GOVERNMENT OP ARABIA. 185 



chain of mountains eastward, are inhabited by the 

 Ateybe, who formerly were the inveterate enemies 

 of the Harb tribe, and could muster a force of from 

 6000 to 10,000 matchlocks. The Lahyan and other 

 Bedouin tribes about Mecca are all poor, owing to 

 the sterility of the soil and the high price of commo- 

 dities. The Beni Fahem regularly supply the city 

 with charcoal and sheep. Of the once celebrated 

 Koreish, only 300 matchlock-men now remain, who 

 encamp about Mount Arafat. They are but little 

 esteemed by the other Bedouins, and derive their 

 chief subsistence from the charity of the pilgrims,, 

 or the price of the milk and butter which they 

 carry to Mecca. The Adouan, an ancient and 

 powerful tribe, have been nearly exterminated by a 

 series of continual wars with their neighbours. Many 

 of the other tribes in these mountainous regions were 

 known in Arabian history prior to the era of Mo- 

 hammed ; such as, the Hodhail, who muster 1000 

 matchlocks, and are reputed the best marksmen in 

 the whole country ; the Thakif, who compose half 

 the inhabitants of Ta'if ; the Beni Sofian, Beni Ra- 

 biah, Beni Abs, Beni Kelb, and Beni Asyr, who 

 can assemble 15,000 men-at-arms. The Beni Saad 

 and Beni Kahtan are famous from the most remote 

 antiquity ; the former being the tribe among whom 

 the Prophet himself was educated, and the latter 

 esteemed more wealthy in camels than any Bedouins 

 of the Eastern Desert. A man is reckoned poor who 

 has only forty ; and some, even of the middle classes, 

 possess 150. The Abyde, the Senhan, Wadaa, Sa- 

 har, Begoum, Hamadan, Shomran, and Zohran, 

 border on the territory of the Imam of Sanaa. 

 Among all these nomadic tribes one form of 



