According to Mohammed el-Kalb, these bandits own the
bluest of blue blood. Their forefather was one
Wail, who left by his descendants two great tribes.
The first and the eldest took a name from their Ma’az
("he-goats"); while the junior called themselves after
the Annaz ("she-goats"): from the latter sprung
the great Anezah family, which occupies the largest
and the choicest provinces of the Arabian peninsula.
Meanwhile genealogists ignore the Ma’azah.
Wallin would divide the tribe into two, the Ma’azah
and the “Beni ’Atiya:” of the
latter in Midian I could hear nothing except that
they represent the kinsmen of the Shaykh’s family.
We find “Benoo Ateeyah” in maps like that
of Crichton’s (1834), where the Ma’azah
are laid down further south; and northwards the Beni
’Atiyyah are a powerful clan who push their razzias
as far as the frontiers of Moab. My informants
declare that the numbers of fighting men in the Midianite
division of the race may be two thousand (two hundred?),
and that they are separated only by allegiance to
two rival Shaykhs. The greater half, under Ibn
Hermas, is distributed into five clans, of whom the
first, ’Orban Khumaysah, contain two septs.
Under Mohammed ibn ’Atiyyah (El-Kalb) they number
also five divisions. Amongst them are the Subut
or Beni Sabt, “Sons of the Sabbath,” that
is, Saturday; whom Wallin suspects to be of Jewish
origin, relying, it would appear, principally upon
their name. The ringing of the large bell suspended
to the middle pole of the tents at sunset, “to
hail the return of the camels and the mystic hour of
descending night,” is an old custom still maintained,
because it confers a Barakat ("blessing”) upon
the flocks and herds. Certainly there is nothing
of the Bedawi in this practice, and it is distinctly
contrary to the tradition of El-Islam; yet many such
survivals hold their ground amongst the highly conservative
Wild Men, and they must be looked upon only as local
and tribal peculiarities.
End of Vol. I.
Endnotes
[EN#1] My collection dates from between the first
century B.C. and the first century A.D.; this can
be gathered from comparison with the coins of Alexander
Jannaeus and his successor, Alexander II. The
tetradrachm may belong to the reign of Alexander the
Great, or the ages preceding it.
[EN#2] Here probably disappeared some fine specimens
of silicate of copper which caused a delay of three
months in the report.—R. F. B.
[EN#3] Messrs. Edgar Jackson found in the same box:—
Silver (per statute ton)...............2 oz. 17 dwts. 11 grs.
