"كتيّب سوريا (بما في ذلك فلسطين). لندن: إدارة استخبارات الأركان البحرية، يونيو ١٩١٩" [و‎‎٣‎٠‎٦] (٧٣٨/٦١٦)

POPULATION
605
tribes (see below), and are probably descendants of tribesmen
who adopted the agricultural life many years, perhaps cen
turies, ago. In a few places in the northern part of the dis
trict (Mukrabeh, Umm Keis, Deir es-Sa‘neh) new-comers have
entered the country from the w T est of Jordan (chiefly from
Nablus), or from the Hauran, but these form only a small
proportion of the whole. The fellahin are by nature sturdy
and fairfy tall, lighter in complexion than the Hauran people,
but also less powerful, not being so well nourished. Where
they are well fed throughout the year, they are a fine race ;
thus the townsmen of Salt are distinguished by their good
physique. But at present many fellahin are half-starved in
winter, partly through their own improvidence, partly through
lack of security, and a system of taxation which discourages
industry and accumulation. The same causes which affect
the physique of the fellahin also affect their numbers, and the
tendency of the settled Arab to increase at a greater rate than
the nomad is thus largely neutralized. No permanent effort was
made by the Ottoman Government to render village life secure.
It is true that between 1840 and 1850, on a threat of the
fellahin—the only tax-payers—to abandon villages in North
‘Ajlun, troops were sent to exterminate the Sa‘eidi of Wk el-
‘Arab ; other tribes were driven out of the district, and those
which remained were reduced to a subordinate position. But
even here highway robbery continued common, and if these
northern villages were themselves safer, the roads between them
remained dangerous. Farther south, where the non-sedentary
population is more numerous, the fellahin were despoiled in
their homes, or even expropriated, so that places which should
have been permanently inhabited were occupied or abandoned
according to the behaviour of neighbouring tribes. More
insidious enemies than the roving Arabs are the moneylenders
of Tiberias and Damascus, to whom the careless peasant falls
an easy prey.
The great majority of the settled Arab population is Moslem.
Christians are settled in Salt, Fuheis, Rumeimin, ‘Ajlun,
El-Husn, and Zahr en-Nasara in El-Wustiyeh; their total