Helots, of Maskat and El-Yemen. No clan of pure Arabs will
intermarry with them; and when the Fellahs say, Tatahattim
(=tatamaskin or tatazalli), they mean, "Thou cringest, thou makest
thyself contemptible as a Hutaymi." Moreover, they must pay the
dishonouring Akhawat, or "brother-tax," to all the Bedawin
amongst whom they settle.

The Hutaym are scattered as they are numerous. They have
extended, probably in ancient times, to Upper Egypt, and occupy
parts of Nubia; about Sawakin they are an important clan. They
number few in the Sinaitic Peninsula and in Midian, but they
occupy the very heart of the Arabian Peninsula. Those settled on
Jebel Libn, we have seen, claim as their kinsman the legendary
'Antar, who was probably a negro of the noble Semitic stock. A
few are camped about El-Wijh; and they become more important down
coast. In the eastern regions bordering upon Midian, they form
large and powerful bodies, such as the Nawamisah and the
Shararat, whose numbers and bravery secure for them the respect
of their fighting equestrian neighbours, the Ruwala-'Anezah.

Like other Arabs, the Hutaym tribe is divided into a multitude of
clans, septs, and families, each under its own Shaykh. All are
Moslems, after the Desert pattern, a very rude and inchoate
article. Wellsted knew them by their remarkably broad chins: the
Bedawi recognize them by their look; by their peculiar accent,
and by the use of certain peculiar words, as Harr! when
donkey-driving. The men are unwashed and filthy; the women walk
abroad unveiled, and never refuse themselves, I am told, to the
higher blood.