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

236 Bedojiin Tribes of the Etiphrates. [ch. xxvn,
seven independent tril^es, each owning its separate
Slieykh, and bound together by ties of blood.
Each
is accounted the equal of its neighbour, and they
recognise no common civil authority. They have,
however, from time immemorial marched together,
and in war time fiwht under a common leader. The
same may be said of the four tribes of the Fediian,
while a still wider consanguinity embraces these
and other tribes, including the Koala itself, in the
great clan of Anazeli. It is many years however
since the Anazeh fought together under one common
leader.
The Shammar, though divided into twenty
different sections, each owning a Sheykh, acknowledge
one supreme chieftain common to them all,
Ibn Sfiik of the Jerba tribe. The Jelaas tribes, in
like manner, acknowledge Ibn ShaaMn.
In time of Avar, the authority of the Sheykh,
except in civil matters, is superseded by that of a
military commander, chosen entirely for his personal
merits by the tribe, who becomes at once their
leader and commands the obedience of all, even of
the Sheykh himself. This officer is called the Akid
or Agid, (whence the English " guide "), literally
the leader ; and he is entrusted with all military
operations and plans, ghazus, excursions and retreats.
He is often the Sheykh himself, but not by
any means always so. Sotamm ibn Shaalan, who
is certainly Sheykh of the most powerful tribe in
the desert, is not their Akid ;
and the seven tribes of
the Sebiia are at this moment so destitute of mili-