Preface

Summary

My field work among the Bedouin of Cyrenaica consisted of two periods. My first year's work in 1948 was made possible by a Studentship awarded me by the Emslie Horniman Anthropological Fund Trustees. In October 1949 I returned to Cyrenaica, and remained there until mid-December 1950. This second period of work was financed by the Treasury Committee for Studentships in Foreign Languages and Cultures. To the trustees of the Horniman Fund and the Treasury Committee I wish to make grateful acknowledgement.

During these two periods in Cyrenaica, I lived for two years among the Bedouin, and spent my time mainly among the Sdaidi of the ʿAwaqir, the Jululat of the Zuwayya, the Shamakh of the Magharba, the Tamiya section of the Baraʿasa and the Baraghla section of the Darsa tribes. I visited other sections of these tribes, but stayed with them for very short periods, and of the tribes I resided with for any length of time, my longest residence was with the Magharba and the Baraʿasa. Of the semi-sedentary plateau tribes, I lived only among the Darsa͐ and my stay with them lasted only two months, but this was at the end of my second tour and was more profitable than if I had visited them earlier. I am however, aware that two months is a short period and have confined my remarks about the Darsaʿ to general statements. My work, in short, was confined almost exclusively to the more southern and mobile sections of the tribes.