The Bedawyn of southern Sinai are collectively known as Towarah from Towa, Arabic for mountain, as distinct from the Tiyaha, or Bedawyn of the Plain and the tribes who hold the northern districts.
Among the Towarah Prof. Palmer included (1) the Sawaliheh, who are divided into three clans or families, of which each has its sheykh, so that there are three sheykhs to each tribe. In 1870 the sheykhs of the Sawaliheh were Fatir, Kadir Ibn Simhan and Abu Farh, of whom Fatir was agyd or commander-in-chief of all the military operations undertaken by the Towarah generally. Burton spoke of the Salihi (i.e. Sawaliheh or Benu Saleh) as the principal tribe of the Sinaitic Bedawyn.
The next tribe, included among the Towarah, were (2) the Auled Said, who include several families. The sheykhs in 1870 were Hasan Ibn ’Amir and Embarek ed Dheiri.[308]
The next tribe mentioned were (3) the Garrasheh, who are principally found in the neighbourhood of Wadi Feiran. Their chief sheykh, Ibn Nasir, was made responsible to the Egyptian government for the good conduct of the Towarah. He had died when the expedition returned to England. Husein Abu Ridhwan was the only remaining sheykh in 1870, Mansur Ibn Gormah also having recently died.
Another tribe were (4) the Aleyat (or Aliki), whose district was the neighbourhood of the (western) Wadi Nasb. Their sheykhs were Suleiman Ibn Emdakkhal, Juma Abu Shawish, and Amdan Abu Ukri. This tribe was described as not numerous by Prof. Palmer.
There were further, (5) the Emzeineh, (Muzaineh) the descendants of an illustrious tribe who are regarded by the Towarah as comparative strangers, though not excluded from the right of intermarriage. They roam over the eastern coast of the peninsula and are said to have come into Sinai from the Hedjaz in comparatively recent times. According to Sir Richard Burton five persons, ancestors of the Muzaineh, were forced by a blood feud to fly from their native country and landed at Sherm, where they were received by the Aleyat. With these they jointly own the palm trees at Dahab, and the rights of transporting the people landing at Dahab and Sherm. “Anyone who knows the Bedawyn,” wrote Sir Richard, “can see that the Muzaineh are pure blood. Their brows are broad, their faces narrow, their features regular, and their eyes of moderate size, whereas the other Towarah clans are as palpably Egyptian. They are of an impure race, Egypto-Arabs, whereas their neighbour, the Hedjazi, is the pure Syrian or Mesopotamian.”
Besides these tribes Prof. Palmer named (6) the Auled Shahin as the branch of the Towarah, who occupy the country immediately around Tur and the mountain which borders on the plain of El Kaa; they are, properly speaking, a branch of the Aleyat.
There are also, (7) the Gebeliyeh, the so-called serfs of the convent, who are held to be the lineal descendants of the four hundred Wallachian and Egyptian slaves whom the emperor settled in the peninsula. Their district comprises the Wadi esh Sheikh and the immediate neighbourhood of the convent. Their chief sheykhs in 1870 were Awwad Ibn Atiyeh, Eid Ibn Suad and Suleiman Ibn Ghanaim.
Of these tribes the Saidi and the Aleyat are the recognised ghufara, or protectors of the convent. The MS. account of 1710 calls them Waled Sahin, three tribes, the sons of Saleh, i.e. the Selim, the Saidi and the Haliq (Aleyat). These met at the annual festival at the tomb of Nebi Saleh.
The fluctuations of the tribes are insufficiently known. In Burckhardt’s days Harun Ibn Amer, sheykh of the Saidi, was accounted one of the most powerful sheykhs of the Towarah (p. 594).