Page 226 - A Hand book of Arabia Vol 1 (iii) Ch 6 -10

200 SULTANATE OF KOWET1

results, and the Sheikh was obliged to keep a strong body of men
in the desert for months, at great cost to the people of Koweit.
The present ruler is Sultan Salim ibn Mubarak ibn Sobah el-
Khalifah, who succeeded his brother Jabir on February 5. 1917.
Mubarak was a strong ruler, under whom Koweit was the most
peaceful and best-governed principality on the Gulf. He acted con­
sistently in accord with the British; and though by the Anglo-Turkish
Convention of 1913 he acknowledged the suzerainty of the Sultan, •
a practical autonomy was conceded to him, and the validity, of all
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his agreements with H.M. Government was admitted by the Porte.
...;
On the outbreak of the war, all relations with the Ottoman Govern­
ment were broken off.
!
Mubarak had a friendship of long standing with the family of the !
Emir of Riyadh, and was visited by Ibn Sa'ud, to whom, on more
than one occasion, he had rendered useful service ; on the other
hand, his relations with Ibn Rashid were intermittently hostile.
As regards the Bedouin tribes, Koweit has a standing feud with the
Muntefiq, with whom are usually associated the Dhafir, and some­
times the ‘Ahvi section of the Muteir. Though the ‘Ajman to some
extent acknowledge the authority of the Sheikhs of Koweit, they
sometimes attempt to raid their people, as near Jahrah in 1909, and
at Wafrah in 1910. Mubarak held little communication with his
distant relative the Sheikh of Bahrein, but was on terms of intimacy
with Sheikh Khazal of Mohammarah. In the course of his reign he
had acquired considerable estates at Fao on the Shatt el-‘Ai'ab.

Districts, Islands, and Towns

Districts

These may be conveniently divided into four groups, the first-
comprising allN. of a line running W. from Koweit town to the Batin;
the second, all to the S. of this; the third, certain tracts of the far
''U-YV!:-1:;- ' ' interior ; the fourth, the islands.
The following are the northern districts :
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i. Batin, in the N. angle towards the Turkish frontier, named
from the section of the great valley which it adjoins.
ii. Shiqqaq, a barren tract E. of the preceding ; it is said to take
its name from a number of shiqqaks or depressions.

iii. Bdtih, E. of Shiqqaq and S. of the Turkish outpost of Safwan.
An undulating waterless desert, 130-210 ft. above sea-level tra­
versed by a broad shallow depression, Bil Jirfan.
iv. Yah, a barren tract between Jahrah and Batih, 250 ft., above

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