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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[NOVEMBER, 1921
have not learnt how to make clothing out of the hides of their buffalo. Their copper cooking pots (Ar. qidar, pl. qodur, pronounced jidar, jodur), their curved daggers (Ar. khanjar, pl. Khanajtr), and their tobacco (Ar. toton) also have to be obtained in these small markets. Thus it will be understood that all the Marsh Arabs acknowledge the over-lordship of the rich, rice-cultivating shaikhs who live upon the borders of the marshes. In the neighbour. hood of Hawaiza, Shaikh Khaz'al of Mohammara exacts tribute from the Marsh Arabs there, and, on the left bank of the Tigris, the Albu Muhammad Shaikhs, Muhammad all 'Araibi, and Ozmân al Yasir collect tribute from the Marsh Arabs nearest to them. On the right bank, the Marsh Arabs are forced to acknowledge the supremacy of the two 'Azairij Shaikhs, Salmân and Shawai, and of the Albu Muhammad Shaikh, Fâlih as Saihûd. The amount of the tribute exacted would appear to depend not only on the number of buffalo that are possessed by the marsh dwellers, but also very largely on the strength and influence of the shaikh demanding it. For the purpose of arranging blood-money (Ar. fasal), Marsh Arabs are regarded as belonging to the Albu Muhammad tribe.
The wealth of the Marsh Arabs lies in their reeds and their buffalo and to a lesser extent in the wild fowl and fish which they catch; if they desire it, they can always get work in harvesting the summer grains in the land of the surrounding cultivating Arabs. Their standard of living, however, is very low indeed, and a "wealthy" Marsh Arab by ordinary western standards lives in a wretchedly poor fashion.
The language of the Marsh Arabs is a dialect of Arabic, very little different from that spoken all over the more settled country districts of the 'Iraq. Flowery Arabic and elaborate compliment is not heard. Kaf" is always pronounced "Chaf," except in the masculine possessive particle-termination. Thus "dog" is not "Kalab", but "Chalab", but "your dog", if the person addressed be a male, is "Chalabak". Jim", "Ghain", and "Ain" are properly pronounced, but "Qaf" tends to be pronounced like "Jim" or like "Gaf." Thus "Qala", "a castle", is called "Jala", and "Aqrûqa", "a frog" is called "Ar. Agrûga." Reading and writing are unknown.
The features of the Marsh Arabs are quite unlike those of the typical A.ab. Their faces are rather round, also their eyes; their noses are big and wide, but not markedly hooked; their mouths are big; their foreheads are high; their hair is black, and neither lank nor curly, but generally tousled; their teeth even and white; and their skin the colour of very milky coffee. There is no difference between the colour of their faces and that of the rest of their bodies, because the latter are hardly more protected from the sun than the former, owing to the scantiness of the clothing won. Their bodies are strong and shapely. The women are somewhat, though not much, fairer-skinned than the men, and are not unhandsome. Both sexes age rapidly. These people are not particularly tall. Fat individuals are not met with, though the small children are often pot-bellied.
The Marsh Arabs are known widely for their cunning and thievish habits. In this connection, the most notorious tribe is the Fartus, and any robbery or misdemeanour within twenty miles of their country is generally attributed to them. It should be observed, however, that there is much confusion in the minds of the townspeople between the real Marsh Arabs and the Rice-cultivating Arabs, and that the latter are not slow to cast the blame for their own malpractices upon other communities. For the same reason it may be doubted if all the stories of the dangerous temper and ferocity of the Marsh Arabs are really to be attributed to them. However, Major Marrs has tried cases in which the ferocity and fearlessness of the Marsh Arabs could not be denied. He has seen cases in which women's
