Page 23 - Arabian Studies (I)

Folklore and Folk Literature in Oman and Socotra 11

Their culture is not money-based, but loans play a large role.
These are usually loans of fodder and food supplies from friends or
traders on the coastal plain. The loans are to be repaid when the
animals calve and are in milk. A friend and his family are often
invited to a nomad’s dwelling place ‘to drink his milk’ at this time.
No interest is charged, but doubtless the goods are overcharged to
the Bedouin.
Many of the wealthier nomads own properties such as date-
plantations or frankincense groves.
The Mehra arc sharif
The social organization of the Sheri-speakers is both complex and
changing rapidly. It should first be pointed out that although Sheri
(mountain [tongue]) is fairly acceptable as a term for the language
(OA. jibali), the people called Shero (sing. Sheri) are of low social
class and not permitted to carry arms.10 The Batahirah are also
lowly in origin.
The Bait Kathlr, whose first language is Arabic and who are said
not to speak good Sheri, are sharif. So too are the Ehkili people who
speak Sheri but may be Mehri by origin. Their relations with the
Mehra are good and they compose poetry in an interesting language
compounded of Mehri and Sheri.1 1 The Barahimah seem to be
sharif. The Mashayikh (S.Eshakht) do not carry arms, but are not
servile, nor apparently are they sayyids as might appear at first blush.
The main occupations of the semi-nomads and settled village
people of the high plain are agriculture and cow-raising, and in
certain areas the cultivation of the frankincense trees for their resin.
This is of course an occupation much less lucrative than it was.
The rulers of Socotra until recently were of Mehri origin, although
the last Sultan spoke only Socotri. Many of the more important
burghers were of Mehri origin also, but recent Mehri immigrants from
the mainland were not included in this elite. The people on the high
plain lived mainly by agriculture, by raising the small cows for which
Socotra is famous and by bleeding the dragon’s blood tree for its
resin (i’ida'). The coastal people lived by fishing and palm cultiva­
tion. There are many former slaves of African origin in the
neighbourhood of Hadfboh. The date palms were owned by a small
minority who would contract for labour on the basis of a share of
the crop. The people taking this employment were mainly former
slave stock, and the system did not work very well, the labour being
rather careless. The Sultan and perhaps other notables could raise a
corvee from these people, who also provided the musicians for
festivities. Although in theory such people could not marry a woman
of sharif origin, in practice this did occur occasionally when times
were bad.