Page 66 - Gulf Precis (VI)_Neat

44
Part I.
" To sum up generally on this head, owing to tho nomad habits, I must add, they are ono
and all but littlo under tho control of the Turkish Government. It is true that a sort
of tacit understanding exists between them and the authorities, that, so long as tho revonue
at which tho tribe is assessed is paid, they are to suffer no molestation. This assessment
takes place annually, but much difficulty is experienced before the sum is fully paid up, tho
object of the Arab being to show he is really too poor, and that of the Government to obtain,
if well-paid in one year, an increase of tribute in tho next. Thus both parties fall out, are for
the most part always at odds, if not at open war. Too weak to courco them efficiently, the
Government employe's the usual weapons of the feeble, those of exciting party against party.
Factions are thus raised in tho tribes, tho much coveted Shcikhships arc sold, as it were, to
the highest bidders, and a constant rivalry oxists, fomented by tho Government as an element
to neutralize the combinations and rebellions so frequent in ull ages among theso singularly
constituted people. It is this system, howovor, which has impoverished both the oountry and
people.
*
On the Government of tho province, and the imperium in imperio system pursued to weaken
those who, whon united, woro ablo to set up in antagonism to authority, I have already
touohed. Gonorally speaking, the form of administration in Baghdad and in tho minor towns
is based on that of Constantinople, varied only to suit local usages aud requirements, when
these do not operate badly upon the general law, which, of course, is that of tho Koran, and
the interpretations which learned legislators have awarded to its less intelligible doctriuen.

(ii) Brief history of the tribes from early times to 1843.
120. Wo have given above an account of tho Kaab tribe and the distur­
bances they caused on the delta of tbo Euphrates and Karun to the inconve­
nience of the Turks and Persians and the British. We shall now give
briefly an account of the feuds and disturbances among tho several other Arab
tribes.
121. In 1747 we read a letter of the Resident at Basrah mentioning a rebel­
lion of tho Montejik Arabs, because they
ZWiwA Arabia Prieit, 1646—1846, paragraph 63.
thought that the Turkish Government
was giving to impose too heavy a tribute on them. They went so far as to
open the banks of the river, with the result that the desert was laid under
water to the very walls of Basrah.
122. In 1769 we had a letter, dated lSth October 1769, from the Agent
in Council at Basrah, reporting that
Turkish Arabia Prieit, 164G-184G, paragraph 119.
the Turks had been for some months
past engaged in a kind of mock war with the Arabs, whereby all communica­
tion with Baghdad whether by the Tigris or Euphrates had been entirely
stopped. The cause of the troubles was the refusal of Sheikh Abdullah, tho
Chief of the Montefiks, to pay the tribute he ownod for the lands he held from
the Turks and for which ho bad been many years in arrears. One Sheikh fazal
was appointed Chief in place of Abdullah, but as the Agent observes, Abdullah,
who was rich, would be likely to buy over the Pasha by rich presents.
123. In May 1787 Sheikh “ Sidney” one of the Montefik Arab Chiefs,
entered Basrah with a large force, took pos­
Ibid, para. 103.
session of tho town and tbo Turkish fleet,
and imprisoned the Mussalim. He retained possession of the town until the
Pasha of Baghdad expelled him from the place as October 17S7.
123. There is in our records an interesting description written by Mr.
Harford Jones in 1802 of the state the
Ibid, pan 196.
Arab tribes and other affairs in the Pashalik
of Baghdad which would hear being quoted at length :—
“ The fortifications of Baghdad, though almost truly contemptible in tho eyes of
Europeans, are nevertheless sufficient to defend it against the efforts of any eastern army ;
but other circumstances render it evident that were it blockaded for but a few days it mus
surrender. The population on both sides tho Tigris does not exceed 102 M. souls, for t e
support of which almost every npcessarv article is brought from such a distance and in sue
a manner that the interception of these indispensable supplies would be easy to the enemy. ®
single article of firewood is brought from a distance of 100 to 200 milce; wheat is ci ie
brought from Coordistan or the country surrounding Mousul; rice principally from the coun ry