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

1 82 Bedotiin Tribes of the Enphrates. [m. xxiv,
themselves with plundering the caravans which
now beojan to pass down the valley, and without an
effort abandoned their claims on the towns. The
policy so successfully begun was completed a few
years later by Midhat Pasha while governor of Bagdad.
It was he who continued the line of guardhouses
as far as Eumddy, and made of Ana for
Bagdad what Deyr has become for Aleppo,—the
head-quarters of a detached military force in possession
of the Euphrates route. Caravans have
since that time passed in more or less security down
the valley. At the same time possession was taken
of the few towns existins^ on the Tio;ris.
Great efforts have been made since then to encourage
the small tribes to cultivate the soil, and
south of Bag;dad with a certain amount of
success.
Protection is now given to the Delim, Shammartoga,
and Albu Mohammed to irrigate the river l^anks
and grow wheat ; and I have heard, though I cannot
vouch for it as an eye-witness, tliat
the Montefik, a
large and powerful Bedouin tribe occupying Irak,
have recently become industrious fellahin.
Ferhd,n,
too, Sheykh of the Shammar, has been honoured
Avith the title of Pasha by the Government, and for
a yearly stipend of £3000, has engaged to transform
his own Bedouins in like manner into honest
peasants. At Bagdad we heard flourishing reports
of tlie success of this arrangement, but on examination
found them to be based on the meao-erest of
facts. Ferhan, it is true, had collected a few hun-