Page 98 - A Hand book of Arabia Vol 1 (iii) Ch 3

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NON-BEDOUIN NOMADS 91

regard the Jebel Tubeiq as their own special dira, while the Sukhur
and the Huweitat are intruders.
In Ibn Rashid’s country the Sherarat will pay tribute to him ;
in Moab they pay tribute to the Ottoman Government. Wherever
they may be, they must buy the goodwill of the Paramount
Sheikh of that region. They are skilled hunters, and their camels
are said to be the best in Western Arabia, especially as freight-
earners. Although their small tents are almost destitute of
furniture and their coffee-hearths are bare, many of the Sherarat are i -
well-to-do. A man clothed in rags may be the owner of 20 camels,
and a Sherari sheikh is a rich man in the desert. But a hunter !
wandering solitary for a year or more, with his tiny tent, his wife,
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his single camel and little flock of goats, living mainly on such
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animals aS he can trap, content with black cakes of semh seed in
place 'of ‘bread, and chewing the green weeds of early spring like \
one of his own goats, has brought the amenities of existence to the
irreducible minimum. The men take service with the cultivators of I
the Jizah district, and often settle down among them; but their
former trade of supplying the Hajj camels with grass from the Nefud
has vanished with the opening of the railway.

2. The Huteim

Closely related to the Sherarat are the HUTEIM (Heteym), and
they are even more widely scattered. They are to be found on the
Persian Gulf, in Yemen, on the Red Sea, and in Egypt; but their
main range is in Central Arabia, from near Medina, north-east to
•lebel Shammar. The name Huteim is used roughly by the Arabs as
a synonym for any base-born, half-settled tribe. They are rich and :
numerous ; those of the Kheibar and Medina districts pay taxes to ■
the Government, while those of Jebel Shammar used to be taxed
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by Ibn Rashid, but are now out of hand and raid his villages when
he is away with his fighting men. The Huteim breed excellent
riding-camels, and own large flocks of sheep and goats. Their
"omen are renowned for beauty, but would not be taken in marriage :
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P any Bedouin of good stock. The men are reputed to be timid
anc °f no value as fighters. \
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3. The Sulubba
,)rirrhe SULUBBA (Solubba) are an interesting tribe about whose

rciuiU n°thinS certain known. Probably they are the dispersed
incest11*8 °f some old stock ’ but le§encl has been busy with their
‘ try. and has given them as forbears the Indian dancers of Harun
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