"شخصيات، شبه الجزيرة العربية" [‎١‎١‎٣] (٣٧٤/١١٧)

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4. Beni Sakhr.
The BENI SAKHR, usually known as Ahl esh-Shimal,' People of the
North', are of the northern Arabian stock, and reckon their descent from
Mudhar, either through 'Abs or through Tamim. Legend gives varied
accounts of their origin, one being that the eponymous founder of the
tribe was a certain Sakhr who came from the east ; another that their
ancestor was a child abandoned in the desert; he was adopted by a Bedouin
called Dahamsh, who gave him his daughter in marriage, and was nick
named Toweiq (Tuweiq) on account of a small ring which he wore round
his neck ; for this reason the whole tribe is sometimes known as the
Tauqah. It is also occasionally named, after the foster-father of its
founder, the Dahamshah. All traditions agree, however, that the Beni
Sakhr spring from a common ancestor whose tomb is venerated at Bir
Ba'ir. This cenotaph, built in an ancient caravan-station on the road from
Damascus to Teima, which fell into disuse in the early Abbasid period,
is covered with small votive offerings, and the great Sheikhs of the tribe,
when they move down to summer quarters here, would not venture to
enter the Wadi Ba'ir without sacrificing a camel in honour of the pdd.
The sub-tribes of the Sukhur are all descendants of Toweiq, the genea
logical tree being as follows :
Toweiq.
Ghufl. Sehim. Ghubein. Qa'ud.
'Amr. Heqeish. Hamid. Muteirat. Fa iz.
I
Zeben.
The territory of the Beni Sakhr stretches from the Jebel Duruz
in the north to the depression of Jafar, near Ma'an, in the south; it is
bounded on the east by the Wadi Sirhan, and on the west by the Jordan.
It is a rolling country, sparsely covered with grass, and intersected by
deep valleys which are rich in vegetation. In the spring the Sukhur
go down as far south as the Jebel Tubeiq, when they are on good terms
with the Huweitat ; but relations between the two tribes are usually
somewhat strained, and more than one pitched battle has been fought
in the rocky Tubeiq hills. In the summer the wells of Ba ir gi\ e abundant
water, and the deep valley is never bare of pasturage ; but the greater
part of the tribe withdraws to the country round Madeba and the northern
Belqa, though the gradual extension of cultivation along the line of
the Hejaz Railway has restricted their pasture grounds. Some of the
Fa'iz sub-tribe hold cultivated lands round Jizah, and Fawwaz, eldest son
of the paramount Sheikh Tela! ibn Fa'iz, has built himself a house on
the ruins of the Roman fortress of Qastal.
The completion of the Hejaz Railway has undoubtedly strengthened
the hold of the Ottoman Government upon the independent tribes who