"ملف ١٥/١١ تقرير النقيب إكلز عن الأراضي الداخلية في عُمان" [و‎‎١‎٢] (٩٦/٢٣)

boulderB and with no water close by. As this wee our irst day
in the Kaw&sin&h country I dared not express xay ieelmg^ —
simply walked back to my original choice and ordered our men to
unsaddle and, as the caravan had meanwhile arrived, ,to pitch
the tents, iiaif’e idea in leading us on in that way was twofold -
to avoid having to offer the hospitality of his village, and to
prevent us from buying anything except through himself or his
personal followers.
ffliaidhain (bbb ft) wrongly placed in hunter’s Map of 1908,
is built on a 25 feet river terrace on the left Bank of the &adi
Hawasinah about half a mile before the V^adi emerges from the
foot-hills into the open plain. An older river terrace 95 feet
above the present level of the river forms a steep cliff
opposite the village. This and other villages of the Kawasinah
are well and strongly built, in sharp contrast to those of other
tribes which we visited, strangely enough well-built fortified
villages are a source of weakness rather than strength to the
tribe, as each petty vjllage bhaikh comes to rely more on his
fortifications than on the unity of the tribe. This was most
noticeable among the Villages of the 1 awasinah where one was on
unfriendly terms with the other and the tribal Shaikhs had very
little authority; whereas on my expressing surprise at the
wretched condition of the Ban! ’Umr forts ana villages at a
later date, their bhaikh said that this had been the deliberate
policy of his father and himself; a policy whose success was
evident from the discipline and obedience of his tribesmen.
The Wadi Hawasinah at Ghaidhain is dry except in time
of flood but the ^alaj or water channel of the village obtains
its supply from underneath the surface shingle about a mile
above the village and continues underground for some distance.
The construction of the underground channel is exactly similar
to that of the Persian “Qanat* or M Kariz". The head of the falaj
is protected by a well built fort. The channel later divides
into two , each stream watering a half of the village gardens.
Hence the derivation of the name GMi dhain "The Two Groves* 1 .