Not the least pleasant part of our evening's work was collecting information concerning the origin of the tribes inhabiting modern Midian; and, as on such occasions a mixed multitude was always present, angry passions were often let rise. As my previous volume showed, the tribes in this Egyptian corner of North-Western Arabia number three—the Huwaytát, the Maknáwi, and the Beni 'Ukbah; the two former of late date, and all more or less connected with the Nile Valley. Amongst them I do not include the Hutaym or Hitaym, a tribe of Pariahs who, like the Akhdám ("serviles") of Maskat and Yemen, live scattered amongst, although never intermarrying with, their neighbours. As a rule the numbers of all these tribes are grossly exaggerated, the object being to impose upon the pilgrim-caravans, and to draw black-mail from the Government of Egypt. The Huwaytát, for instance, modestly declare that they can put 5000 matchlocks into the field: I do not believe that they have 500. The Ma'ázah speak of 2000, which may be reduced in the same proportion; whilst the Baliyy have introduced their 37,000 into European books of geography, when 370 would be nearer the mark. I anticipate no difficulty in persuading these Egypto-Arabs to do a fair day's work for a fair and moderate wage. The Bedawin flocked to the Suez Canal, took an active part in the diggings, and left a good name there. They will be as useful to the mines; and thus shall Midian escape the mortification of the "red-flannel-shirted Jove," while enjoying his golden shower.
I first took the opportunity of rectifying my notes on the origin of the Huwayta't tribe.[92] According to their own oral genealogists, the first forefather was a lad called 'Alayán, who, travelling in company with certain Shurafá ("descendants of the Apostle"), and ergò held by his descendants to have been also a Sherif, fell sick on the way. At El-'Akabah he was taken in charge by 'Atíyyah, Shaykh of the then powerful Ma'ázah tribe, who owned the land upon which the fort stands. A "clerk," able to read and to write, he served his adopted father by superintending the accounts of stores and provisions supplied to the Hajj. The Arabs, who before that time embezzled at discretion, called him El-Huwayti' ("the Man of the Little Wall") because his learning was a fence against their frauds He was sent for by his Egyptian friends; these, however, were satisfied by a false report of his death: he married his benefactor's daughter; he became Shaykh after the demise of his father-in-law; he drove the Ma'ázah from El-'Akabah, and he left four sons, the progenitors and eponymi of the Midianite Huwaytát. Their names are 'Alwán, 'Imrán, Suway'id, and Sa'id; and the list of nineteen tribes, which I gave in "The Gold-Mines of Midian," is confined to the descendants of the third brother.
The Huwaytát tribe is not only an intruder, it is also the aggressive element in the Midianite family of Bedawin; and, of late years, it has made great additions to its territory. If it advances at the present rate it will, after a few generations, either "eat up," as Africans say, all the other races or, by a more peaceful process, assimilate them to its own body.
We also consulted Shaykh Hasan and his cousin Ahmed, alias Abú Khartúm, concerning the origin of his tribe, the Beni 'Ukbah. According to our friend Furayj, the name means "Sons of the Heel" ('Akab) because, in the early wars and conquests of El-Islám, they fought during the day by the Moslems' side; and at night, when going over to the Nazarenes, they lost the "spoor" by wearing their sandals heel foremost, and by shoeing their horses the wrong way. All this they indignantly deny; and they are borne out by the written genealogies, who derive them from "Ukbah, the son of Maghrabah, son of Heram," of the Kahtániyyah (Joctanite) Arabs, some of the noblest of Bedawi blood. They preserve the memory of their ancestor 'Ukbah, and declare that they come from the south; that is, they are of Hejázi descent, consequently far more ancient than the Huwaytát. At first called "El-Musálimah," they were lords of all the broad lands extending southward between Shámah (Syria) and the Wady Dámah below the port of Zibá; and this fine valley retains, under its Huwayti occupants, the title of 'Ukbíyyah—'Ukbah-land. Thus they still claim as Milk, or "unalienable property," the Wadys Gharr, Sharmá, 'Aynúnah, and others; whilst their right to the ground upon which Fort el-Muwaylah is built has never been questioned.
The first notable event in the history of the Beni 'Ukbah was a quarrel that arose between them and their brother-tribe, the Beni 'Amr. The 'Ayn el-Tabbákhah,[93] the fine water of Wady Madyan, now called Wady Makná, was discovered by a Hutaymi shepherd of the Beni 'Ali clan, while tending his flocks; others say that the lucky man was a hunter following a gazelle. However that may be, the find was reported to the Shaykh of the Musálimah (Beni 'Ukbah), who had married 'Ayayfah, the sister of Ali ibn Nejdi, the Beni 'Amr chief, whilst the latter had also taken his brother-in-law's sister to wife. The discoverer was promised a Jinu or Sabátah ("date-bunch") from each palm-tree; and the rivals waxed hot upon the subject. The Musálimah declared that they would never yield their rights, a certain ancestor, 'Asaylah, having first pitched tent upon the Rughámat Makná, or white "horse" of Makná. A furious quarrel ensued, and, as usual in Arabia as in Hibernia, both claimants prepared to fight it out.
To repeat the words of our oral genealogist, Furayj: "Now, when the wife of the Shaykh of the Musálimah had heard and understood what Satan was tempting her husband to do against her tribe, she rose up, and sent a secret message to her brother of the Beni 'Amr, warning him that a certain person (Fulán) was about to lay violent hands on the beautiful valley of El-Madyan. Hearing this, the Beni 'Amr mustered their young men, and mounted their horses and dromedaries, and rode forth with jingling arms; and at midnight they found their opponents asleep in El-Khabt,[94] the beasts being tied up by the side of their lords. So they cut the cords of the camels, they gagged the hunter who guided the attack, they threatened him with death if he refused to obey, and they carried him away with them towards Makná.
"When the Musálimah awoke, they discovered the deceit, they secured their beasts, and they hastened after the enemy, following his track like Azrail. Both met at Makná, when a battle took place, and Allah inclined the balance towards the Beni 'Amr. The Musálimah, therefore, became exiles, and took refuge in Egypt. And in the flow of days it so happened that the Shaykh of the Beni' Amr awoke suddenly at midnight, and heard his wife, as she sat grinding at the quern, sing this quatrain:—
'If the handmill (of Fate) grind down our tribe
We will bear it, O Thou (Allah) that aidest to bear!
But if the mill grind the foeman tribe,
We will pound and pound them as thin as flour.'
"Whereupon the Shaykh, in his wrath, seized a stone, and cast it at his wife, and knocked out one of her front teeth. She said nothing, but she took the tooth and wrapped it in a rag, and sent it with a message to her brother, the Shaykh of the Musálimah. Now, this chief was unable to revenge his sister single-handed, so he travelled to Syria, and threw himself at the feet of the great Shaykh of the Wuhaydi tribe, who was also a Sherif.
"The Wuhaydi despatched his host together with the warriors of the Musálimah, and both went forth to do battle with the Beni 'Amr. The latter being camped in a valley near 'Aynúnah, tethered their dogs and, some say, left behind their old people,[95] and lit huge bonfires; whence the name of the place is Wady Umm Nírán ('the Mother of Fires') to this day. Before early dawn they had reached in flight the Wady 'Arawwah of the Jibál el-Tihámah. In the morning the Musálimah and the Wuhaydi, finding that a trick had been practiced upon them, followed the foe, and beat him in the Wady 'Arawwah, killing the Shaykh. And the chief of the Musálimah gave his widowed sister as wife to the Wuhaydi, and settled with his people in their old homes. The Beni 'Amr fled to the Hismá, and exiled themselves to Kerak in Syria, where they still dwell, owning the plain called Ganán Shabíb. There is now peace between the Beni 'Ukbah and their kinsmen the Beni 'Amr."