'IRAQ AND THE PERSIAN GULF' [‎243r] (490/862)

DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION 361
For the nominal populations of the cities these figures give an excess
of 6-2 and 13-5 births over deaths per 1,000 persons for Baghdad and
Mosul respectively. The rate for Mosul city agrees well enough with
the actual rate of increase (15 per 1,000) of the whole province be
tween 1935 and 1943, but the figure for Baghdad is hopelessly inade
quate. It is worth noting that anthropological observers state that in
the Middle Euphrates and Diyala regions families of more than 4
children are uncommon.
Distribution by Tribe and Race
Arabs
The Arab population properly comprises all the inhabitants of
southern Iraq, irrespective of religion, except some tens of thousands
of Persians, Indians, and Kurds. In northern Iraq the Arabs are a
minority confined to the Jazira, the riverain strip of the Tigris (p. 359
and p. 370), and the administrative districts of the Mosul plain and
the northern foothills. The distribution of Moslem Arabs is described
by tribes in this section (figs. 66-70), and that of the Christian Arabs
by churches on p. 382.
Nomads, whether camel-beduin, or shepherd tribes, do not wander
aimlessly through uncultivated regions. Each tribe or group of re
lated tribes has its specific pastoral area or dvr a which is defined by
certain well-known landmarks, such as water-holes, dry wadis, and
other local topographical features (figs. 29-30). A tribe may share its
dira by treaty with strangers or with dependants, and hostile tribes
may invade one another’s dira without warning. Among the semi-
nomadic and 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. population the notion of the dira is modified
into that of the fixed tribal territory, the actual ownership of which
may be in the hands of private individuals or the State.
Beduin of Western and Southern Deserts (figs. 29, 30, 66). The
focal areas which control the winter-spring migrations are partly in
Saudi Arabia and partly within Iraq: the Hajara region and the
Nafud-Dahana sand desert, which have a plentiful vegetation in the
winter months (pp. 115-117). After wintering there the beduin tribes
travel north and north-east towards the Euphrates or north-west to
summer pastures in Syria before the great heat begins; from April to
August, when the surra fly abounds by rivers (p. 472), they pasture
round wells, then move in late summer up to and across the Euphrates.
The Amarat Anaiza are ruled by this regime. In the autumn they
are found as far to the north-east as the neighbourhood of Karbala,
Najaf, and Baghdad. Their markets are in these cities and in the