Page 8 - A Hand book of Arabia Vol 1 (iii) Ch 1,2

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they lie. In a composite chapter, such as that on the Gulf Coast,
the same general **
dealing with several independent territories )
arrangement, when practicable, has been followed for each area.
In the population of Arabia, a distinction must be drawn between
the settled constituents of society and those trjbal elements wh.eh

are essential^ nomadic. The former are more conveniently treated
•• after the geographical chapters describing the provinces within w hich
•. . ’• •.
their settlements fall. The Bedouin tribes, on it he othe^ hand, ^though
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they move within recognized areas and along jeajously guarded
ranges, are not tied to the soil, and a preliminary ^Tflapter has there-
fore been devoted totthem. It should be notec] that in this chapter
V
the line of demarcation of the Arabian Peninsula upon the north,
as defined on p. 9, has not been strictly adhered to, since the noiqad
tribes of the Syrian Hamad and the Mesopotamian Jpzirah are
regarded byr the Peninsular Bedouins as forming a great social
aggregate with themselves ; moreover, some tribes move habitually
from one side to the other of the border-line. Under these circum- c
/ '
/ stances our survey has been extended to include the nomads of.the
Syrian Desert to the north of the Nefud, although geographically'
that area lies without the scope of the Handbook. (See Handbooks
of Mesopotamia and of Syria ami Palestine.) The tribes of ‘Iraq,
however, ire not included, although some of them, especially
constituents of the great Muntefiq group, range into the eastern
part of the northern Nefud. They are left for consideration in
a special work in connexion with Mesopotamia.

It is important to remember that, owing to the war with Turkey,
••• the security of many of the routes has been affected, and political
:••• •••• •v conditions, even in the more settled districts, are in a state of flux.
Where it has been ascertained* that definite changes have taken
place, these have been duly registered, But for districts where
no recent information is yret available the normal conditions of the
territory are described and the date of the information is indicated.
It should be added that some Arab names are left unaccented for
lack of certainty' about the local pronunciation.
The plates at the end of each volume have been choser to
illustrate the varieties of country which are characteristic of
Arabia.

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