erty of the Dushan group, or the ruling clan. The total territory is about 120 miles wide by 180 miles long. During the middle part of this century, the allegiance of the Mutair was transferred from Kuwait to the Najd.
Dickson noted that there are actually two other groups of the Mutair tribe, besides this main group, comprising the Bani Abdillah Mutair and the Maymun. These are in other locations and follow their own shaikhs.
By the time that Lancaster (1981) studied the Rwala, their migration patterns had already been altered by modernization and nation building in the region. Its early migration pattern had seen the Rwala in the south, in the Nedfud during late winter and early spring, with their route taking them northward toward Golan in the high summer. They then moved eastward, gradually arriving back in Nefud by the winter. This was the basic pattern, although altered by many factors. In contemporary times, however, the migration of the tribe is limited by the fact that there are four national boundaries within their traditional territory, and that the nation states within which they reside often put pressure on them to cease their migratory pattern and remain more localized.
As Dickson (1951) indicated, the various sections of the Mutair camp by their wells during the summer season, while wandering during the rest of the year. Their migration pattern differs from that of the Rwala, although like the Rwala, it has been altered by development. In earlier times, however, the migration pattern took the Mutair through areas of both Iraq and Kuwait, as well as what is now Saudi Arabia.
Primarily, the Dushan Mutair Ilwa and Aulad Wasil section ranged from the Dahan sand belt in the south northward to Kuwait. On the other hand, the Aulad Ali and Bani Abdilla were inner Najd sections. They were primarily Kuwaiti, rather than Syrian, nomads, unlike the Rwala.
All the Bedouin tribes are ruled by powerful shaikhs...