'Field notes. Mesopotamia' [‎36v] (77/230)

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Religion and life. AU the Bani ftabfah, with the exception
o the Jvawam, are Shi’ahs by religion and live in tents ; they
jo h cultivate themselves and employ others to cultivate for
them ; their chief crops are wheat and barley ; they possess many
sheep, cattle, horses, and camels.
Military strength and political position.—Ahont one-furth
o e lighting strength of the tribe are horsemen and are well
mounted. A proportion of old-fashioned firearms ii still carried
by the Bani Rabi'ah, who are in fact on the border line between
the well-armed tribes of Lower and the worse-armed tribes of
Upper Iraq.
As revenue to the Turkish Government, the Bani Rabi’ah
pay one-fifth produce on account of lands classified as easily
i 65 anC ^ one '^ en ^h for those which are only irrigable with
difficulty: there is also a tent-tax of 3 Majidis a year, but it is
not rigorously collected.
Salih (Bani).
A large and strong Arab tribe of the Hawizeh district in
Southern ’Arabistan, amounting to perhaps 15,000 souls Their
territory from north to south has an extent of about 20 miles,
beginning a few miles south of Hawizeh town; its eastern boun-
arj is at a place called Shaikh Muhammad ; and on the west it
includes part of the Karkheh or Karkheh-Tigris marshes. The
majority of the tribe engage in wheat and barley cultivation and
own large flocks of sheep and herds of cattle, besides about 3,000
camels ; but certain of the subdivisions inhabit the marshes,
where they cultivate rice, keep buffaloes and cattle, and move
a jout in mashhuf.s and taradahs. The fighting strength of the
Bani Salih is estimated at 1,000 horsemen and 3,350 footmen,
and the porportion of rifles is about 1 to every 3 men. The tribe
is Shi’ah in religion.
Tup.uf (Bani).
A large and powerful Arab tribe in the Hawizeh district
of Southern ’Arabistan, numbering some 20.000 souls and
occupying the whole of the country watered by the Karkheh
below Kut Nahr Hashim, including the marshes. The Seat
of the ruling family, who belong to the A1 Bn ’Adhar, is at
Khafa iyeh, on the left bank of the main stream several hours
to the west of Kut Nahr Hashim, where there is a bazaar of
about 00 mud-built shops.