"كتيّب سوريا (بما في ذلك فلسطين). لندن: إدارة استخبارات الأركان البحرية، يونيو ١٩١٩" [و‎‎٣‎٠‎٨] (٧٣٨/٦٢٠)

POPULATION
609
these that any strong administration would seize its chance,
and herein lies the political importance of tribes like the Bel-
qawiyeh. They are cultivators after the inefficient manner
of the Arabs, and like all the half-settled people, their numbers
are surprisingly laige in comparison with those of purely
nomadic tribes. They have few camels, and those which they
possess are bought from the Bedouin, not bred by themselves ;
but they rear large flocks of sheep and goats, and live richly
on their milk during the spring. The fact that they own
cultivated ground should give the Government a firm hold
over them ; they are immobilized thereby, nor do their pas
toral conditions give them the means of rapid transport.
Their numbers would make them a solid barrier between their
wandering kinsmen, who can slip through the fingers of the law
at any moment, leaving no pledge behind, and the permanently
settled lands. Moreover their geographical position makes them
the first problem to be dealt with, a problem on which the
security of wide and fertile regions, now lying to a great extent
derelict, must depend.’ (Handbook of Arabia, I, p. 398.)
The following is the distribution of the chief Belqawiyeh
and ‘Ajlun tribes. (See also Handbook of Arabia, pp. 400—2.)
On the plateau and the SW. slope, i. e. S. of the J. Osha‘-
Kom Yajuz line :
i. ‘Adwan (400 tents), ranging to W. Hesban, the chief
Sheikh having a residence at ‘Ain Hesban. The sub-tribes
are the Salih. 140 tents (Hesban), Nimr, 60 tents (Zabbud,
near Hesban), Ka’id, 90 tents (between Hesban and the Ghor),
‘Assaf, 70 tents (E. of Salt).
ii. ‘Abbad (600 tents), district of Wadis es-Slr and Jerl’ah.
Sub tribes : ManasTr (near ‘Araq el-Emir) ; Ifqaha, 70 tents
(W. Jeri’ah); Nu'eimat, 200 tents (NW. of Salt); Duweikat,
120 tents (W. of Wadi es-Slr).
hi. ‘Ajarmeh (300 tents), Hesban to the Ghor. Sub-tribes :
Muteiri’in, 70 tents (Suwaniyeh and Mushaqqar) ; Isifah, 40
tents (El-‘Al, near Hesban) ; Sawahr, 30 tents (Samek) ;
Ifeishat, 25-30 tents (Na‘ur); Harafis, 30 tents (plain of
Mahalah) ; Sheneiqiyin, 20 tents (Hesban).