Page 28 - Arabiab Studies (IV)

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Arabian Studies IV
pastures. Other households converge upon al-$ubaykhl from the west
(from the lower Wad! al-‘Ayn area) for the date harvest. These have not
been included. The population of the Wadi Jufrah was counted in 1975 as
part of the Durham University Oman Research Project Census and
Household Survey.
5. For discussion of the complexities of tribal groupings see Carter, J.
(in press), and Wilkinson, J. C., 1971. For instance, while the Hawadif are
considered by some to be a separate tribe (qabilah), to others they are a
section of the BanI Qitab.
6. In Oman, it is normal for different sections of the same wadi to be
called by different names. Some of the larger wadis have four or five
different names referring to particular stretches. The term wadi, as used
here, includes the wide valley, rather than just the water course filled in a
flash flood.
7. Falaj (pi. aflaj) systems are similar to the qanat irrigation systems of
Iran. See, for example, Twistleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, R., 1970, ‘Sweet
Water for the Hottest Land’, Geographical Magazine, xii, xlii, 888-93;
Wilkinson, J. C., 1974, Organisation of the falaj irrigation system in the
Sultanate of Oman, School of Geography, University of Oxford, Research
Paper No. 10, Oxford.
8. For more details of population totals and life styles see the Durham
University Oman Research Project Reports (forthcoming).
9. See also, Wilkinson, J. C., 1971 and Birks, J. S., 1977, ‘The mountain
shawawiyah of Oman’, Journal of Oman Studies, II, 1977.
10. The two wells in the centre of the Jufrah (at al-Aghariyah and
al-Murayfiyah in Fig. ii) are 75ft. deep. At al-$ubaykhl animals and
humans can drink from the water which the falaj brings to the surface, so
the drawing of water is done away with.
11. These sedentary households under the old order comprised mainly
the elderly and poor, and those who stayed near al-Subaykhl in order to
oversee the cultivation of the palms.
12. This compares with about 60 goats per household amongst the
shawawiyah of the mountains, though much lower numbers are owned in
lowland areas such as the coastal plains. A sample of fariqs living over the
mountains from the Wadi Jufrah, on the Batinah coastal plains of Oman,
owned about 15 head each in 1975.
13. Although a 55- to 60-year-old man worked regularly in Abu Dhabi
as a night-watchman and house-painter.
14. For more details of movements of migrant labour, in this case from
villages, see Birks, J. S., 1976, ‘Aspects of Demography Related to
Development’, Bulletin of the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies,
London, III, No. 2.
15. Having said this, it must be noted that the seasonal movement to
the palms for the date harvest was not simply to benefit the animals, as
noted above, but it was the ownership of goats and sheep that made it
impossible to stay near the oasis all year. This would have created
problems of over-grazing, and of stray goats damaging the gardens by
eating and trampling produce.