Page 28 - A Hand book of Arabia Vol 1 (iii) Ch 3

50 THE BEDOUIN TRIBES

and intersected by deep valleys which arc rich in vegetation. In
the spring the Sukhur go down as far south as. the Jebel Tubeiq,
when they arc on good terms with the Huweitat, but relations
between the two tribes are usually somewhat strained, and more
than one pitched battle has been fought in the rocky Tubeiq hills.
In the summer the wells of Ba’ir give abundant water, and the deep
valley is never bare of pasturage ; but the greater part of the tribe
withdraws to the country round Madeba and the northern BelqaJ
though the gradual extension of cultivation along the line of ther
Hejaz Railway has restricted their pasture-grounds. Some of the*
Fa’iz sub-tribe hold cultivated lands round Jizah, and Fawwaz, eldest^
son of the paramount Sheikh Telal ihn Fa’iz, has built himself ap
house on the ruins of the Roman fortress of Qastal.
The complet ion‘of the Hejaz Railway has undoubtedly strength­
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' ened the hold of the Ottoman Government upon the independent
tribes who range along its northern- sections. The Sukhur, for
example, do not enjoy the full measure of their former autonomy ;
for though they are unassailable when they retire into the desert,
retribution falls upon them when the summer droughts force them
back into the pictures west of the railway, and their cornfields at
Jizah, Duleilah, Netel, and elsewhere along the line enable the Turks
to put a further turn on the screw. Fawwaz has become an Ottoman
official, being Kaimmakam of Jizah; but he is too close to Damascus
t
:• to have escaped the political movement which has its centre in
the capital of Syria, and Arab Unionists speak of him as a firm
adherent of the Nationalist party. He is about 35, fairly intelligent,
energetic, secretive, and untrustworthy. The Sukhur are responsible
for the Hejaz Railway, as they used to be responsible for the pilgrim
; road ; they guard the line from Jizah to Kerak, and receive a yearly
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subsidy in return for their services.
Jaussen1 reckons the united strength of the tribe at from 700
to 800 tents, including in this estimate the three principal tvibal
divisions, the Aghbein, the Ghufl (with the two big sub-tribes, the
Zeben and the Heqeish), and the Khadhir. To these, however, must
be added the Khurshan and the Jubur, originally constituents ol
the Ka'abnah, a tribe once powerful, but now almost non-existenl
as a tribal unit. The Khurshan, formerly known as the Hammad
under their Sheikh Hadlthah, arc politically inseparable from tin
Beni Sakhr, though a wholly different tribe-mark bears witness tc
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1 their different origin. They are a warlike people, breeders of horse
and camels ; their pasture-grounds are near the Jebel Haurdn
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\ The Jubur arc sheep owners, and only half-nomadic.
Lhc Saleitah, with a total of about 100 tents, are clients of th
bukhiir and live among them. The Jahawashah, though they a I
1 Cuntumes des A rubes uu Pays de Muub, ». 400. 1
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