Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates Vol 2 - The Search For Mecca

i8o Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates, [ch. xxiv,
as far as one can guess their history, have had their
ups and downs.
The Shamniar have been strong
enough within the memory of people yet living to
threaten Bagdad with sack ; and if any credence
can be placed in '' Fatalla's " recital, Ibn Shaalan of
the Eoala Anazeh invaded Persia not seventy years
ago. It is of course impossible to give anything
like an account of their fortunes and downfalls.
The Anazeh have long ceased to be a united tribe,
if they ever were one, and this has saved the Shammar,
who are far less numerous, from destruction.
Still, on the whole, fortune seems to have been
against the latter, as may be guessed from the inferiority
of the horses they now possess, nothing in
desert life
so clearly proving good fortune in Avar as
the presence of a large number of fine mares in the
camp of a tribe.
With regard to the Anazeh conquest, it is certain
that only a portion of the tribes now found in the
Upper Desert accompanied the first invasion. As
far as I can learn, the earliest invaders Avere the
Fedaan and the Hesenneh, then, and till quite recently
the most important, if not the most numerous,
of the tribes. The Ibn Haddal, Sebda and Welled
Ali came next. Then at a long interval the Rod] a,
AAdio appeared for the first time in the latitude of
Damascus about the end of last century, Avhile the
Towf and Erfuddi only left Nejd so lately as tAventy
years ago.
Such, according to tradition, has been the history