"ملاحظات ميدانية: بلاد الرافدين. هيئة الأركان العامة في الهند. فبراير ١٩١٧". [ظ‎‎٣‎٧] (٣٥٠/٨١)

CHAPTER III.
POPULATION.
Inhabitants.
The bulk of the inhabitants consists of Arabs, either nomad
Bedouins or, in the case of the populations of the towns and
villages, sedentary Arabs; of the nomad tribes, the principal
are the Muntafik, under Ajaimi bin Sa’adun Pasha, who used
to live at Suq-ash-Shuyukh, and the Bani Lam, on the left bank
of the Tigris towards the Persian hills. There are many sub
divisions of these tribes and also numerous other smaller tribes.
The nomad Bedouins, especially the Muntafik, were in constant
conflict with Turkish rule and supplied no soldiers to the Turkish
army, in consequence of which the local units of Baghdad and
Basrah were invariably below the proper strength.
The Turks proper form the official classes and the ruling
element of the towns. Apart from the Arabs and Turks, there
are certain numbers of Chaldeans and Sabians, with some
‘ Persians and a good proportion of Jews, mainly in Baghdad
itself. The Chaldeans (a Christian race who claim to be de
scended from the old Assyrian stock) are not encountered as a
rule so far south as Baghdad, except when engpged on work
on thp river. They provided the crews of the river steamers.
The headquarters of the Chaldean Church is at Musal, and
there is also a considerable number of this sect at Baghdad.
The French, under whose protection they are, use the Chaldean
Catholics as a medium of French political influence.
The Sabians, another Christian sect numbering about 3,000,
claim to be followers of John the Baptist, and are mostly located
around ’Amarah.
The Nestorian Christians, whose headquarters appear to be
at Babylon, desire the British to take more political interest
in them and their Church. In fact they wish for official protec
tion such as the Chaldeans enjoy from the French. The Russians
were said in 1912 to have been anxious to offer them this facility
and a section of the Nestorians was then parleying with them.
The Shi’ahs of this part have their headquarters at the
celebrated shrine of Karbala. They are very hostile towards