The Marsh Arabs“Five thousand years of history were here and the pattern was still unchanged.” During the years he spent among the Marsh Arabs of southern Iraq, Wilfred Thesiger came to understand, admire and share a way of life that had endured for many centuries. Travelling from village to village by canoe, he won acceptance by dispensing medicines and treating the sick. In this account of his time there, he pays tribute to the hospitality, loyalty, courage and endurance of the people, describes their impressive reed houses, the waterways and lakes teeming with wildlife, the herding of buffalo and hunting of wild boar, moments of tragedy and moments of pure comedy, all in vivid, engaging detail. Untouched by the modern world until recently, these independent people, their way of life and their surroundings suffered widespread destruction under the regime of Saddam Hussein. Wilfred Thesiger's magnificent account of his time spent among them is a moving testament to their now threatened culture and the landscape they inhabit. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Chief Characters | 12 |
Preface | 13 |
A Glimpse of the Marshes | 19 |
Back on the Edge of the Marshes | 24 |
Hunting Wild Boar | 34 |
Arrival at Qabab | 44 |
First Impressions of the Madan | 52 |
Feuds in the Marshes | 117 |
Return to Qabab | 123 |
Falih Bin Majid | 132 |
Falihs Death | 141 |
The Mourning Ceremony | 149 |
The Eastern Marshes | 155 |
Among the Sudan and the Suaid | 164 |
Amaras Family | 172 |
In Sadams Guest House | 58 |
Bu Mughaifat A Marsh Village | 67 |
Crossing the Central Marshes | 78 |
In the Heart of the Marshes | 88 |
The Historical Background | 94 |
Winning Acceptance | 102 |
Among the Fartus | 111 |
1954 The Flood | 182 |
1955 The Drought | 193 |
Berbera and Mudhifs | 200 |
Amaras Blood Feud | 209 |
My Last Year in the Marshes | 215 |
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Common terms and phrases
Abbas Abd al Wahid Aggar Ajram Amara Amara and Sabaiti arrived asked atwa Azairij Badai Baghdad bank Basra Berbera blood boar boat bride price brother buffaloes canoe canoeboys canoeman coffee cultivators Dakhil dance dark Daud desert Dibin dinars duck edge Euphrates Falih Fartus father feet Feraigat fetch fire fish floods Gharraf guest Hasan hashish headcloth heard Iraq Iraqi island Jasim killed Kubaish land later lived looked Madan Majar Majar al Kabir Majid Marsh Arabs Marshmen mats Maziad morning moved mudhif Mughaifat Muhammad Nasiriya never night nomad paddled palms Plate Qabab qasab Qurna Radhawi reedbeds reeds Reshiq rice rifle river rose round Rufaiya Sadam Sahain Sahib Saigal Sayid sheikh Shias shirt shooting shot shouted stayed stood Suaid Tahir tarada Thesiger Thuqub Tigris told took tribes tribesmen village visited Wilfred Thesiger yards Yasin Zair Zikri