Page 64 - A Hand book of Arabia Vol 1 (iii) Ch 3

TR. ES OF THE CENTRAL WEST 73

It is bounded on the north by the Nasri, on the south by the Beni
Malik, east by the Shalawah, and west by the Beni Faham and
southern Juhadlah. Their country is more fertile than that of
their northern neighbours, wells being plentiful, and they raise
cereals and fruits. There are no nomads amongst them. They
favour the Emir of Mecca and can provide him with about 1,000

men.
Hamsa ibn Mohammed is their chief Sheikh.

There is enmity between them and the Shalawah, and with the
Juhadlah they are by no means friendly. They combine with the
Beni Thaqif, Beni Malik, and Nasri in times of danger.

9. Tribes of the NE. Asir Borderla.A.

Certain tribes which inhabit the region between Northern Asir
|
and Southern Nejd (so far as tHis is not occupied by the Ateibah) must
be mentioned, although it is very doubtful if any of them can be
regarded as predominantlyinomadic. It is certain, in any case, that
a large proportion of their members are partly settled, either in the
upper valleys of the inland Asiri wadis or in the Nejd oases ; and
it is probable that enough of them are now permanent cultivators to 1
deprive the tribes of the Bedouin character they once had. Com­
paratively little, however, is known about them.
The most numerous and important tribe is the SEBEI‘, whose
home-land is the ill-known region of Wadi Sebei£, which lies between
N. Asir and Woshm and appears to include the lower basins of two
of the great Asiriwadis, Turabah and Ranyah. Not only, however, are
settled Sebei‘ found also in towns and villages of almost all the Nejd
districts, but nefmad members wander even east of these into Sum-
man, and over many parts of Eastern Toweiq. The nomad element of
the tribe numbers at least 1,000 tents, and is divided in allegiance,
the Sftbei‘ of Wadi Turabah being tributary to the Sherif, while the
rest (the larger part) acknowledge Ibn Sa'ud. The whole tribe is
either Wahabite or Hanbali Sunnite.

. The names of some seventeen sub-tribes are known, but almost all
in connexion with settled Sebei‘.
Connected with the Sebei‘ and possibly constituting a sub-tribe

V ^re SAHUL ;or Shaul), of which nomad members range
and into Hasa. If identical with the SHALAWAH, their
ome-land is Wadi Sebei\ But it is practically certain that they are
ow more settled than nomadic and have become only less a per-
anent element of the Nejd population than the Fadhul. They