Page 52 - A Hand book of Arabia Vol 1 (iii) Ch 3

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ns THE BEDOUIN TRIBES

The clans in the Hejaz, such as the Helissah, Meraukhah, Ivurzan,
Sebbahah, Marashidah, and Semarrah, are small in numbers and
breed sheep only. There is little cultivation in the licirruhs, no
more than palm-groves and small Ateibah villages.
The two great divisions of the tribe arc the Ruqah and the Berqah.
The Ruqah°are chiefly in the Hejaz, the Bcrqah in the eastern desert.
The paramount Sheikh of the Bcrqah, Mohammed ibn Hindi, used
•. .
to be a close friend and ally of Ibn Sa'ud, rode with him in raiding
expeditions and aided him with fighting men.,. But the relation of the
Ateibah to the. Shcrif and Ibn Sa'ud respectively has been somewhat
modified of late. The tribe used to belong to IbnSa'ud’s confedera­
tion, only those clans which actually inhabited the Hejaz coming under
the Shcrif: but at the same time Ateibah sympathies were on the whole
with the Sherif, possibly because he was farther away and exercised
a less direct control. In 1910 his second son, ‘Abdullah, raided
Qaslm, nominally on behalf of the Ateibah Sheikhs. He captured
Sa'cl, the brother of ‘Abdel-‘AzIz ibnSaTid ; but the support which
he expected from Ibn Rashid was not forthcoming, and when the
Emir ‘Abd el-‘AzIz appeared in force he made terms with him and
retired. Ibn Sa'ud undertook that the Ateibah should he tax-free,
and that the Qaslm should pay the Sherif £4,000 a year. The first
part of this arrangement was not observed b}- Ibn Sa'ucl (and in
all probability the second part met with as little respect). No
sooner had ‘Abdullah gone back to the Hejaz than the Emir
raided the Ateibah on the ground that they had harboured the
rebellious Aulad Sa'ud, the grandsons of his uncle, who had tried
to raise Kharj and Hariq against him. In 1915 ‘Abdullah returned
to the charge. He carried an expedition as far as the province o-
Sedeir in Nejd, levied taxes from the eastern Ateibah, and had r
successful encounter with the Barrlyah, who are allies of the Muteii
and subjects of Ibn Sa'ud.
The Ateibah are foes of the Harb, than whom they are more
powerful ; they are generally on good terms with the two smal
tribes on their southern frontier, the Buqum and Shalawah, and a
feud with the Qahtan.

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