Saudi flag and issuing Saudi passports. This he ceased to do i 1953 after protests from the then Imam, and he now seems to be keeping quieto. The people on coast look to Khalid bin Ali of the Beni bu Ali as their real leader. Apart from their thieving tendencies, their attitude fa andly, though, except at Sur, little control can be exi.sed over them. The Beni. Ka'ab are found settled mostly in the orodhoh tract to the east of the Jau (buraim.) arene They corre also found in the Wadis al Qor and liatta, and in Sohar God TV. Their chief Shaikh was Obaid bin Juma bin Duiain, the received small allowances from the Sultan through the W 0:2 Sohar. IIe accompanied the minister for the Interior bawl from Duraimi in 1948 in connection with oil company negotiations, and visited the Sultan in Muscat. In 1952 Footer with certain Shaikhs of the Nal im and al bu Shamis 3 ombed to Saudi bribes and overtups and declared himself 01 la tribe to be Saudi. subjects. Abdullah bin Saiim, son t e sommer chief Shaikh of the tribe, though at first as the Saudis, collected a following around his village of IIe finally declared for the Sultan of Muscat, announced hisce chief of the tribe and was duly accepted by the people, Te es considerable assisted in this venture by moral and dotual support from the Political Agent at Sharjah and the To Coast Levies. IIe also received monetary help from the Itan, and still does so. The Kathir is the principle tribe of Dhofar District, or which the Sultan maintains his sumer retreat or cpaital at Dorth, They also live in the Sanhan hills behind the Dhofar pode They number about five thousand, and possess about Aroen hundred rifles. The Sultan has prohilsed for many years now the importation of new rifles into this district, so has those that exist must be getting very old indeed, Ikese people also carry knives and possess swords, and there may be quite two thousand of each. A few of the tribe are and in Muscat. Thinse in the plains are cultivators and W o llent gardens of coconuts, grain and vegetables, Water is good and plentiful, whilst the country gets the South West INOXoon rains, and cattle thrive in the hills, In olden days a flourishing industry was derived from the collection af frankincense from the sap of the shrub which abounds on the plateu above the hills. The mother of Qabus, the Suite: s only son, comes from this tribe. The tribe is divided into baits (houses each with its Sheichs and details have been supplied by one of the Shaikhs ag wider: - POPULATION RIFLES BAIT STIATKI 2, 500 500 Rawwas + Oman bin Mansur and Abdul Aziz bin Ahmed 500 Shanafirah Ahmed bin Bakhit Itadhar Saif bin Jahnoon 300 Awadh bin Salim al Sarj 1,500 500 Kathir Suleym bin Salim Tantain (+ Taminah of the whole tribe) They 50
