'ARBITRATION CONCERNING BURAIMI AND THE COMMON FRONTIER BETWEEN ABU DHABI AND SA'ŪDI ARABIA' [With maps] [‎137r] (278/541)

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considered from time immemorial.—The watershed of El Aarid and Yemamah
appears to he S.E. the Wady Hamfeh and all other Wadies converging towards
El Raudha where they unite in the Wady El Sohba which falls into the Persian
Gulf just above the Sabkheh Mattih probably at Khor El Dhoan —The Bedouins
in the Great Desert rear great numbers of camels the sale of which constitutes
their chief support. The Aal Morra and Awamir are said to traverse it extensivelv
n is not entirely destitute of water which can be ohtaWH
as it is not entirely destitute of water which can be obtained of brackish qualitv
places by digging. Palms and other large trees are not met with but dwarf
in places uy uigg..^- ^ migc trees are not met with but dwarf
acacius and herbaceous vegetation suitable for camel fodder are sufficientlv
abundant—Besides two species of gazelle and the Oryx numerous ostriches inhabit
the more Northern and Western portions and are hunted for the sake of their
feathers which eventually find their way to Mecca, there being no sale for them
in Oman—There is said to be a route running direct S.E. from Nejd to Mahra
that takes 25 days.—Water is procured every 3 or 4 days and is carried on in skins
the Bedouins finding their way without difficulty; a light camel load of dates
and flour enabling them to traverse a long distance.—In 1870 Saood bin Feysal
came straight across the Great Desert from Nejran to Abuthabee in 56 days
travelling leisurely but for the last 15 days he and his followers were greatly
pressed for food their store having become exhausted.—His purpose was to meet
Seyyid Azzan which he did at Burka and then accompanied him in his
expedition against El Bereymi.—South of Yemamah and three days from El Hasa
lies the fertile and well watered valley of Jabrin whose groves of date palms are
said to extend for several miles.—It is situate entirely in the Desert and does not
form part of Nejd. It was formerly a large and flourishing settlement but it
subsequently became so malarious and unhealthy that the inhabitants were driven
away and it is now almost entirely destitute of permanent residents.—The Arabs
claim an antiquity of 800 years for it but it has long since fallen to ruin though
I believe the fort and some of the walls of the houses are still standing.—It is also
said that after heavy floods gold coins are sometimes picked up by the Bedouins.—
The dates belong to the Aal Morra and Dowasir tribes who visit Jabrin in the
Gheith or summer to collect the harvest which is carried for sale to Nejd and
El Hasa.—It is also extensively resorted to by the neighbouring nomads with their
flocks and herds for the sake of the luxuriant pasturage.—In Bereymi I found a
small colony of the Zatt or Zattoot, as the Arabs call them, settled.—In his Alte
Geographic Arabiens para. 172 Dr. A. Springer has identified the zatt with the
gats of India and though, as he shows, they have been in Arabia upwards of 1,000
years they are at once distinguishable from the Arabs as a distinct race.—They are
spread over Central and Eastern Arabia from Muscat to Mesopotamia and
everywhere maintain themselves as a separate community, never intermixing by
marriage with the Arabs.—They go about unarmed and are held in great respect
by the Arabs who value them for the useful services they render and never think
of molesting them,—All kinds of work are done by the gats who are furriers,
goldsmiths, blacksmiths, carpenters, and pedlars.—They manufacture also guns
and matchlocks indeed all the trades and manufactures seem to be in their hands
and they are to the natives of the interior what the Banians and other Indians
are at the seaport towns.—They retain their own language among themselves or
as the Arabs say they speak “ ratteeni ” and they often know several languages.
The women are said to be very handsome and dance publicly for money but are
reputed to be very chaste and moral. In Nejd I hear they are a necessary ingredient
at Arab marriages as they set off the assembly of their beauty the wedding party
is not considered complete without them.—They respect and behave well to each
other and when one arrives from another province, a Nejd Zatt coming to El Hasa
for instance, he is welcomed and entertained with honour, given a wife and assisted
in settling down. The levirate law obtains among them but should there be no
brother the nearest male relative can take the widow to wife. The zatt even m
distant parts as in Nejd, Busra, Oman & ca maintain constant intercommunication
with each other, but I am not aware whether this extends to the tribes in India.
The Arabs profess ignorance as to the origin of the zatt but state that the za
themselves declare they originally came from India.—
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