Page 8 - A Hand book of Arabia Vol 1 (iii) Ch 3

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4G THE BEDOUIN TRIBES
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beneficent than that which they had left, lhe most famous stock
of horses are found among the northern Anazah, and the gieatcsj
numbers of camels. Bedu of the purest blood and tradition, thej
have remained entirely beyond the control of the Ottoman C<o\crn
ment; and except for a few palm gardens on the Lower -Euphrates
a little cultivation on the Khiibur, and a village.near Damascus, JuT
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Sheikhs have given no pledge to established order by the acquisi
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■ tion of settled lands, nor is any part of the Syrian Desert ploughec
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or harvested. Their geographical position gives .them command
over some of the main trade-routes of' Turkish Arabia. Th<|
Hamad is a bridge rather than a barrier between Syria and Meso
potamia. Until 1911, the camel post from Damascus to Baghdadi
passed over it once a fortnight, and regularly during the win toil
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! and spring the agents of the Damascene sheep merchants cross it,
paying dues to the Anazah for safe conduct, while the camel herds!
of the latter supply the markets bo'ch of Syria and of Egypt
indeed, it is not too much to say that the greater part of the camel
i trade is in their hands. Moreover, the road down the Euphrates
I from Aleppo to Baghdad is largely at their mercy, as well as tjre
first half of a frequented carriage-road from Deir, via th,e Sinjar, to
Mosul. The Anazah are thus the first of the great'independent
tribes with whom administrators of the settled lands must come
into contact, and upon their goodwill depends freedom of inter­
course between Syria and Mesopotamia. Last century they played
a large part in Syrian politics, and have still a zest for the game.
Their own dependence on the Syrian markets must always make
it a matter of the first importance to them to maintain friendly
terms with those who control the province commercially ; but
it must be remembered that commercial control of Syria is not,
and never has been, in the hands of the Turks.

The western side of the Syrian Desert is occupied by the RWeilah
(Ruwalla). With their powerful confederates the Wuld £Ali and
: the Muhallaf, who are in the closest relations with them, and also
then allies, the Hasanah, they number about 7,000 tents. They
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wander over the desert from Homs and Hamah in the north, where
the Hasanah have their summer pasturages and are bemnnincr to
settle down as cultivators, to Qasr el-Azraq, south of Jebel Duruz
(where the Ruweilah dlra touches that of their foes, the Beni Sakhr)
and down the Wadi Sirhan to the oasis of Jauf el-‘Amr, which the
Ruweilah took from Ibn Rashid some five yeax-s ago. 'in summer
they occupy the pasture grounds S. of Damascus and push as far
west as the Jaulan. To the east the limits of the Ruweilah do

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