336 THE NATIVE MANUSCRIPTS iv.ds.iv.
The Tribes of the Hasandb
IV These tribes are descended from Hasan son of Zayn el Din son
of '(3n son of Shaik. Hasan was the youngest son of Zayn el Din son of '(3n, and his mother was Fatima daughter of Sheikh Hasan, the Sheikh of the HasanIa ; and he was called after his grandfather.
V When Zayn el Din died and his son Hasan was grown up he
came to his brothers and his first cousins on the father's side and desired them to give him some of the properties and lands of his father, which were in their possession; and they refused because
[though ?] he was their brother, the son of their father, and the [cultivable] lands of the Shaikia consisted of only a very narrow strip of shelving river bank; and at that time the river bank was where at the present day runs the road known as Darb el Sultan.
VI And when he saw their unwillingness he went away and devised
a scheme, and said to them "We will meet, if it please God, on horseback." And they laughed at him and said " By whose aid will you do it, considering that we are your first cousins ?"
VII Now at that time the strong among them used to prey upon the
weak, and looting was rife; and the sons of 'On ibn Shaik lived at Korti West and thereabouts. Then Hasan went and married a wife
in the country of his brothers and she bore him four sons and one daughter.
VIII One of the sons he called Fahd ("Leopard"), another Sima'a ("Wolf-hyaena"), a third Hanid (?), and a fourth Durban ("Porcu-
pine") after the names of beasts and birds of prey, his intention being that they should thereby affright their foes, as was the custom of KuRAYSH. And his daughter he named Makash (?).
IX And he taught his sons to ride on horseback, to fight with the sword, to use the spear and to shoot with arrows; and when they had attained the proficiency in warfare that he desired he collected them and his daughter and made them swear that never would they be taken prisoners but would rather fight until all died or all were vic-
torious. Especially upon his daughter did he enjoin that she should fight until she died and not let her cousins capture her to marry her, and she acquiesced.
Then they prepared themselves for death and attacked their cousins and slew many of them ; and after this they crossed the river
at the ford of el Karafab on the east bank, and Hasan ibn Zayn el Din swore an oath that their horses should not be unsaddled until he
found a country for his children to inhabit whether [other folk] liked it or no, or else had all been killed.