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Chapter Two

their share in the wealth, the chiefly desert-bound families could not
at first integrate very easily into the new multinational society. Even
now, few of the Manasir have settled in Abu Dhabi town, few aim at a
“middle-class" type of existence by becoming civil servants. How­
ever, some have started transport companies as a direct follow-up to
their previous employment as drivers for companies operating in the
desert. The Manasir in Abu Dhabi form a substantial part of those
groups who are currently being encouraged to settle.

Dhawahir
After a large part of the Buraimi oasis had come under A1 Bu Falah
authority41 during the rule of Shaikh Zayid bin Khalifah, the original
Dhawahir inhabitants of most of the villages became subjects of the
Ruler of Abu Dhabi, thus also considerably increasing the number of
men who were ready to fight for him. It was, however, even more
significant that the Dhawahir as the principal date cultivators of the
oasis then formed the bulk of the settled population of the thus
enlarged shaikhdom.
Estimates of the strength of the entire tribe vary between 2,000 and
4,500;42 in the 1968 census 2,844 Dhawahir were counted in the State
of Abu Dhabi. Almost all the many sections and subsections of the
tribe ceased to be nomadic a long time ago, and had established
gardens. The once exclusively Dhawahir villages, al ’Ain, Jfmi, Hfli, al
Qattarah and Mu'tirid were partly bought out by the Al Bu Falah
during the last decades of the 19th century.43 But the Dhawahir
continued to be the cultivators, some of them in the capacity of
gardeners who were rewarded by the Bani Yas owners. The
Dhawahir were able to keep large flocks of sheep and some goats
because there was plenty of grazing in the immediate neighbourhood
of the villages. According to Lorimer the entire tribe became beduin
during the winter, but they did not need to go very far to find grazing
for their camels either. In the last century the Dhawahir still owned
large herds of camels. During the last few decades most Dhawahir
stayed in the oasis while only a few looked after the rather
diminished camel herds in Khatam. In all of al Jau and particularly in
the many wadis, shrubs and acacia trees grow in sufficient numbers
to have made a charcoal industry worthwhile. The Dhawahir who
gathered the wood and produced the charcoal also carried it to the
coastal towns on their own camels, along with the products of their
gardens such as limes, mangoes, dates and some wheat.
In the Gazetteer only three sections of the Dhawahir are men-

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