'Personalities, Arabia' [‎107] (111/374)

107
W. of Hit, while in summer they come back to the Euphrates or cluster
about the springs in the Hauran valley, round Mat.
The Fed'an range from Aleppo to Deir on both sides of the Euphrates
and up the Khabur valley almost to the Sinjar. The Siba ', famous
breeders of camels, are seated on the middle sections of the Palmyra
road. They go up towards Homs and Hamah on the west, to Resafah on
the east, and north almost to Aleppo. If pasture is lacking on the Syrian
side of the desert, they seek it in the Fed'an country and in winter their
Sheikhs come down, with those of the 'Amarat and the I'ed an, to Mat
and the Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Sirhan. The 'Amarat also cross the Euphrates on occasion,
and camp with the Fed'an along the Khabur. The Wuld Suleiman, who
roam between Teima and the Nefud, are of Fed'an lineage and a part of
Bishr, but they stand politically outside the confederacy ; for, like their
allies and neighbours the Fuqara, they pay tribute to Ibn Rashid. They
have not many camels, but own a few patches of palm-growing lands in
the Kheibar Harrah, which are cultivated, on their behalf, by the Huteim.
The paramount chief of the ' Amarat is of the house of Hadhdhal,
Fahd Bey being the present sheikh. His tents number about 3,000. He is
wealthy, and owns palm-gardens at Ghazazah neai Keibela, at Bagh-
dadiyah above Hit, and elsewhere on the Euphrates. Although his wisdom
and skill in tribal diplomacy is much vaunted, he is now an old man and
not so active as Nuri of the Ruweilah ; nor does he concern himself with
external politics. He has suffered imprisonment at the hand of the Turks,
and cordially dislikes them, but his closest link with affairs outside the
desert is his landed property on the Euphrates. He fears that if the
Hindiyah escape, a part of Sir W. W illcocks s scheme of Mesopotamian
irrigation, were to be put into execution, his gardens at Ghazazah might
be partly submerged, and he was inclined to blame the English for
their share in that project. He could only with difficulty be reassured
on this head, and shown that the better distribution of the water would
be of benefit to himself in common with all other landowners.
A more striking personality is Hakim (Hachim) ibn Muheid, who, with
Hakim ibn Qeishish, rules over the Fed'an , some 3,500 tents in all. Ibn
Muheid is possibly second only to Nuri esh-Sha'lan in the Anazah federa
tion. He is a man of about 40, vain, money-loving, and strongly pan-Arab.
His position on the middle reaches of the Euphrates enables him to close
the riverain road to traffic whenever he pleases. Until the Baghdad
railway is completed, this road is the customary, and by far the shortest,
means of communication between Aleppo and Baghdad, and is now
connected with Constantinople by a railway, broken only b\ a shoit
interruption on the Taurus. The Siba ' are less numerous, some 1,800
tents all told ; their ruling families are the Beni Murshid and the Beni
Hudeib (Hadeib).
Upon all the Anazah the Ottoman Government levies, so far as
it is able, a sheep-tax and a camel-tax. The great sheikhs receive
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