Page 53 - UAE Truncal States
P. 53

Chapter Two
                   had date gardens and houses in seven villages of the Liwa but most of
                   them did not live there permanently. They spent the winter with their
                   camels in the desert, and many of them went pearling during the
                   summer in the boats of other Bani Yas. The A1 Bu Falah were the first
                   of the Bani Yas to acquire property in the Buraimi oasis, and the
                   members of the ruling family have systematically continued this
                   policy until now.22
                    The most numerous section of the Bani Yas is the Al Bu Mahair,
                  listed by Lorimer as a separate tribe.23 In the 1950s they had only
                   about 35 houses in Abu Dhabi and another 20 in the Buraimi oasis,
                   while the majority of the Al Bu Mahair belonged to Dubai (300 to 400
                   houses), Sharjah (60 houses) and the other ports of the coast. Their
                   main occupation was pearling and fishing.
                    The Al Bu Falasah section became well known as the one which
                  seceded in 1833 to the fishing village of Dubai, which had been until
                   then under the authority of the Al Bu Falah Rulers of Abu Dhabi.24
                  The tribal leader of that section became the ancestor of all
                  subsequent rulers of Dubai. The Al Bu Falasah were among those
                   Bani Yas who took very readily to the water and engaged in pearling
                  in Abu Dhabi as well as later in Dubai. Most of the families who
                  remained with the Ruler of Abu Dhabi had either fishing rights and
                  lived on the islands or lived in Abu Dhabi town. A few families had
                  connections with the Buraimi oasis and went there for the summer.
                    The Rumailhal are a section which lived mostly from pearling and
                  had no date gardens in the Liwa. At the turn of the century they had
                  about 100 houses in Abu Dhabi town and on the adjoining coast.
                  With the decline of the pearling industry, several of the Rumaithat
                  families moved out to live on the islands north east of Abu Dhabi
                  town (Sa'diyat and beyond), where they obtained fishing rights. A
                  few families visited the Buraimi oasis but, having no possessions in
                  the Liwa, they usually did not go with their camels into the desert
                  during the winter but entrusted them to other Bani Yas tribesmen for
                  a fee. They were thus less mobile than most other Bani Yas sections.
                  A similar life was led by the much smaller section of the Qumzan,25
                  whose strength in Abu Dhabi was further reduced when, after the
                  recession in the pearling industry, more than half the Qumzan
                  families moved to Dubai.
                    The Qubaisat are in some ways the most representative of the Bani
                  Yas in that their members were very mobile and participated in all
                  the occupations which were traditionally pursued by the Bani Yas.
                  The Qubaisat used to be prominent participants in the pearling

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