178 CIVIL HISTORY AND 



The territory round the point of the Gulf, extend- 

 ing from the Arabian Desert to Endian, is occu- 

 pied by the tribe of Kiab, whose sheik, Solyman, 

 acquired some celebrity in consequence of his dis- 

 putes with the English, in which he captured some 

 of their vessels. His principal residence was Ghi- 

 lan, a town near one of the outlets of the Euphrates. 

 The Beni Lam, a numerous tribe, occupy the banks 

 of the Tigris from Korna to Bagdad. They exact 

 duties on goods conveyed by that route, and some- 

 times pillage caravans, in spite of the chastisements 

 they occasionally receive from the Turkish pashas. 

 One of the most powerful tribes, both as to the ex- 

 tent of their territories and the number of their 

 dependencies, is that of Montefik, who possess all 

 the country on both sides of the Euphrates from 

 Korna to Arja. In winter they pasture their cat- 

 tle in the desert ; and in summer, when the grass is 

 burnt up, they remove to the banks of the river. 

 They trace their genealogy beyond the era of Mo- 

 hammed, and from time immemorial have been 

 sovereigns of that country. Their nobility is divided 

 into many branches ; and Niebuhr observes that the 

 family then reigning consisted of 150 persons, all of 

 whom might aspire to the supreme power, and were 

 intrusted with a certain share of authority. More 

 than twenty inferior tribes lived in a state of sub- 

 jection to them, who all, in the event of war, join- 

 ed the troops of the principal chief. 



The rich plains of Mesopotamia, once cultivated 

 and populous, are now inhabited, or rather desolated, 

 by wandering Arabs under their respective sheiks, 

 who, if they knew to concentrate their strength, 

 might set the Ottoman governors at defiance. The 



