Page 244 - A Hand book of Arabia Vol 1 (iii) Ch 6 -10

r

POPULATION 209

Population

The .settled population i.s estimated at about 100,000 ; the
nomadic at about 57,000 ; the chief distinctions among the former
are not tribal but religious, the people falling into two main groups
of Sunni and Shiah. If speaking Arabic as the mother tongue,
the sedentary Shiah are known as Bahdrinah ; they form almost
the whole population of the Qatif oasis, and nearly half that of the
oasis of Hasa, occupying in addition the island of Tarut. Many
Arabs of the nomadic tribes have become sedentary ; some 4,500
of the Beni KJhalid live on the islands of Musallannyah, Jiimah,
and Tarut, at Qasr es-Subeih, at Kalablyah and Jishshah in Hasa
oasis, and at Umm es-Sahak in the oasis of Qatif. In the Wadi
cl-Miyah there are about 1,000 miscellaneous Arabs, and smaller
numbers in other places. Negro slaves are numerous in the culti­
vated area.
Among the Bedouins, tribal distinctions are paramount. Some
35,000 of the ‘Ajman tribe make their head-quarters in Hasa ;
the Ahl Murrah, though chiefly ranging the Jafiirah desert and
Jabrln, are represented by 7,000 members ; the Beni Ivhalid by
10,000, and the Beni Hajar by 5,000 souls. Nomads of the Hawazin,
Rasha’idah, Dawasir, Sahul, Muteir, Sebei‘, Ateibah, and Qahtan
make temporary sojourns within the boundaries of Hasa, though
more properly belonging to Koweit and Nejd. The Beni Ivhalid
range chiefly in the N. of the region, the Ahl Murrah in the S.;
the intervening space towards the interior is regarded as the territory
of the ‘Ajman, that towards the coast, of the Hajar.
Previous to the expulsion of the Turks from Hasa, in 1913, these
tribes, with the Manasir, continually raided the routes from ‘Oqair
to Hofuf and Hofuf to Riyadh ; the state of the former route was
i:
7 indeed one of chronic insecurity. In 1912 Raunkiaer found great
difficulty in traversing the Riyadh-Hofuf route, and, in spite of I bn
Sa'ud’s protection, he encountered considerable hostility and was
threatened more than once. But the victory of Ibn Sa'ucl has put
an end for the present to such attacks, as his power is now respected
by the Bedouins. The ‘Ajman formerly did not confine themselves
to land raids, but even engaged in piracy. In 1912 members
of the tribe on board a ship sailing from Bahrein to Qatif over­

mastered the crew and ran the vessel ashore, making off with the
cargo. At that time they were said to intend establishing a post on
the coast, whence to strike at the traffic between the above places.
But Ibn Sa'iid put an end to their raiding. In the summer of 1915
ho practically expelled them from Hasa into Koweit territory,

*•: