Arabia and Some of the Bedouins 29 



the greatest horse breeders. Each tribe 

 of the Anazah has its individual leader or 

 Sheik, and at the time of Upton's visit 

 all the tribes of Anazah were united under 

 one very remarkable man named Sulei- 

 man ibn Mirshid, who was called the 

 Sheik of Sheiks. He was not only a 

 great warrior, but also a wise adminis- 

 trator of the internal affairs of the tribes. 

 Some years before the time of Upton's 

 visit the Shammar tribes had been united 

 also under a great leader named Abd-ul- 

 Kerim. The Shammar were Bedouins 

 who came originally from Nejd, one 

 thousand or fifteen hundred miles lower 

 down in the Arabian peninsula. Some- 

 thing more than two hundred years ago, 

 under the guidance of a Sheik named 

 Paris, they had come north with their 

 flocks and camels, invading the pasture 

 lands always occupied by the Anazah. 

 These latter did not hesitate to wage war 

 on the Shammar, and drove them across 

 the Euphrates into Mesopotamia, to a 

 point near Mosul. Abd-ul-Kerim was 



