"كتيّب الجزيرة العربية. المجلد I. ١٩١٧" [‎٥‎٧] (٧٤٨/٦٦)

NORTHERN TRIBES
57
Ii reckoned as a clan of theTa'iz, are not of Beni Sakhr stock. They
^bei| are a fraction of the Useidah, who, after a bloody quarrel, abandoned
ilatioi the Belqa, and took refuge with the Fa'iz. They do not intermarry
1 moii with the Sukhur, though in all other respects they form part of the
iMls tribe. On the other hand, the small but valiant tribe of the Ser-
iedee[ diyah, an offshoot of the Sukhur, are politically independent of
letrili the latter, and not infrequently at feud with them. They inhabit
Belfp the eastern edge of the volcanic country to the east of the Jebel
of tin Hauran, and owe their position in the desert to the reputation of
of ft their late paramount Sheikh, Mit'ab el-Qanj, said to have been the
elda strongest of living men. His son Ghalib, the present Sheikh, is about
mselfi 30, not so noted a raider as Mit'ab, less ambitious than his father,
and of mediocre intelligence. He is in close touch with Damascus,
rengtl and counted by the younger Nationalist politicians as a friend and
)endeB ally; but he is not sufficiently powerful to dispense with any pro-
liir, foi tection which he can obtain from the Ottoman Government, and
rnomj in 1911 he successfully invoked the aid of Sami Pasha against his
desert hereditary foes, the Ruweilah.
!e thei The Beni Sakhr are almost always at war with the Anazah con-
ields al federation on their east frontier; with the Huweitat their relations
eTuifc are doubtful, with a general tendency to hostility, and the same
ittow applies to their north-western neighbours, the 'Adwan. The Druzes
.masci to the north are their sworn enemies, and the Zobeid confederation
mtrei (the Jebeliyah), who roam the slopes of the Jebel Hauran, usually
i a fin throw in their lot with the Druzes against the Sukhur, though they
pillig mt are on fairly good terms with the Serdiyah. The cultivators from
3onsil )li Madeba and Salt, mainly Christians, who own most of the ploughed
pilgrii l an cls on the Hejaz Railway, are obliged to maintain friendly relations
i yearl with the Beni Sakhr, since the Ottoman Government offers them
little or no protection. They keep open house for the tribesmen, who
om 1 P rofit lar g el y b y th eir hospitality, and hold them in commensurate
j trifc esteem. Such families as the Ibn Jabir and the Bisharra are much
bes, 4 respected, and enjoy a considerable influence in the desert. The culti-
jr, in® va ted land does not extend far beyond the railway, east of which the
lents o! so ^ * s ^ 00 thin and the rainfall too scanty for successful corn-growing,
exists The latest information is, that after the outbreak of war between
immaJ ^reat Britain and Turkey in the winter of 1914, when the attack
■om tk on ^e Canal was developing, the Beni Sakhr, fearing that the Otto-
tness ti in . an Government would seize their camels for transport purposes,
f hoist withdrew across the Sirhan. Having been for the past year at
T aur j';P eaGe with the Ruweilah, they took refuge in their country. They
were last heard of between 'Amud and Mat, in the Wadyan dis-
i of it ' and had even pushed as far east as the 'Amarat pastures,
hev f'l ^ukhur are not among the great camel-owning tribes, but their
J herds can scarcely amount to less than some 12,000 to 15,000 head.