'File 8/62 IV PRINCIPAL SHAIKHS & TRIBES OF OMAN.' [‎21r] (41/282)

The tribe is occupied in date cultivation and in rearing
and driving donkeys# Some arc traders# They maintain
a friendly attitude to the Sultan and the British.
EL JANABAH.
The trihe may he divided hy location into three parts#
(i) around Adam (Sharqiyah), about four hundred,
mainly bedouins, wild and robbers, engaged in camel
driving.
(ii) around Sur, about eight thousand. These are
civilised and, of recent years, peaceable. Formerly
they indulged in piracy and slaving, and occasionally
slaves have escaped and presented themselves for
manumission at the Consulate at Muscat, the last in
July 1950. Many of these ’’Suris*’ own dhows, and at
present they have about one hundred and fifty engaged
in trade between Africa,Zanzibar and the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
as far as Basra. Their craft is built locally and
is known as a "sambulc", somewhat smaller than the
♦Kuwaiti "boom".
(iii) Masirah, about six hundred, migratory and engaged
mainly in fishing, but these and other detachments on
the Jala’an coast and towards Dhofar, are known to be
both robbers and wreckers.
The total of the tribe is about ten thousand and they
must own about two thousand five hundred rifles, those of the
Suris being of the best quality. They areat feud with the
Beni bu Hassan and allied to the Hishm, Bani bu Ali and Bani
Rasib.
Their Tamimah, Yasir bin Hamud al Maj’ali, aged about fifty,
lives at Iz. He visited the Sultan in 1948 qnd in December
1949, receiving about Rs. 250/- on each occasion. He is
himself well off, with some good date gardens.
Apart from their thieving tendencies, their attitude is
friendly, though the Sultan appears to have little control
over them.
BENI KA^AB
The Beni Ka’ab are found settled mostly in the Mahadhah
tract to the east of the Jau (Buraimi) area. They are also
found in the Wadis Al Quor and Hatta, and in Sohar and Liwa.
Their chief Shaikh is Obaid bin Juma bin Duiain, and he
-receives small allowances from the Sultan through ihe Wall of
Snh^r The tribe is friendly to the Sultan and Obaid bin Juma
accompanied hisMinister for ?he Interior back from B^aimi in
1948 in connection with oil company negotiations, and visited
the Sultan in Muscat.
BENI KITTAB (or Qitab)
The Beni Qitab (as the name is best transliterated)are
divided into two main sections. The larger section live around
Dh^id in Sharjah territory with Shaikh Mohammad bin All bin
Huwaidin as Their Chief, and it is understood that he gets an
annual allowance of some Rs.25,000 from the Ruler.
The other section, which seems to have -become completely
agr le4 TiS ISaSf t Si r AS P Mn 1 Ra«Jy«h;
the Sultan's Mnlstnr Ion th. Interior tact to
T'/hn o