'IRAQ AND THE PERSIAN GULF' [‎229r] (462/862)

PEOPLE
339
Beduin. This term properly denotes camel-breeding nomads of
certain specified tribes for whom the raising of sheep is a secondary
pursuit. In Iraq these are the Shammar Jarba branch of the Sham-
mar in the Jazira, the Amarat branch of the Anaiza in the Western
Desert, and the Dhafir in the Southern Desert (p. 361 f.). 1 The beduin
are not themselves caravaners, but sell their camels at local markets
for meat or beasts of burden, and camel-hair for textiles, buying in
return the bare necessities of life and a few luxuries such as sugar,
tea, rice, and ammunition. The necessity for this marketing is
the sole bond between beduin and settled tribesmen. They live
simply (p. 344) in large black tents furnished at most with one or
two rugs, and are very poor, though not perhaps so poor as the
shepherd nomads; a beduin family may have 130 rupees Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf. a year.
The beduin of Iraq are willing to work as mechanics for the oil
companies, or as policemen, or in the Camel Corps. Formerly they all
despised agriculture and the 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. , but the decline in the value of
camels as a means of transport is forcing a change upon them and
apparently some beduin have accepted lands in theAbuGhuraib canal
zone. The wealthier shaikhs have long owned farmlands by the
Euphrates or Tigris, which were worked not by their own tribesmen
but by 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. tenants. Diversions include hunting with hawks or
hounds for bustard or hare, and gossiping in the shaikh’s guest-tent,
where coffee is dispensed and stories are told of war, camels, and
women.
Their social system is a stricter form of that outlined above.
Women enjoy considerable liberty, except the wives of shaikhs,
who are cloistered, and they are held in higher honour than among
shepherd and peasant tribes; heavy manual work is done by the men,
not the women, who will ride while their men walk. Tribal law is in
full force. Offences are against the individual, who need not carry
out the sentence of the tribal judges or arbitrators. The tribe exists
to insure the individual against all risks. Hence what is a crime within
the tribe, such as murder or theft, is no crime against a member of
another tribe or a foreigner. Crimes may be compounded for by
blood-money, or a blood-feud may be pursued endlessly. This
tribal solidarity is also the basis of tribal hospitality. No one starves in
a tribe, and a man has a right to both the protection and the sus
tenance of his shaikh. But the abuse of hospitality is safeguarded by
the tradition that this claim is exercised only as a last resource.
Marsh Arabs, or Madan. These people, who inhabit the swamps of
1 Some authorities do not rank the Dhafir as true beduin; cf. p. 363.