the Euphrates, where he has raided Ibn Hadhdhal of the Amarat. On one
occasion, when he was out against the Sba', he pushed almost as far north as Aleppo.
The Huweitat are on close terms of friendship with the Beni Atiyeh, and are at liberty
to camp through all the Atiyeh country. The Sheikh Ahmad ibn Tukeika occupies the
Red Sea coast between Muweila and Dhaba, with his headquarters at Muweila. They
are at war with the Shammar, except the clan of the Rammal, which is connected by
marriage with the Tayi; and they are usually on bad terms with the Wulud Suleiman
and the Fukara. With the Sakhur relations are always delicate, and the two tribes often
break into sharp conflict. In 1914 the jealousy between Ibn Jazi and Abu Tayi led to
continuous raids between the sub-tribes. Ibn Jazi took refuge with the Sakhur, and the
Tayi with the Ruwalla. But the outbreak of war between Great Britain and Turkey
filled the tribes with a common fear that their camels might be requisitioned by the
Ottoman Government for transport purposes ; the Huweitat made up their differences
♦ Never so pronounced, but always as al 'Ally,