"نجد الجنوبية: رحلة إلى الخرج والأفلاج والسليل ووادي الدواسر في سنة ١٩١٨." [و‎‎٣‎١] (١٠٠/٦٦)

— 53 —
the flood and an extensive patch of palm stumps, half-buried in
sand to remind its twenty or thirty inhabitants of the feuds of
their ancestors.
The ruins of Ruwaisa lie about one mile south-east of Hana-
bija and shelter about twenty persons—the sole remnant of the
prosperous Amur colony which migrated on account of the
feuds above mentioned to Tamra.
Immediately beyond these ruins lies the last or Sharafa
section of the wadi, a scattered group of palm-groves of unequal
quality astride the channel with a number of separate qasrs
and three small hamlets in a bunch on the right bank. As the
name of the section suggests, the population belongs to a Dawasir
group called Sharafa generally reckoned as a subsection of the
Misaara and almost certainly related to it though it acts indepen
dently of the main group and claims to be an independent
section. As regards the nomenclature of the three hamlets,
one fair sized and two small shapeless unwalled groups of mud
huts, containing with the neighbouring qasrs a total population
of about 500 souls, there seems to be a difference of opinion
which is solved by calling the whole trio by the single name
of A1 Sharafa. The name of the largest hamlet appears, however,
to be Mishrif while the other two are designated Uwaidhat;
the name Thamamiya, which appears in Hunter's map, attaches
only to a single well.
It will be gathered from the above brief account that, except
for the very meagre representation of the A1 Hasan section,
the population of the wadi is a very fair epitome of the
Dawasir tribe, a fact from which (as also from the general
trend of tribal migrations) it may be inferred that the wadi
was the first settlement occupied by the tribe on its arrival
some centuries ago from the Yemen under the leadership
of its common ancestor Zayid. What the original population
of the wadi was local history does not relate, but it is generally
believed that Zayid and his companions first settled here as
the guests and under the protection of their predecessors and
in due course waxing strong returned evil for good and
ejected their hosts. It occurs to me as quite a plausible theory
that the subsection of the Abat Dawasir whom I have had
occasion to mention above represent the survivors of the
aboriginal settlers of the wadi. In due course the new settlers
increasing and multiplying sought new pastures further east