'File 8/62 IV PRINCIPAL SHAIKHS & TRIBES OF OMAN.' [‎99r] (199/282)

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EL JANABAS.,
The tribe may be divided by location into three
parts•
(i) around Adam (SharqiyahK 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 c Many of these
f, Suris n 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 f; sambtlk ,! ? somewhat smaller than the
Kuwaiti r boom n .
(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, t
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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 are at
feud with the Beni bu Hass an/and allied to the Hishm, Bani^^xo
bu Ali and Bani Rasib* / '1**
Their Tamimah, Yasir bin Hamud al Hawaii, aged ,
about fifty, lives at Iz. He visited the Sultan in 1948
and in December 1949, receiving about RSr 250/- on each
occasion. He is himself well off, with some good date
gardens. i
Apart from their thieving tendencier, their *
attitude is friendly, though the Sultan appears to have
little control over them,
EL KATHIR,
The Kathir i? the principal tribe of Dhofar
District, in which the Sultan maintain-:^ e^m^er retreat
or capital at Salslah, They also live in "one Samhan hills
behind the Dhofar plain. They number about five thousand,
and possess about fifteen hundred riflec The Sultan has
prohibited for many years now the importation of j new
riflec into this district, so that those that exist must-
be getting very old indeed. These people also carry
daggers and possess swords, and there may be quite two
thousand of each. A few of the tribe are found in Muscat,
Those in the plains are cultivators and own excellent
gardens of dates* grain and vegetables.. Water is good
and plentiful, whilst the country gets the South West
Monsoon rains, and cattle thrive m the hills. In olden
days a flourishing industry was derived from the
collection of frankiv'^^se from the s n p of the shrub
which abounds on the plal^u above the hills. The mother
of Qabus, the Sultan’s ten year old and only son, comes
from this tribe.