The people of Saudi Arabia
are descended from tribes of nomadic sheep, goat and camel herders and maintain
many of the traditions of their past. Among nomads there is a dichotomy as well
as a status differential between those who herd sheep and goats and those who
herd camels. Because sheep and goats are more demanding in their need for water
and thus more limited in their migrations, their herders migrate shorter
distances and have greater contact with the oasis population. Camels, on the
other hand, can endure much longer periods without water, and camel herders are
thereby able to range much more widely than other pastoralists. Camel-herding
tribes were usually the most powerful militarily and had more status than other
herders.
