Page 126 - A Hand book of Arabia Vol 1 (iii) Ch 6 -10

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POPULATION 241

arc orthodox Sunnis, but a few, such as the Beni Bu ‘A1 i and the
Beni Rasib, are Wahabito.
Tribal organization in Oman is very loose. Some of the tribes
arc scattered and have no local centre ; others, though compact,
are broken up into sections headed by sheikhs who acknowledge
no common authority. In only a few cases is the tribe governed
by a tamlmah, or chief, whose power extends over all its branches ;
the office is nominally elective but in practice hereditary. Owing
to the great increase in the arms traffic, which was only recently
controlled and eventually suspended (see p. 247), far more of
the tribesmen are now armed with modern rifles than was formerly
the case.

Products and Trade

The greater part of the settled population lives by agriculture,
of which date cultivation is the commonest form. Extensive date-
groves are characteristic of the Batinah coast, the Wadi Sema’il,
and the Sharqlyah district, and some very fine varieties are grown ;
but the tree flourishes everywhere, even in almost inaccessible
valleys and at a height of over 2,000 ft. above sea-level. Other
fruit-trees which are more or less common are the plantain, mango,
pomegranate, and quince, the sweet and bitter lime, the olive, and
the almond ; the walnut, fig, vine, and mulberry flourish in Jebel
Akhdhar, and the coco-nut palm grows in Dhofar. The common
cereal crops are wheat, barley, maize, and millet; other crops
are musk-melons, water-melons, lucerne, cotton, sugar-cane, and,
in places, indigo and tobacco. The natural vegetation of the
country is sparse and stunted, mimosa, acacia, and tamarisk being
among the commoner trees ; grass is nowhere abundant.
Cultivation, whether of fruit-trees or crops, is dependent on
irrigation. In the hills and where streams exist water is brought
by a carefully constructed channel, sometimes subterranean, and
in that case called a felej ; an open channel is called sdqlyah. Where !
irrigation is from wells, as in Batinah, water is raised to the irrigation-'
channel in leather hoists.
On the sea-coast agriculture is supplemented, or replaced, by
fishing. In Batinah, where the fisheries are important, the nets
: afe sometimes a mile long and form the principal possession of the
village ; at certain seasons the fishermen ply their trade along the
coast of Mekran. On the coast live stock, including camels, are !
largely fed on fish-heads boiled up with date-stones, remnants i
of mats, and other refuse. Cattle, sheep, and goats are found
ARABIA. I
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