'File 8/62 IV PRINCIPAL SHAIKHS & TRIBES OF OMAN.' [‎25r] (49/282)

* PARA .
The Qara tribe which lives in the hills of Dhofar district is
primitive and uncivilised. The iconic do not look like Arabs, and
are probably a branch of the Mahras from the.Hadramaut (Aden
Protectorate). They belong, however, to the Ghafiri faction, but
do not appear to take any part in politics or to be at feud v/ith
the neighbouring Kathir tribe which is Hinawi. Except for a few
who live in Salalah and Marbat, they keep to the hills, and dwell
in caves. They rear camels, cattle, sheep and goats, and seem to
come to the plains to purchase, in exchange for hides and ghee,
such grain and vegetables as they need. Though regarded as
unreliable, they appear to be peaceable enough at the present time.
A fuller account is to be found in Lorimer’s Gazetteer from which
there has been little change.
Their
baits and other particulars as supplied by a S
haikh are
as under:-
Bait
Settlement
Shaikh
Population
Rifles Re:
El Ma'a
Taqa and
Salim bin Mahad
1,500
1,000
shani
hills
Jabub
Samhan
Hamad al Secdan
200
40
-
hills
Ali bin
Samhan
Ahmed bin Ali and
300
100
Taman
hills
Al Bakhit bin Hassa
n
Qatan and
-do-
Musa11am bin Said
300
100
Said
and Said bin Tammam
Aka 'k
Rekhut
and
(or Raikhut)
Awaz bin Mahad
250
50
Ha r dan
and hills
They •
appear to know
tho Sultan well by s
ight and address him
simply and
directly as M S
aid”, without title
or honorific
, a practi
which the :
Sultan likes.
They seem friendly
to Europeans
, but have
all the suspicion and shyness of a wild people, and require careful
approach.
BENI RIY/i.i
The Beni Riyam is the largest tribe in Oman, the population
now exceeding perhaps fifteen thousand. As a whole they are
civilised and peaceably inclined, and have few rifles, possibly
loss than a thousand. In comparison with others their intelligence
is high. They live mainly in the mountain region of the Jobal
Akhdar, where they have over fifty villages. V’ith good water
supplies and pasture lands, they aro able to keep cattle, and consume
a wine made from grapes which they grow.
Though their Tamimah, Suleiman bin Hamyar, who is also Taminah
of all the Ghafiris, is, like Salih bin Isa, tho Hinawi leader,
close to the Imam, the tribe itself is at feud with the Euwahah
(the Imam’s tribe). Shaikh Suleiman and his eldest son and heir,
Sultan, visited the Sultan at Muscat in 1948. There he received
the greatest hospitality, during which his daily expenditure is
understood to have cost the Sultan Rs. 200/- for the fortyfive
days of his stay. On leaving the Sultan is supposed to have given
him M.T. Dollars 50,000 (Rs. 1,25,000), five American Rifles,
ammunition, ten bags of rice, five bags of sugar and a Jeep. This
last the Shaikh, who drives, took to his home Tanuf via the Batinah,
Nadi Dhank Yanqul and Ibri. He built a road to Muti intending to
join up with the ’‘ f adi Samail, making a short route to Muscat, but
was prevented by the Imam and people of that territory.