The Huwaytát tribe is not only an intruder, it is also the aggressive element in the Midianite family of Bedawin; and, of late years, it has made great additions to its territory. If it advances at the present rate it will, after a few generations, either "eat up," as Africans say, all the other races or, by a more peaceful process, assimilate them to its own body. We also consulted Shaykh Hasan and his cousin Ahmed, alias Abú Khartúm, concerning the origin of his tribe, the Beni 'Ukbah. According to our friend Furayj, the name means "Sons of the Heel" ('Akab) because, in the early wars and conquests of El-Islám, they fought during the day by the Moslems' side; and at night, when going over to the Nazarenes, they lost the "spoor" by wearing their sandals heel foremost, and by shoeing their horses the wrong way. All this they indignantly deny; and they are borne out by the written genealogies, who derive them from "Ukbah, the son of Maghrabah, son of Heram," of the Kahtániyyah (Joctanite) Arabs, some of the noblest of Bedawi blood. They preserve the memory of their ancestor 'Ukbah, and declare that they come from the south; that is, they are of Hejázi descent, consequently far more ancient than the Huwaytát. At first called "El-Musálimah," they were lords of all the broad lands extending southward between Shámah (Syria) and the Wady Dámah below the port of Zibá; and this fine valley retains, under its Huwayti occupants, the title of 'Ukbíyyah--'Ukbah-land. Thus they still claim as Milk, or "unalienable property," the Wadys Gharr, Sharmá, 'Aynúnah, and others; whilst their right to the ground upon which Fort el-Muwaylah is built has never been questioned. The first notable event in the history of the Beni 'Ukbah was a quarrel that arose between them and their brother-tribe, the Beni 'Amr. The 'Ayn el-Tabbákhah,[EN#93] the fine water of Wady Madyan, now called Wady Makná, was discovered by a Hutaymi shepherd of the Beni 'Ali clan, while tending his flocks; others say that the lucky man was a hunter following a gazelle. However that may be, the find was reported to the Shaykh of the Musálimah (Beni 'Ukbah), who had married 'Ayayfah, the sister of Ali ibn Nejdi, the Beni 'Amr chief, whilst the latter had also taken his brother-in-law's sister to wife. The discoverer was promised a Jinu or Sabátah ("date-bunch") from each palm-tree; and the rivals waxed hot upon the subject. The Musálimah declared that they would never yield their rights, a certain ancestor, 'Asaylah, having first pitched tent upon the Rughámat Makná, or white "horse" of Makná. A furious quarrel ensued, and, as usual in Arabia as in Hibernia, both claimants prepared to fight it out.