'Reports of administration for 1918 of divisions and districts of the occupied territories in Mesopotamia. Volume I' [‎96r] (196/470)

desert on anything like equal terms, either in the field or in the council chamber.
It is undoubtedly this factor wh ch has given strength and cohesion to the Bani
Hasan confederacy, which contains within itself many jarring elements, and which,
without a strong laison d etre, would tend to split into its component parts. Another
factor which causes cohesion among the Bani Hasan is the rivalry of the other
confederacy, the leaders of which are the Fatlah tribe. Until the arrival of the
British on the scene the b atlah and Bani Hasan were almost continuously maintaining
either open or secret hostilities. The latter consisted of thefts of horses and cattle.
Besides the Bani Hasan proper, the following smaller tribes are generally grouped
under the title of Bani Hasan : the Saiyids of ‘Ard, Da‘um, Bani Turuf, Jalihah
and the Qurait. The last named are a powerful tribe which, until some 10 years ago,
generally sided with the Fatlah, but in recent years have thrown in their lot with
the Bani Hasan. The Fatlah confederacy includes the Tufail, Barraqa‘ and Karrafah.
The remaining tribe of Hindiyah, the Rahahlah, is a house divided against itself, half
desiring the Bani Hasan allegiance and half the Fatlah. There is a constant under
current of jealousies and bickerings between the tribes and sections of tribes, the
worst offenders in respect being the four main sections of the Northern Bani Hasan
group, the Jarrah, the Tharahwan, Chabas and Jamil, who are a constant worry to
the A.P.O.
Political Situation .—The past 12 months has seen a vast improvement in
the political situation in the district. Then highway robberies were common and
certain tribes, notoriously the Qurait, were completely out of hand. Their
complicity in an important robbery on the river between Tuwairij and Kifl, and the
consequent attempt to seize the chief offenders, resulted in a battle between a party
of 20 Shabanah and a 100 or so of the Qurait. The Shabanah made no show against
these odds, and were driven from the field with a loss of three men wounded, one
horse killed and seven rifles lost. Three days later the village was burnt to the
ground with the assistance of two squadrons of Indian cavalry, some British infantry
and armoured cars. The villagers had all fled, but the show of force had a most
beneficial effect on the whole district, and enormously strengthened the hands of
the Assistant Political Officer. Mana‘ al Luti, Shaikh of the Qurait, who up till
then had exercised no influence whatsoever over his tribe, began to get them
somewhat under control, though they continued till the end of the year to be the
black sheep of the district.
Effects of New Canals .—The political effect of the two new canals in expediting
the settling down of the district is quite impossible to overestimate. The land,
which had lain waste for years, was brought under the plough and the fallah 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. was
filled with hopes for the future, which, for the first time in his memory, gave him
a definite interest in the maintenance of law and order. It is entirely because of
this vast extension of cultivation that the tribes proved on the whole amenable
and easy to control.
A further consequence of the new canals has been a great movement “ back
to the land ”; scattered tribesmen have been returning to their former homes,
while the emigrants from outside, tempted by the rich land of Hindiyah, are coming
in as fallalih under the local Shaikhs to an extent which is causing neighbouring
A.P.O. to complain of lack of labour in their own districts. It is impossible to
estimate the increase of the population of the district in these 12 months, but the
local people say there are three times the number that were here a year ago. This
estimate is probably not far wide of the mark.
Sheep Owners .—The position of the district at the edge of the great grazing
grounds of the desert, together with the lack of facilities for irrigation, has caused
the tribes to be great sheep owners. As soon as the winter rains have caused the
grass of the desert to sprout, large numbers of tribesmen migrate into the desert
with their flocks and remain there until May or June, when the increasing heat has
parched the grass and dried the water supplies, and when they return to the river.
They are followed by the Bedu with their camels, an unwelcome visitation from
the Assistant Political Officer’s point of view. This year the ‘Anizah arrived on
the borders of the district with plenty of gold and insufficient food supplies. The
arrangements for providing them with grain had not materialised. The export
of grain from Hindiyah was forbidden, and the result was an outbreak of smuggling
of grain which was extremely difficult to stop, and which led to one or two miniature
“ battles ” between the Shabanah and the Beduin and caused a deal of ill-feeling.