'Reports of administration for 1918 of divisions and districts of the occupied territories in Mesopotamia. Volume I' [‎3r] (10/470)

REPORTS OP ADMINISTRATION FOR 1918 OF DIVISIONS
AND DISTRICTS OF THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
IN MESOPOTAMIA.
SAMARRA DIVISION.
ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR 1918.
#
1. Tribal.--( 1 ) A diagrammatic sketch (Appendix A.) of the Qadha, showing
the distribution of the tribes at the end of December 1918, and the district
boundaries, is attached.
The divisional boundary cuts through the lands of the ‘Ubaid. It might
appear advisable at some future date to alter this boundary so as to include the
whole of the ‘Ubaid in one division.
The final occupation of Tikrit, followed by the cessation of the hostilities with
its accompanying relaxation of blockade rules," has brough t most of the tribes back
into the places they favoured in pre-war days.
(2) The ‘Ubaid were divided in their allegiance for the last year of the war.
Several semi-nomadic sections were wandering between A1 ‘Aith and the ‘Adhaim,
whilst the section under Mulla Naif, Ghawalbah, remained settled at Dojmaniyah
(T.C. 116, A. 80, W. 4/6), where they carried on cultivation of shattati as well as
saifi and shitwi with some baqarahs.
Of the semi-nomadic sections, that under Mit‘ab gave practically no trouble.
The other sections, under Shaikh Hamad al ‘Abdan of the Kubaishat and Ahmad
al Muhaimid of the Albu Khushaim, were continually raiding and being counter-
raided by the Sawamrah and some sections of the ‘Azzah, the latter being a Ba‘qubah
Division tribe. Since the hot weather, arrangements were made on two occasions
for the rounding up of these ‘Ubaid sections, but both had to be abandoned for
military reasons.
(3) The General Officer Commanding First Corps agreed to the suggestion that
an aeroplane message should be dropped summoning—
Shaikh Hamad al ‘Abdan (of the Kubaishat),
Shaikh Ahmad al Muhaimid (of the Albu Khushaim),
Shaikh Shuj‘ah (of the Albu ‘Alqah),
Shaikh Jasim al ‘Awad (of the Albu Talhah),
Shaikh Abdul Rahman Ahmad (of the Kubaib),
Shaikh Farhan al ‘Abbar (of the Albu ‘Isa),
to attend the Political Office, Samarra, within three days, and warning them of the
serious consequences which would ensue if the summons was disregarded. Care
was taken that full details of bombing and machine-gunning exploits of the Royal
Air Force should reach the delinquents.
On the 27th November the writer The lowest of the four classes into which East India Company civil servants were divided. A Writer’s duties originally consisted mostly of copying documents and book-keeping. flew over the Arab camps concerned and
dropped 16 copies of the “ summons to attend ” over various groups of Arabs
Of these, some fell into water, the ‘Adhaim and Wadis, others fell amongst the
‘Azzah, whilst the remainder duly reached the addressees. As a result all the
persons summoned came in, a majlis was arranged, and sanads were taken covering
the return of 2,500 animals and the payment of Rs. 8,900/-.
(4) The then hostile sections of the ‘Ubaid supplied a small number of horsemen
to the Turks, and one party of 35 came down to raid our transport, which by the
way, did not travel by the road where the raiders were. ’ ’ J
The nett result of the raiding parties’ labours was 13 donkeys laden with
melons and about Rs. 200/—, all stolen from travellers between Samarra and Daur
a fine bag for three days’ efforts of 35 men.
x IO 1162—1 I 796 500 10/19
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