CH. XXIV.] The Indtistriotts Tribes. 185 



desert they are beginning to plougli and sow corn. 

 They cling, however, all of them, to their Hocks and 

 herds, and as long as this is the case it is better to 

 leave them in their tents than to try and make 

 them live in houses. Nothing is more wretched 

 than a pastoral life in fixed dwellings. 



The most prosperous of the tribes are those which, 

 while remaining purely nomadic, have either never 

 been or have ceased to be troublesome to their 

 neighbours. I have generally remarked that, where- 

 ever cattle and buffaloes are found, there the tribes 

 are peaceable and flourishing. The Jiburi on the 

 Tigris, and the Subbkha on the Euphrates, are good 

 types of an honest, industrious, but purely pastoral 

 race, living w^ith their cattle all the year round in 

 the same district, and making as good subjects as a 

 Sultan need have. The Haddadin too are an excellent 

 example of what pure nomades may be. These keep 

 only sheep, with the exception of a few camels for 

 transport duty, and have a just reputation in the 

 desert for honesty and good manners. The citizens 

 of Aleppo and Mosul entrust their sheep every 

 winter to them and seem contented with the ar- 

 rangement. The Haddadin are the most prosperous 

 tribe we visited. The Weldi, further west, have a 

 similar reputation for honesty, but, owing to some bad 

 years lately and the extreme exactions of the Aleppo 

 Government, they have been much impoverished. 



With proper encouragement and light taxation, 

 the northern desert might maintain a large and 



