'IRAQ AND THE PERSIAN GULF' [‎245r] (494/862)

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DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION 365
Khazail and associated tribes, particularly .Bam Salama and Ghazolat
(p. 367), range west of the Euphrates, from the Darb Zubaida to the
Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. al Ubaiyidh, within the dira of the beduin Amarat. South of
Samawa and the Hindiya channel the Zaiyad section of the Bani
Huchaim, formerly some 2,000 tents strong, penetrate the southern
desert. So do the Budur, whose home territory north of the Euphrates
is on the unirrigated lands between the cultivated zones of the
Middle Euphrates and the Shatt al Gharraf; their winter migration is
within the dira of the Dhafir. They are a powerful tribe of some 900
tents who were formerly dependent on the Dhafir and Muntafiq. But
in ipiOj in alliance with the Zaiyad, they broke their bonds after a
fierce struggle. Since then they have been independent, and the
Dhafir have been in close alliance with the Zaiyad. Other Muntafiq
tribes which move to the Hajara include the Albu Sali of the Bani
Malik confederation and some sections of the camel-owning Al Hu-
maid (p. 368). The most easterly shepherd nomads of the Euphrates
are the Shuraifat and Juwarin, small Muntafiq tribes whose dira is
south-west of the Hammar lake. They move away from the marshes in
the flood season and in times of plentiful rain may wander as far as
the Batin pastures or the Hajara.
Settled and Semi-settled Tribes of Middle Euphrates (figs. 8, 9, 68).
This region, including the territories watered by the Hindiya and
Hilla channels of the Euphrates, is the most turbulent tribal area
in Iraq. It is inhabited by a complex mass of some fifty-five tribes
or tribal sections which are mostly independent and do not form
coherent groups like the great tribes of the Upper Euphrates and of
the Tigris. In this and the Diyala region the tribes are more static
than elsewhere. The tribesmen are generally cultivators and stock
farmers, settled or semi-settled, living in villages of mud-brick or reed
huts or less frequently in tents; the nomadic tribes and sections are
generally on the west bank of the Euphrates (Hindiya channel). The
tribal sub-section and the village shaikh in his mud-brick tower
usually form the effective units in the settled districts and in many
tribes the federal shaikh has little authority. But the following major
groupings can be distinguished, each of which may contain 2,000-
2,500 families, or 7,000-11,000 persons: Khazail, Fatla, Bani Hasan,
and Bani Huchaim. Other less well-defined groups of equal or smaller
size exist, usually in a vague relationship of mutual alliance or hosti
lity, such as the Jubur and Albu Sultan, and many small groups of
500 to 1,000 families.
The Bani Hasan live mostly west of the Hindiya channel, between