'File VIII/3. Pedigree, Private affairs, notes, etc on the As-Subah family.' [‎60v] (128/464)

the actual employes in the Customs. These rights it is necessary to maintain
in order to enable him to carry on with success the difficult task of his rule in a
country like Arabistan, a country the people of which is composed of a series of
clans which he has to keep under efficient control.
It is written with great distinctness in the Custom’s firmans that all servants
and employes of the Department shall be appointed with the approval and
the sanction of the Shaikh of Mohammerah. This reservation is a very necessary
one.
The Shaikh though an autocratic ruler rules on patriarchal lines and his
power lies in the support and approval of his people.
By his skilful management he has steadily strengthened and consolidated
his power and I doubt if any other Arab Chief in Iraq has the same amount of
control over his people.
Nevertheless, the Arabs of this part of the world are far from being civilised
and it is unfortunate that none of the Belgian officials who have come here appear
to have the least understanding of the conditions of the country.
They appear to consider the circumstances are the same as Belg-'um and
apparently misled by the habitual security of Mohammerah and the country sur»
rounding it, think that the whole district is the same. Indeed their ignorance is
not perhaps surprising when it is considered that no official who has come here
can speak 5 words of Persian or Arabic and that all are consequently absolutelv
m the hands of their subordinates for all information of any kind.
It is true that fear of the Shaikh’s authority has a great effect in maintain
ing order but, as an example of how much of this is due to his personal influence
may instance the fact that, when he was away at Ahwaz for some months in
the spring, I was unable to obtain boatmen who would face the journey to
Basrah by night for fear of robbers. When the Shaikh is at Mohammerah
boats pass up and down nightly without the slightest fear.
This power which the Shaikh possesses is due to the fact that he has the
complete confidence and support of his chiefs of clans, or perhaps it would h^
more correct to say the balk of them, for disaffected men naturally exist ^t all
prevalence of smuggling ThatsmXw/-, Belg,an a ?}' ,0n has teen th<
largely encoura g ed g \v?heexorL«antfus fmT , rmes n ° This T ^ ”
of two kinds i firstly the systematic smumdi™ nf t hl' u smu &? lln g consists
especially in tea and tobacco for ni.rroc/® * ° °! t le nlerc l i ants and traders more
tribes for their own personal use. hvfth thelffor^ofThTc^ I he Sm n ug S lin 2 of the
Stop the first I have every sympathy with ’ ^11 ki Cu 1 stoms Department to
latter 1 have none, nor woufd ™ny man'of sensehttemtit tQ 6 *^ the
present circumstances and conditions of the country P To ItP "f W “ h “ m the
to smugglmg force is required and when it comes tl tho • mP ! ° end
obtainable except that which the Shaikh possesses H ‘ SSUe n0 force IS
quite uncivilised that unpopXity^PanThegrea'teP’o ^ ' n t- C0Untry which is
preventive service. to nsk their ,lv es fighting the Customs
... 3 T. 1 rc d ' 3 "l lh £, —-r«» —
ame the Shaikh for not using his power and i j ri -^f s ' ® ut t ^ le Customs
toce Now I have explained Wh P s power ijc d W ‘ S u t0 de P end u P on his
VVere he then to use his paid levies in this work ’l P ° n su PP ort of his tribes.
S rounrf n k- WOU d Very shortI y have a hornets’ nest o7t “ ^ , fightin g his own
all round h,s country. U i s a paradox b s nest of trouble about his ears and
the greater his dependence on his neonle a t ie g reat er the autocrat
■sthen impossible for the Shaikh to approve |n ;L eSpecial, y tru e in the East.
approve, in the present state of civilisation