Page 20 - Arabiab Studies (IV)

10 Arabian Studies IV
couple of kilometres of the palms. The families remain near the
oasis until the end of the date harvest in September, before moving
back to near where they spent the previous winter. These moves
enable the family to be near to the palm groves for the period of
the date harvest. There is thus labour available to help with
harvesting, and the fresh dates can be enjoyed directly from the
palm. There is also the incidental advantage of their moving nearer
to a shallow source of water for the hot summer period when more
is needed, and when the effort involved in drawing it from a well is
at its most unpleasant.10 The dispersal in September is to move the
animals out to the pastures for the winter.
This pattern as shown on Fig. ii is, however, much simplified.
Fig. iii illustrates the moves made by the three most mobile fariqs,
i.e. those which changed site most frequently during the year
1974/5. Although these families only have one summer site (in a
construction rather larger and more permanent than their winter
houses) they move several times during the winter to different sites
in the pastures. The average number of different sites occupied by
each of the fariqs which moved during 1974-5 was between three
and four.
However, some 66% of households in the Jufrah (32 out of the
48) did not move, but remained at the same site throughout the
year. Of these, about 25 households were located near the village of
al-$ubaykhl, the remainder dispersed around the winter pastures
(Fig. iv). This sedentarisation of households, both near to al-
$ubaykhl and in the winter pastures, is a relatively new aspect of
BanI Qitab life; some two decades or so ago, only less than 20% of
households did not move site at least seasonally, and these were all
situated in the immediate areas of al-$ubaykhl and al-‘AraqI.u The
reduction in mobility with the spontaneous settling of these
families is at once an expression of, and a contributory cause
behind, a marked change in life style amongst these BanI Qitab.
The processes of change revolve around the temporary
migration of men from the families of the Wadi Jufrah to find
work in more developed areas of the Gulf—in particular in eastern
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrayn and Abu Dhabi. Originally
on a small scale, these movements did little more at first than
absorb the under-employed male labour surplus that this, like
many other pastoralist societies, supported. Thus the purpose of
the early migrant labour movements was to augment the income
from the flocks and traditional sales of dairy products which
remained the focus of their lives. However, as the Iqtabls became
more acquainted with the benefits of a cash income, this became
their primary interest, their flocks and herds becoming secondary.