Page 76 - A Hand book of Arabia Vol 1 (iii) Ch 4,5

POPULATION 133

rth where the land conditions are least favourable, they
l'1 1 | 11 i., ’to seafaring. The Dhawi Hasan and Dhawi Barakat,
take al°py the coast from Llth to Uruj, are fishermen and pirates.
Tl >' °Zobei(l (or Zubeid) sub-tribe of the Harb, which succeeds to
10 c0ntains also some sailors, but with it and the Beni Zeid
!.f the Qunfudah district begin predominantly agricultural units,
which generally own one or more port-villages, or, sitting astride
i he tracks to the interior, profit by commerce even if they do not
practise it. So live the Beld'ir, the Ahl Hali federation, the Beni
11Hill and the Munjahah.* After the last begins the favoured and
we ll-settled district of Mikhlaf el-Yemen, where the Idrisi has
established some sort of law and order, increasing from the north,
which is held by the Beni Shi‘bah and the Nafu, to his home-land of
Sabia and Abu ‘Arish. His authority holds to‘the southern limit
of Asir ; but the comparatively small tribes lying south of the Abu
'Arish* of which the Masarihah, the Beni Marwan, the Beni Hasan,
the Beni Aslant, and the Beni lAbs are the more important, better
maintain tribal autonomy and in means and manner of life approxi­
mate to the units holding the coast north of Mikhlaf’ el-Yerrifen.

The following table shows the tribal influence of the Turks,
Idrisi, and the Emir of Mecca respectively in 1914. In cases where
tribal allegiance is divided, only important divergences are noted.
The completely independent tribes are given in a fourth column.

(a) Tribes of the Maritime Plain from Lith to Lat. 16° (Wadi ‘Ain)

Turk. ! Idrisi. | Sherif of Mecca. \ Independent.

Dhawi Hasan (un- Zobeid 1 Dhawi Hasan Dhawi Barakafc
willing) Bela'ir j (unwilling)
Beni Zeid ‘Abld el-Emlr
Beni Ya'lah Ghawanimah I
Aulad el-‘Alauna
Kinanah
Beni Yahya
Beni Hilal
Munjahah
Beni Shi’bah
Naj‘u
Ja‘ahrah
Ahl Sabia !
Masarihah
Ja‘dah
Beni Marwan j |
Beni Hasan
Beni Zeid i
1 Beni Aslam
Beni ‘Abs
Beni Nashar
=
t