'IRAQ AND THE PERSIAN GULF' [‎248r] (500/862)

DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION 371
The Shammar Toqa occupy lands on the left bank of the Tigris,
from Baghdad to Bughaila (Naamiya). They are semi-settled,
mainly tent-dwelling, peasants, but also breed cattle and camels and
sometimes trek to the Persian border in spring. Their tribe is a branch
of the northern Shammar (p. 363), though Shia by religion.
The lands of the Bant Rabia are on both banks of the Tigris, be
tween Bughaila and Shaikh Saad, Kut al Imara being their chief town.
They are a settled agricultural tribe, but also breed sheep and cattle.
The Bani Lam are the most powerful tribe of the Tigris. They
occupy a large region between the Tigris, from Shaikh Saad to Amara,
and the hills along the Iraqi-Persian frontier, and also hold the marsh
lands along the right bank of the Tigris in this sector. They are
partly a nomadic and partly a semi-settled people dwelling in tents or
reed huts. Though predominantly agricultural they have large flocks
and herds, and retain the nomadic tradition of migration to the frontier
hills in the winter and to the adjoining plains of Persian Arabistan
(P- 3 1 ?)-
The Albu Mohammed are found on both banks of the Tigris
below the Bani Lam and as far south as Azair. They reach east to the
Hawiza district of Arabistan and westwards to the limit of the marshes,
where they adjoin the Muntafiq. They breed large herds of buffalo
and cattle, and grow rice and maize. Their way of life is semi-settled
rather than nomadic, and they live in reed huts similar to those of the
Marsh Arabs proper.
Along the Shatt al Arab from Qurna to Fao, where the date culti
vators are the chief element in the population, the tribal system has
virtually died out except among the Iraqi Muhaisin who belong to the
Chaab of Persian Arabistan. Muntafiq Arabs and Marsh Arabs visit
this area as seasonal labourers for the date harvest.
The true Marsh Arabs, Madan, are found both among the Tigris
marshes of this section and those of the Hammar lake. They form
five tribal divisions of which the Fartus is the most prominent.
Kurds
Northwards the Kurds extend to the Turkish frontier, beyond
which is Turkish Kurdistan; in the south the limit is the neighbour
hood of Qizil Ribat and Khanaqin, though Kurds also exist round
Mandali (fig. 70). In the west the Kurds have penetrated from their
mountain home far into the Assyrian plains, particularly in the pro
vinces of Kirkuk and Erbil where Kurds and Kurdish ways dominate
a region formerly held by Arabs and Turkomans. Their south-