'IRAQ AND THE PERSIAN GULF' [‎235r] (474/862)

PEOPLE
347
Houses and Villages
Southern Iraq. Three types of human shelter are found in southern
Iraq: the nomadic tent, the reed hut, and the mud-brick hut. The
great black tents, which may contain several compartments, are made
of woollen cloths and may be protected by shelters of wattle or even by
mud-brick walls, among the more settled tribes. Their great virtue
is their mobility, because frequent shifting of location frees the Arab
from the accumulation of his own dirt and keeps him relatively clean.
Beduin tents are black or dark brown in colour, and range from
the moderate-sized tents of the Dhafir tribe among whom the four-
pole tent is the largest, to the great tents of the Amarat, among
whom four- and five-pole tents are common, while the guest-tents
of the greater shaikhs may have seven poles. In summer beduin
encampments are arranged in orderly rows near perennial wells with
the tents facing the wind. In winter the tents are dotted in threes
and fours over a wide area, usually in grassy depressions and with
backs to the wind. Numbers of camels are usually to be seen;
and the visit of traders is indicated by small square white tents.
The southern Shammar camp on high ground or ridges where all
may see them. Shepherd nomad or shawiya encampments are dis
tinguished by the small size and the light colour or striped pattern
of their tents, the untidy arrangement of the encampments, and the
presence of large flocks of sheep and numbers of donkeys.
The reed huts {sarifd) made of reeds and reed mats, used by tribes
men and Madan of the marsh areas, are of two patterns, either curving
to a vault or built with an eaved roof above straight walls; they may be
of great size. They can be erected in a day and the materials are easily
moved from site to site by mashuf. In the wettest places the floors
are built up with reed mats above the water. In flood season a very
slight bank of mud will suffice to keep the rising water out in the drier
areas, because the flow and pressure are very slight away from the
channels; or a family may camp in its mashuf, sometimes inside the
hut, or pack the hut up and move it elsewhere (photo. 149).
The mud hut is the home of the settled Arab, though villages of
mud huts may be built by semi-settled tribesmen and abandoned
after a few seasons. The walls are built in the biblical style out of
balls of mud mixed with straw by a master builder and several
assistants. Their roof beams are made of palm branches on which
reed mats are laid and covered with mud. Windows are little more
than holes in the walls filled, if at all, with a row of bottles or
a sheet of glass.