# Africa by Élisée Reclus/Volume 1/Appendix 2

Contents
APPENDIX II.
A SYNOPTICAL TABLE OF ALL THE RACES AND TRIBES OF NORTH-EAST AFRICA.
I. BANTU GROUP.
| Wa-Ganda | North-west side Victoria Nyanza, from the Somerset to the Alexandria Nile (Tanguré), the most numerous and powerful Bantu nation in the region of the Great Lakes. |
| Wa-Nyoro | Between Somerset Nile and Albert Nyanza. |
| Wa-Soga | East from the Somerset Nile. |
| Wa-Gamba | East from the Wa-Soga territory; limits undefined. |
| Wa-Karagwé | West side Victoria Nyanza, from the Alexandria Nile southwards to the Wa-Zinza territory. |
| Wa-Songora | West side of the Victoria Nyanza, between the Wa-Karagwé and the coast. |
| Wa-Sambara | South-east coast Victoria Nyanza, north of Speke Gulf. |
| Wa-Tutwa | South of Speke Gulf. |
| Wa-Sukuma | Large nation with numerous subdivisions (Wa-Rima, Wa-Vîra, Wa-Smas, Wa-Hindi, &c.), south coast Victoria Nyanza, south of Speke Gulf. |
| Wa-Zinza | South coast Victoria Nyanza, west from the Wa-Sukuma, |
| Wa-Nyambo | Large tribe in Karagwé; speak the Zongora language, a distinct Bantu dialect. |
II. NEGRO GROUP.
Numerically the Negro is by far the most important element in Egyptian Sudán. It is in almost undisturbed possession, not only of the main stream from the great lakes to and beyond the Sobat junction, but also of the Sobat Valley itself, and of the countless headwaters of the White Nile converging from the west and south-west at Lake No, above the Sobat junction. Within this area is probably concentrated one-half of the population of the whole Nile basin, from the equatorial lakes to the Mediterranean, a population which has been roughly estimated at about forty millions. Here are several large and powerful Negro nations, some still enjoying political autonomy, such as the Zandeh (Nyam-Nyam), the Mittu, and the Monbuttu, who occupy the low water-parting between the Nile, Congo, and Tsad basins, some brought within the limits of the Khedive's possessions, such as the Bari and Nuer ​of the Bahr-el-Jebel, the Bongo (Dor), Rol, and Krej of the western affluents of the White Nile, the Funj of Senaar, and the Shilluks and Dinkas about the Sobat confluence. The most numerous and widespread are the Zandeh, the eastern portion of whose territory has alone been explored. They are divided into several independent states, stretching from the Bahr-el-Jebel half across the continent, probably to the territory of the Fans in the far West. Of the reduced nations, the Shilluks and Dinkas are by far the most important. The Shilluks appear to be of the same stock as the Funj of Senaar, who by fusion with the Arabs formed a powerful kingdom, which in the last century extended northwards beyond the Atbara confluence. Of the Dinkas, who number several millions, as many as twenty-five distinct tribes are mentioned by D. G. Beltrame, who has resided several years amongst the native communities of the White Nile.
Although grouped as Negroes proper, very few of these Nilotic peoples present the ideal type of the Blacks, such as we find it amongst the Ashantis and other inhabitants of Upper Guinea. The complexion is in general less black, the nose less flat, the lips less protruding, the hair less woolly, the dolichocephaly and prognathism less marked—in a word, the salient features of the Negro race less prominent than elsewhere. Apart from the more minute shades of transition due to diverse intermingling with the Hamites and Semites. two distinct types may be plainly distinguished—one black and long-headed (Shilluk, Dinka, Nuer, Mittu), the other reddish or ruddy brown and short-headed (Bongo, Zandeh, &c.). The complexion of the latter may possibly be due to the properties of the red earth prevalent in their districts. But no theory has been advanced to account for their brachycephaly, which is all the more difficult to explain, inasmuch as it is characteristic neither of the aboriginal Negro, nor of the intruding Hamite and Semite elements.
Schweinfurth tells us that the Bongos are "hardly removed from the lowest grade of brachycephaly" (op. cit. i., 263), and the same is largely true of the Zandeh. But this feature appears to be altogether far more general amongst the Negro races than is usually supposed. Of the eighteen skulls from Equatorial Africa in the Barnard Davis Collection (now in the museum of the College of Surgeons, London), as many as four are distinctly round-headed. Craniology thus fails in Negroland, as it does in so many other regions, as a constant factor in determining racial types.
The Nilotic races appear to form a connecting link between those of Baghirmi in the Tsad basin, and the non-Bantu peoples between the Kilima-Njaro highlands and the east side of the Victoria Nyanza, who have been recently visited by the Rev. T. Wakefield and Mr. Thomson. The Wa-Kavirondo nation of this region are allied in speech to the Shilluks and the Yambu of the Sobat Valley. The language of their neighbours, the Oigob (Masai), also presents a remarkable peculiarity in the presence of grammatical gender, which it has in common with all the dialects of the Nilotic Negroes, except the Dinka. This point is of great philological interest, grammatical gender being a feature hitherto supposed to be restricted to the three inflecting families (Aryan, Semitic, and Hamitic), besides the Hottentot, by Lepsius, partly on this ground, affiliated to the Hamitic. In Oigob gender, represented by l masculine, and n feminine, is fully developed. Thus : ol = he, that man ; il = those men ; en, eng = she ; ing = those women ; el-e = this man ; en-a = this woman ; with which compare the Bari : lo = this man ; na = this woman ; the Bongo : bah = he ; hoh =: she ; and the Shilluk : nenno = he ; náno =. she. Lepsius, however, is inclined to regard the so-called gender particles ​APPENDIX U. 401 of the Oip^b simply as "class prefixes" analogous to those of the Bantu system. They certainly seem to indioate, besides sex, the qualities of strength, rigour, courage (masculine), or else anything soft, effeminate, weak or delicate (feminine). Thus the Masai call themselves t7 Oigoh = " the men," uuing the masculine {Mirticle, whereas their Wa-Kwafi neighbours ore stigmatined with the feminine particle, as im- Barawuio, plural em-Jiarawui, implying weakness or effeminacy. It is also noteworthy that, as with the Bantu prefixes, the masculine and feminine articles are repeated in a more or less modified form, both before the noun and its adjective. Thus : ol'doeno oibor = the-mouutaiu the-whito (masculine) ; enanga na-ibor = the-dress the-white (feminine). These forms are most instructive as probably supplying the crude begin- ning of the highly develoi>ed alliterative Bantu system on the one hand, and on the other those of true grammatical gender as fully elaborated in the higher orders of inflecting si)eech. Compare, for instance, with the foregoing examples, the Zulu-Kafir : in- Ami en-Knlu = the-cliief the-great ; and the Latin : domin-a me-a = lady-the my-the, where the parallelism between the respective initial and final " euphonic concords " is obvious. Here also we see how the different morphological orders of si)eech merge imperceptibly one in the other, and how groundless is the new philological dfxtrine that these several orders are definitely fixed, and, like Cuvier's animal and vegetable species, incapable of further transformation. Although Isltim has made considerable progress, especially amongst the Funj of Senaar, the Sliilluks, Dinkas, and other Nilotic Negro tribes, the bulk of the people are still practically nature-worshippers. Witchcraft continues to flourish amongst the Equatorial tribes, and important events are almost everywhere attended by sanguinary rites. When preparing for battle, the " medicine-man " flays an infant and places the bleeding victim on the war-path to be trampled by the warriors marching to victor)'. Cannibalism also, in some of its most repulsive forms, prevails amongst the Nyam-Nyam, who barter in human fat as a universal staple of trade ; and amongst the Monbuttu, who cure for future use the bodies of the slain in battle, and "drive their prisoners before them, as butchers drive sheep to the shambles, and these are only reserved to fall victims on a later day to their horrible and sickly greediness." * Yet many of these peoples are skilled agriculturists, and cultivate some of the useful industries, such as iron smelting and casting, weaving and pottery, with great success. The form and ornamental designs of their utensils display real artistic taste, while the temper of their iron-implements is often superior to that of the imported Euroi>oan hanlwaro. Here again the observation has been made, that the tribes most addicted to cannibalism also excel in mental qualities and physical energy. Nor are they strangers to the finer feelings of human nature, and above all the surrounding peoples the Zandeh anthro- pophagists are distinguished by their regard and devotion for the weaker sex. -East side Victoria Nyan». dominant from the Wa-8og« territory to the Kercw«  J' Island, south-east corner of the lake. iSjioech appears to bo Negro and akin to Shilluk. " The Wa-Kavirondo are by no means attractive in their appear- ance, and contrast unfavourably with the ^lasai. Their heads am of a dis- tinctly lower type, eyes dull and muddy, jawa somewhat prognathous, mouth unpleasantly hirgc, and lii>« thick, pnyeciing and erortod ; they are, in l«ct, true Negroes." — Jo(»eph Thom»on, " Through Maaai Land." p. 474. X»nda . . Xanda uplands, north of Kavirondo. fierce wild tribea of uncertain affinities. Skefalu . . North U-Nyoro, akin to the Shilluks. g^J^ •) Between the Lower Somerset Nile and the Madi Mountains, and limited westwards £g^^ * I by the Bahr-el-Jebel. Onmhil . . . Kirim . • I Middle and Upper Sobat ba«n. Kara Mala Ithing
| Janghey | | Lower Sobat Basin. | Lower Sobat Basin. | Lower Sobat Basin. |
| Jibba | | Lower Sobat Basin. | Lower Sobat Basin. | Lower Sobat Basin. |
| Bonjak | | Lower Sobat Basin. | Lower Sobat Basin. | Lower Sobat Basin. |
| Balok | | Lower Sobat Basin. | Lower Sobat Basin. | Lower Sobat Basin. |
| Fallanj | | Lower Sobat Basin. | Lower Sobat Basin. | Lower Sobat Basin. |
| Niuak | | Lower Sobat Basin. | Lower Sobat Basin. | Lower Sobat Basin. |
| Koma | | Lower Sobat Basin. | Lower Sobat Basin. | Lower Sobat Basin. |
| Suro | | Lower Sobat Basin. | Lower Sobat Basin. | Lower Sobat Basin. |
| Amam | | Lower Sobat Basin. | Lower Sobat Basin. | Lower Sobat Basin. |
| Bari | | Both sides Bahr-el-Jebel, 4° — 5° N., limited northward by the Shir territory. | Both sides Bahr-el-Jebel, 4° — 5° N., limited northward by the Shir territory. | Both sides Bahr-el-Jebel, 4° — 5° N., limited northward by the Shir territory. |
| Monbuttu | | About headwaters of the river Welle, beyond the Egyptian frontier. | About headwaters of the river Welle, beyond the Egyptian frontier. | About headwaters of the river Welle, beyond the Egyptian frontier. |
| Zandeh | | From south-west frontier Egyptian Sud&n for unknown distance westwards; are the Niam-Niam of the Nilotic tribes. | From south-west frontier Egyptian Sud&n for unknown distance westwards; are the Niam-Niam of the Nilotic tribes. | From south-west frontier Egyptian Sud&n for unknown distance westwards; are the Niam-Niam of the Nilotic tribes. |
| Mittu (Maltu) | | A-Madi | | Moro district north of Monbuttuland. The Mittu call their country Moro, which is not an ethnical but a geographical name (Schwein-furth, "Heart of Africa," i. p. 403). |
| Mittu (Maltu) | | Madi-Kaya | | Moro district north of Monbuttuland. The Mittu call their country Moro, which is not an ethnical but a geographical name (Schwein-furth, "Heart of Africa," i. p. 403). |
| Mittu (Maltu) | | Abbkah | | Moro district north of Monbuttuland. The Mittu call their country Moro, which is not an ethnical but a geographical name (Schwein-furth, "Heart of Africa," i. p. 403). |
| Mittu (Maltu) | | Luba | | Moro district north of Monbuttuland. The Mittu call their country Moro, which is not an ethnical but a geographical name (Schwein-furth, "Heart of Africa," i. p. 403). |
| Bongo (Dor) | | Upper Course Tondy and Jnr rivers, thence to Zandeh frontier. | Upper Course Tondy and Jnr rivers, thence to Zandeh frontier. | Upper Course Tondy and Jnr rivers, thence to Zandeh frontier. |
| Shir | | Bahr-el-Jebel 6° — 6' N., between the Diuka and Bari territories. | Bahr-el-Jebel 6° — 6' N., between the Diuka and Bari territories. | Bahr-el-Jebel 6° — 6' N., between the Diuka and Bari territories. |
| Rol. | | Tribes of uncertain affinity along Rol river, east of the Bongo and Mittu. | Tribes of uncertain affinity along Rol river, east of the Bongo and Mittu. | Tribes of uncertain affinity along Rol river, east of the Bongo and Mittu. |
| Agar | | Tribes of uncertain affinity along Rol river, east of the Bongo and Mittu. | Tribes of uncertain affinity along Rol river, east of the Bongo and Mittu. | Tribes of uncertain affinity along Rol river, east of the Bongo and Mittu. |
| Sofi | | Tribes of uncertain affinity along Rol river, east of the Bongo and Mittu. | Tribes of uncertain affinity along Rol river, east of the Bongo and Mittu. | Tribes of uncertain affinity along Rol river, east of the Bongo and Mittu. |
| Lehsi | | Tribes of uncertain affinity along Rol river, east of the Bongo and Mittu. | Tribes of uncertain affinity along Rol river, east of the Bongo and Mittu. | Tribes of uncertain affinity along Rol river, east of the Bongo and Mittu. |
| Nuer | | Byor | | Along lower course Bahr-el-Jebel, 7°—9° N. |
| Nuer | | Ror | |
| Dinka | Abuyo, Agar, Ajak, Aliab, Arol, Atwot, Awan, Bor, Donjol, Jur, Gok, Rish, | Abuyo, Agar, Ajak, Aliab, Arol, Atwot, Awan, Bor, Donjol, Jur, Gok, Rish, | Abuyo, Agar, Ajak, Aliab, Arol, Atwot, Awan, Bor, Donjol, Jur, Gok, Rish, | Along Bahr-el-Jebel, and right bank White Nile, 6°—12° N. Largest of all the Nilotic Negro tribes (Beltrame). |
| Shilhik | Kwati, Dyakin, Dyok, Roah | Kwati, Dyakin, Dyok, Roah | Kwati, Dyakin, Dyok, Roah | Left bank Bahr-el-Jebel and White Nile, 9°— 12' N. |
| Dwuïr | | Unclassed tribes south of the Dinkas, north-east of the Bongos, 7°— 8' N., between Molmul and Rual rivers; probably akin to the Bongos. | Unclassed tribes south of the Dinkas, north-east of the Bongos, 7°— 8' N., between Molmul and Rual rivers; probably akin to the Bongos. | Unclassed tribes south of the Dinkas, north-east of the Bongos, 7°— 8' N., between Molmul and Rual rivers; probably akin to the Bongos. |
| Ayurr | | Unclassed tribes south of the Dinkas, north-east of the Bongos, 7°— 8' N., between Molmul and Rual rivers; probably akin to the Bongos. | Unclassed tribes south of the Dinkas, north-east of the Bongos, 7°— 8' N., between Molmul and Rual rivers; probably akin to the Bongos. | Unclassed tribes south of the Dinkas, north-east of the Bongos, 7°— 8' N., between Molmul and Rual rivers; probably akin to the Bongos. |
| Mok | | Unclassed tribes south of the Dinkas, north-east of the Bongos, 7°— 8' N., between Molmul and Rual rivers; probably akin to the Bongos. | Unclassed tribes south of the Dinkas, north-east of the Bongos, 7°— 8' N., between Molmul and Rual rivers; probably akin to the Bongos. | Unclassed tribes south of the Dinkas, north-east of the Bongos, 7°— 8' N., between Molmul and Rual rivers; probably akin to the Bongos. |
| Tondy | | Unclassed tribes south of the Dinkas, north-east of the Bongos, 7°— 8' N., between Molmul and Rual rivers; probably akin to the Bongos. | Unclassed tribes south of the Dinkas, north-east of the Bongos, 7°— 8' N., between Molmul and Rual rivers; probably akin to the Bongos. | Unclassed tribes south of the Dinkas, north-east of the Bongos, 7°— 8' N., between Molmul and Rual rivers; probably akin to the Bongos. |
| Bot | | Unclassed tribes south of the Dinkas, north-east of the Bongos, 7°— 8' N., between Molmul and Rual rivers; probably akin to the Bongos. | Unclassed tribes south of the Dinkas, north-east of the Bongos, 7°— 8' N., between Molmul and Rual rivers; probably akin to the Bongos. | Unclassed tribes south of the Dinkas, north-east of the Bongos, 7°— 8' N., between Molmul and Rual rivers; probably akin to the Bongos. |
| Ayell | | Unclassed tribes south of the Dinkas, north-east of the Bongos, 7°— 8' N., between Molmul and Rual rivers; probably akin to the Bongos. | Unclassed tribes south of the Dinkas, north-east of the Bongos, 7°— 8' N., between Molmul and Rual rivers; probably akin to the Bongos. | Unclassed tribes south of the Dinkas, north-east of the Bongos, 7°— 8' N., between Molmul and Rual rivers; probably akin to the Bongos. |
| Tukruri | | Gallibat district, Abyssinian frontier, originally from Dar-Fur (James's " Wild Tribes of the Sudan," p. 30). | Gallibat district, Abyssinian frontier, originally from Dar-Fur (James's " Wild Tribes of the Sudan," p. 30). | Gallibat district, Abyssinian frontier, originally from Dar-Fur (James's " Wild Tribes of the Sudan," p. 30). |
| Funj | | The dominant race in Senaar, supposed to be of Shilluk stock, but now largely mixed with the Arabs of that region. |
| Krej | | About headwaters of the Bahr-el-Arab, beyond Egyptian frontier. | About headwaters of the Bahr-el-Arab, beyond Egyptian frontier. | About headwaters of the Bahr-el-Arab, beyond Egyptian frontier. |
| Fertit | | About headwaters of the Bahr-el-Arab, beyond Egyptian frontier. | About headwaters of the Bahr-el-Arab, beyond Egyptian frontier. | About headwaters of the Bahr-el-Arab, beyond Egyptian frontier. |
III. NUBA GROUP.
The Nobatoo of Diocletian are commonly assumed to be the modem Nubians. But, although not yet recognised in British official reports, the Nubian race and name have even a more venerable antiquity than this statement would imply. In a passage quoted in note 22 we find mention already made by Strabo of the Νοῦβαι; and in another passage the same writer, who flourished three hundred years before the time of Diocletian, describes these Nubæ as "a great nation" dwelling in Libya, that is, Africa, along the left bank of the Nile from Meroe to the bends of the river. The word itself has even been identified by some writers with the land of Nub or Nob, that is, "Gold," the region about Mount Elbeh on the Red Sea coast over against Jiddah, where the Egyptians worked the precious metal from the remotest times.
But this identification must be rejected since the discovery that the cradle of the ​APPENDIX IL 468 Nuba race is not to tho east but to the west of the Nile,* in the Kordofan highlands. The final syllable /dii of the very word Kordo-^n is explained to mean in the Nuba lungua^ land, country, thus answering to the Arabic ddr, as in Dar-Fur = the land of tlio Fur people. Botli tho Fur and tho Kordo, if these latter are identical with the Kargft of tho Jebel-Kargu, are themsolvos of Nuba stock and speech ; and tho term Nuba is still current in Kordofan both in an ethnical and a geographical sonso, indicating the Jebel-Nuba uplands inhabited by the Nuba tribe. Here, therefore, is the true home of tho race, some of whom appear to have migrated northwards some two thousand years ago, settling partly in the Kargey oat>is (Diocletian's Nobatae), partly in the narrow valley of the Nile about Moroe (Strabo's Nubre). Since those days there have always been Nubro, Nobatft), or Nubians in the Nile Valley, mainly in the region of the Cataracts ; and wo read that after thcjir removal hither from Kargey, the Nobata) dwelt for some time peacefully with the Blemmyes (Hamitic Bejas). They even made common cause with them against the Romans; but the confederacy was crushed by Maximinus in 451. Then the Bejas withdrew to their old homes in the Arabian desert, while the Nobatro, embracing Christianity in 545, developed a {wwerful Christian state in the Nile Valley. Silco, founder of this kingdom of Dongola, as it was called from its capital, bore the title of " King of the Noubads and of all the Ethiopians," that is, of the present Nubian and Beja nations. Ilis empire lasted for 700 years, and was finally overthrown by the Arabs in tho thirteenth century, since which time the Nile Nubians have been Mohammedans. They also gradually withdrew to thfir present limits between Egypt and Old Dongola, the rest of their territory thence to Khartum being occupied by the Sheygyeh, liobabat, Jalin, and other powerful Arab tribes. There are thus two main divisions of the Nuba race : the Nubas proper of Kordofan, found also disporsedly in Dar-Fur; and tho Nile Nubas, commonly calletl Nubians in European books of travel, but who now call themselves Barabra.f By the latter the term Nuba has been rejected, and is even regarded as an insult when a])plied to them by others. The old national name appears to have fallen into discredit in the Nile Valley, where it has become synonymous with " slave," owing to the vast number of slaves supplied for ages by the Nuba ix)pulation8 of Kordofan and Dar-Fur.J The Nile Nubas themselves supply no slaves to the market. Constituting settled and semi- civilised Mohammedan communities, they are treated on a footing of perfect etjuality in Eg}-pt, where large numbers are engaged as free labourers, jK^rters, '* costermongers,"
Avalitarum." t Plural of Borberi, that is, people of Berber, although at present they do not reach so far up the Nile as that town. But during tho eighteenth century thii place acquired considerable influence as capital of a large Nubian state tributary to the Funj kingK of Senaar. It is still an imiwrtant htation on the Nile just Im-Iow the Atbara confluence, at the point where the river approaches nearest to the Red Sea coast at Suakin. It may here be menlioned that the term Barabra is referred by some authorities, not to the town of Berber, but to the liarabara people, whoso name occurs amongpit the 113 tribe* reoonled in the inscription on a gateway of Thutmes, by whom they were reduced about 1700 b.c. This identi- fication seems to some extent confirmed by the generic name Kent applied in the same inscription to many of these " Ethiopian tribes," and still surviving in the form of Kenus (plunil of Kcniti), the name of tho northern division of the Nubian (liarabra) people towiirds tho Egyptian frontier. It is fuither strengthened by a later inscription of Kamsea II. in K>im>«k (UOO r.c), where mention again occurs of the Beraberata, one of the southern races conquenxl by him. Hence Brugsch (" Reisebericht aus JEg>ini.," pp. 127 and 156) is inclined to r<gArd tho modem " Barabra " as a true ethnical name c-ti fused in clMSsic times with the Greek and Koman Barbara, but which has resumed its historic ralue since the Moslem conquest. X Thus in Sakakini's tabular returns of the averairs prices of sLiTes sold in Egypt from 1870 to 1880, all, of whatever ^yrorwMMM, are grouped under two heads — "Nubians" and " Abyrsinians," none being true Nubians or Abyssinians, but cither Nubas nnd other Negroes from Kordofan and the Upper Nile, or else Barea, Baai, 8han-(falhia, and other Negroid peoples from the .Kbysainian uplands. According to these returns the latter commnnd the highest prices in the slave market, £20 to £60 for adults, the Nubas fetching only frum £18 to £40. ​4G4 APPENDIX II. and in various other pursuits. They are a strong, muscular people, essentially agricul- tural, more warlike and energetic than the Egyptians, whom they also excel in moral qualities. Their Moliammedanism is not of a fanatical type ; and although the present Mahdi is a Nubian of Dongola, he has found his chief support not amongst his country- men, but amongst the more recently converted Negroes, and especially the Arab and Ilamite communities of Kordofan and other parts of Eastern Sudan. There is a marked difference between the physical appearance of the two great branches of the Nuba race. The Nubian (Barabra) tyi>e is obviously Negroid, very dark, often almost black, with tumid lips, largo black dreamy eyes, dolichocephalic head (73-72 as compared with the normal Negro 73-40, and the old Egyptian 75-58), woolly or strongly frizzled hair. The scant beard is still worn xmder the chin, like the figures of the Negro fugitives in the battle-pieces sculptured on the walls of the Egj'j>tian temples. But, as amongst all mixed peoples, there are considerable devia- tions from the normal Nubian standard, some showing affinities to the old Egyptian, as already remarked by Blumenbaih. some noted for their fine oval face and regular features, others for their long or slightly crisp hair, and bronze,* reddish brown, or deep mahogany complexions. In general it may be said with Burkhardt that the nose is less flat, the lips less thick, the cheekbones less prominent, the colour less dark ("of a coppery tinge "), than amongst the true Negroes. The Nile Nubians must therefore be regarded as essentially a mixed race, presenting every shade of transition between the original Nuba type and the various Ilamitic and Semitic elements with which they have intermingled in the Nile Valley. ^ The original Nuba type itself must be studied in the Kordofan higlilands, where it persists in its greatest purity. The Kordofan Nuba? are unanimously described b}' Russeger, Petherick, Lepsius, and other intelligent observers as emphatically a Neg^o race. " Ncgerstanime," " Negerfolk," "Negroes," "Niggers," are the unqualified terms applied to them in all books of travel, so that there can be no doubt at all on this point.f Its importance is obvious, for it settles the question of the true affinities of the Nile Nubians, about which so much controversy has prevailed. It is remarkable, however, that Lepsius traces the Nile Nubians, not to the Kordofan Nubas, but directly to the Uaua Negroes of the Nile Valley. These Uaua are the oldest people, of whom there is any record, in this region. Their name occurs on a tomb at Memphis dating from the time of Pepi, sixth dynasty, 2500 b.c. They are again men- tioned in the Wady-Halfa inscription amongst the tribes reduced by Usertesen II., of tlie twelfth dynasty. Allusion is also made to the Uauat country, and in many subse- quent inscriptions the Uaua figure largely as at the head of all the Negro races beyond the Egyptian frontier. In fact, the word became the conventional or stereotyped name of the Nile Negroes generally down to the time of the Ptolemies, after which it suddenly disappears from historic records. This disappearance has not been explained. But it was probably due to the already mentioned irruption of the Bugaitse (Bejas), by whom the Uaua were reduced, if not exterminated. There is consequently no necessary connection between them and the Nubians, whose more recent migration from Kordofan to the Nile Valley may be regarded as clearly established. Whatever doubt might remain on this point is removed by a consideration of the linguistic argument. In his masterly treatise on the Nubian language quoted farther back, Lepsius himself has shown that the speech of both branches of the Nuba race is identical, presenting merely some slight dialectic varieties, easily explained by the length of time that has elapsed since the migration. The structure is the same^ and the
dunklc Hroncefarbe vor, dunkler als die der Habeasinier." He adds : " Der alte Negertypus bricht nicht sellen wieder ziemlich deuilich durch ; namentlich ist das Wollhar ziemlich haiifig." t All have woolly hair, says Riippel (*' Reisen in Nubien"), pouting thick lips, short flat nose, com- plexion quite black. Further comment is needless. ​APPENDIX II. 405 subjoined list of a few common rord8 in tho Don^olawi of the Nile and in four Kordo- fan diolec'ta shows that tho voc-abulury also if) (>MMciitiully one : — BafUik ""Xt JcMKvro JtMSoiaiL JeMKate. MM Kaltto. Mouth . . •Rtl geJem ogl aul •Uo awol Foot . . kogodi kuddo ko«ido ke( Cow • . ti ti rh ti teh Fire . . . iff ik ek» ? ika One . . . weri her ben ber ber Two . . owl orre ora oia «n Three . . toaki toje tje tOJM Vju It is inpTodiblo that the speech of the Uaua Negroes and Kordofan Nubaa, if origi- nally the same, could have maintained its identity with such slight changes as these for a period of nearly 4,400 years — that is, from the time of Pepi (2500 b.c), when mention first occurs of the Uaua. It seems safe to conclude, that while the identity of tho Nile and Kordofan Nubos is established, neither branch has any obvious or necessary connection with the extinct Uaua of the Egyptian records. Independently of this consideration, tho Nubian language, first clearly elucidated by Lepsius, presents some points of interest both to the philologist and ethnologist. Its Negro character is shown in its phonologj', in the complete lack of grammatical gender, and in some structural peculiarities. Such is the infi.x j inserted between the verbal root and the plural pronominal object, as in at tokki-j-ir = I shake them. As in Bantu, the verbal conjugation is highly developed, presenting such a multiplicity of forms that in Lepsius' Grammar the complete paradigm of a single verb fills as many as 110 pages. The Nubian language never appears to have been cultivated, or even committed to writing.* Hence it is not likely to affonl tho key, as some have suggested, to the numerous undeciphered inscriptions occurring along tho banks of the Nile as far south as Senaar. It enables us, however, to dispose of the so-called " Nuba-Fulah " family, originally eonstitute<l of heterogeneous elements by Frederick Miiller, and generally accepted by anthropologisti) on the authority of that disting^iished ethnologist. Wo have already seen at the outset that the Fulahs are a non-Negro race, most probably allied to the western Ilamites of the Sahara. The Fulah speech, also, appears from Krause's Grammar to be a non-Negro language, betraying not the remotest resemblance to the Nuba. Thus the Nubas are of Negro stock and speech, and so the "Nuba-Fulah" family is dissolved, its diyecta membra finding each its place amongst its own kindred. Nuba Kargo Kulfan Tumali Fur Kutyara NVBAS PlluI'EU. Kordofan, chiefly in central utid ^out'.em districta, 11" — 13° N. WB8IER>r NCBAS. The dominant race in Dnr-Fur, to which country it gives ita name ; apeech appears to bo akin to Nuha. Dar-Fur and Kordnfao ; a brunch of the Fur, whoae language they ttill apeak. Nils NuB«a ("Nvnusts." "Daiubra"). From Aauan (Firat Cat iract) to Sebu and Wadi-el-Arab. ilattokki {Keniu) . Haidoiii, Mahai, or Mariai From Korovko to Wady-Halfa (Second Cataract)
nx kindA of writing, wh ch he tella ua in a somewhat dnubtfal paaaage, were current amongat the llamitio poop'oa. 80— AP. ​466 APPENDIX IL Dongolawi . . Province Dongola, from Wady-Halfa to Jebcl Dera, near Meroe, where the Shey- gyeh Arab terrilory begins. Danagele . . . Recent Nubian immigrants into Kordofan and Dar-Fur ; chiefly from Dongola, whence the name Danagele. Most of them now speak Arabic (Munziger). IV. SEMITIC GROUP. Of this division of the Caucasic stock two branches are represented in North-East Africa : 1. The Yoktauides, or Iliinyarites, from prehistoric times, mainly in the Abys- sinian highlands beyond the Egyptian frontier — Tigre, Amhara, Bogos,* and others speaking more or less corrupt dialects of the Gheez or old Himyaritic language of South Arabia. 2. The Ismaelites, or Arabs proper, a few probably from prehistoric times, especially in Senaar ; but the great majority since the Mohammedan invasion in the seventh century, chiefly in the steppe-lands west of the Nile from the Sobat confluence northwards to Dongola. Some of the early arrivals, such as the Jowabere and El Gharbiye, appear to have settled in the Nile Valley south of Egypt, -where they became assimilated in speech to the surrounding Nubian population. Many others moved west- wards through Kordofan and Dur-Fur to Wadai and the Tsad basin, and, speaking generally, no part of North and North-East Africa, except the Abyssinian uplands, can be said to be entirely free from the Arab element. Unfortunately this is also the disturbing element, but for the presence of which there would be no fanaticism, no slave-dealers, no Mahdis, no " Egyptian question," to con- found the councils of European statesmanship. Proud, ignorant, bigoted, and insolent, these Arab tribes " are for the most part nomads or wanderers, each within certain well-known limits. All are large owners of cattle, camels, horses, and slaves. These last, along with the Arab women generally, cultivate some fields of durra, or corn, suffi- cient for the wants of the tribe. The Arab himself would consider it a di.sgrace to practise any manual labour. He is essentially a hunter, a robber, and a warrior, and, after caring for his cattle, devotes all his energies to slave-hunting and war." f Some of these Arab tribes are very numerous and powerful. They command great influence amongst the surrounding populations, and are often in a position to defy the supreme authority, or compel it to accept their conditions in the administration of Eastern Sudan. The most important are the Sheygyeh, Eobabat, Jalin, and Kaba- bish, between Dongola and Khartum ; the Baqqara," thence southwards nearly to the Sobat confluence; the Homran, Eekhabin, and Alawin of Senaar; the Hamr, El-Homr, Mahumid, and Habanieh of Kordofan and Dar-Fur. In general, the Semitic type is fairly well preserved, although the Sheygyeh and some others are distinguished by a dark, almost black, complexion. Traces of intermixture with the Negroes are also evident in many districts, while complete fusion of the two elements seems to have taken place in parts of Senaar and Nubia. In religion all alike are zealous Mohamme- dans, to whom some system of domestic slavery seems almost indispensable. Hence even were the export of slaves to Egypt and Arabia suppressed, the institution would still survive in a mitigated form in the interior of the country. (ff) HlMYARTTIC OB ABYSSINIAN BkAXCH.J Dahalaki. . . Great Dahalak Island, near Massawa. Mastuai , . . The mixed population of Massawa, of Tigre speech. • The position of the Bogos or Bilin, who occupy a debatable tract at the north-east comer oi Abyssinia on the Egyptian frontier, is somewhat doubtful. Leo Reiiiisch regaids their sp^ch as a Gheez dialect (" Die Bilin Sprache," Vienna, 1882) ; yet he classes them subsequently with the neigh- bouring Hamite peoples, as will be seen farther on. t Lieut. Colonel Stewart's " Report on Ihe Sud&n for 1883," p. 8. X The •* Ethiopian " of some, the •' Agazi " of other writers, the latter term denoting ptK)ple8 of Geez speech. *' Alle diese Vblker haben einen innem Zusammcnhang ; sie sind Abyssinier, alto Christen, ​APPENDIX n. 467 ffotumht . Kamtakim As-Shuma BrjHk Jtofoa (Si An)* TaiM4 jr«rM . Sabitrmt . IkmMm . Harrar Tiijri Amharm . Mudun ("ambar) < oa«t district about MuiSiwa and a« fiu- aa Aqiq. > Anaeba province, north-cast frontier of Abyiainia inland from Mudun. Beit-Bidol and Dcmbela dislricta, about the headstrcams of the Barka (Baraka) and Mareb (Uaah) rivera, west of Anseba. Abyssinian enclave in Somaliland, east from Shoa : 0' 40' N. ; 42' E. The prcdominHnt nation in North Abyiuiinia. The predominant nution in 8<iuth Abyssii.ia, now politically subject to the Tigr& She^gyth (Shaikieh). Robabat . Hauameh Homran . AbH'Rof . Shukrieh . Do&eina . Yemanieh Jalm {Jahaliu) KubabiihX Baqqdra (b) IsxABLmc OR Arab Bkanch. From Dongola along left bank Nile to Abu-Hammed. Noted for their extremely dark cotnploxioii, yet claiming to be of unmixed Arub dcuccnt. From Abu-Hiimmed to the AtlMira confluence. About the Atbara confluence, between the Robabat and Jalin north and south. 3Iiddle course of the .Atlmra and Mareb rivers hs far as the Bas^ (Kunama) territory. Widespread throughout West Senuar. Lower and Middle Atbara (left bank), and southwards to 8enaar. I MHinly about the Blue Nile confluence, Khartum district ; but widely diffused as traders and settlers ihroughuut Senaar, Taka, Kordofan, Dar-Fur, and eren Kaff.i.t Widely hpread west of the Nile between 12" — 15' N., but especially along the route from (»beid (Konlofari) to the Nile ut Dongilu. 'ITio name means " Goat- herds," although they arc ulso large breeders of horses and camels. Mainly south of the Kabiibish along wtsl bank of the Nile and Bahr-el-Arab neiirly to its source. The term Baqqata, unknown in the Arab national gene- alogies, has given rise to some mutunderstunding. It is not the name of any particular tribe, but an expression applied collectively to all tribes which breed and deal in cattle, in contradistinction to tho»e whoso wealth consists in horses and camcU. Hence there are Baqq&ra in many parts of Sud&n, although und bedienen sich des reinsten athiopiochcn Idioms, dea Tigr6" (Munziger, op. eil. p. 73). This use of the term "Ethiopian" is very confuting, as it is ulso, and more projM-rly, employed us the collective name of the eastern division of the Huniitic family. The Himyarites (.bys8inian8) are intruders from Arabia ; the Hamites are the true autoohthoms, hence best entitled to the title of " Ethiopian," which by the ancients was applied, although somewhat vaguely, to all the native populations stretching south from the frontier of Egypt proper. • The Bogos are clasMKl by Rcinisch (loe. eif. p. 94) with the Hamites, or " Kushit s," as he calls them. But ho elsewhere rii^htly afliliatus thorn to the Abyssinian Semites, as sim aUing a pure Tigri (Geez) dialect, herein agreeing with ^lunziger in his •« Ostufrikanische Studen," who is our best autho* rity on these fragmentary ethnical groups (m the north and north-eabt frontiers of Abyssinia. t The Jalin claim spi-ciul cfmsideratiim as the most numerous, intelligent, and purtst of all the Sudane.te Arabs. They imce their descent from Abl)aa, uncle of the I*rophet ; but thtir Arabic speech, preserved and spoken with great purity, indicat«'8 the Hejas as their original home The chief Jalin tribes, as enumerated by Munziger, are : Muhammadab, Mikringa Bagelab, Tadieh, GebAlab, Kaliab, Gum- mieh, Gummeab, Qeresbab Nifeab, Sadob. Jaudallahab, Mekabemb, Meirefab, Mosellfniab, (hnarab, Timerab, Kitejab, Giabernb, Aliab, Giuberab, Seidab, Shatinab. Megiadab. The final *b of these tnbal names is not an Arabic hut a Beja patronymic ending, borrowed from the neighbouring Hadendoahs of the Ifareb Valley, with whom they have long been intimately associated. Some of the Jalin tribes of the liarka district have even adopt(>d the To-Bedawieh hinguiige. and pass for Hamit<>s. X "Esist nicht unmu^lich dass die beiden Volker [Kababish and liaqqdra] von «>incm Stamme entsprosscn, sich die Weide vertheilt haln^n, wodurch die Tnnnung stereotyp wurde. Pie Kuhhirten h'elten sich an den g.'asigen Siidcn, die KnlNibish an den trockenen alior von Mimosen stark bewuldeten Norden, derallein dem Kameel und der Ziege Convenirt." (Munxigcr, op. eit p. 661.) ​468 APPENDIX H. they are chiefly concentrated about the left bank of the White Nile, nnd farther west towards the headstreams of the I3ahr-el Arab (Baqqata-el- Homr). The word is derived from baqnr = an ox. Allawin . . . El-Arish district on the road between Egypt and Pulestlne. Amran . . . Isthmus of Suez. Iluweitat . Arabian desert between the Suez Canal and the Nile. McMzeh . . • ••«. The " Goatherds," a powerful tribe ranging over the Arabian steppe, from the Nile to the Red Sea, between the parallels of Assiut and Beni-Suef. Have been identified by Maspero with the ancient Libyan Mazu people, but have now been assimdated in speech and religion to the Arabs. Aulad-Ali . . The dominating tribe in the Libyan desert west of the Nile delta. Uawarah . . . West of Keneh, Upper Egj-pt ; till recently supplied the Khedival Government with most of its in-pgular cavalry. Total population of all the Arab tribes in Egypt, about 250,000. V. HAMITIC GROUP. TiBU Branch. The true affinities of the Tibus, long a subject of discussion among anthropologists, may now be determined in the light of the fresh materials recently brought to Europe by Dr. Nachtigal, and partly published in his monumental work, " Sahara und Sudan."* The Tibu domain comprises the whole of East Sahara from about 12=" E. longitude to the Egj'ptian frontier, and from Fezzan southwards to Kanem, Wadai, and Dar-Fur. There are two main branches : 1. The Teda, or Northern Tibus, possibly to be identified with the Tedamansii, a tribe of Garamantes placed by Ptolemy in Tripolitana ; 2. The Daza, or Southern Tibus, through whom they gradually merge southwards in the Kanembu, Kanuri, Zoghawa, Baele, and other Negro or Negroid peoples of Central and Eastern Sudan. The Tibu language follows precisely the same course, passing from the Northern and primitive Teda through the more highly developed Daza to the mixed Kanuri and other forms in the Tsad basin. But the physical and linguistic features revolve, so to say, in different planes, implying apparent antagonism between the ethnical and philological conditions. Both are found in their purest and most original state amongst the Northern Tedas, a point that has been clearly established by Nachtigal. But while the Teda physical tj'pe is not to be distinguished from that of the neighbouring Imoshagh or Tuarik (Berber Hamites) of the "Western Sahara, the Teda language shows no affinity either with the Hamitic or tlie Negro groups. It stands entirely apart, constituting the nucleus of a widespread linguistic family, with extensive ramifications in Dar-Fur, Wadai, Kanem, Bornu, Baghirmi, and generally throughout Central Sudan. In this region it appears to have been profoundly affected by Negro influences ; but no such influences can be detected in the Tibesti uplands, probably the cradle of the Tibu race and the centre of dispersion of the Tibu language. It follows that the Tibus must be regarded as a branch of the Hamitic stock, who, during their long isolation in Tibesti, have had time to develop an independent idiom no longer traceable to a common Tibu-Berber source. A notable feature of this idiom is the absence of grammatical gender, placing it even on a lower level than many Negro tongues of the Upper Nile and Kilima-Njaro regions. It appears, however, to supply what may be called the " raw material," out of which gender has been elaborated in the Hamitic languages. Thus o seems to be characteristic of masculine, d or t oi feminine terms, as in o-mri = man ; d-di = woman. With this feminine dental may be compared the Berber t, which is both pre- and post-fixed, as in akli = negro ; taklit = 11 egress. • Two volumes only have so far appeared (Berlin, 1879, 1881). The remainder, with riih philo- logical data, are afixioiisly await* d by i-tudents of African ethnology. ​APPENDIX n. 469 Ba»U North Dar-Fur, thence north* west wards to Wanganya and Botlni; apeecb •Hn to Uio Daaa or Southern 1 ibu ; typo Nogruid. Fuhh BtuHKu Dkanch. Weat Dar-Fur, where a few Fulah conunonities have penetrated in reoent timaa from the Taad baain. Matai proper Kwajl Wa-Suk . Andorobbo Masai Bhanch. A widoapread and powerful nation, who occupy nearly the whole region aant of Luke VJctoriii Nyaiiza, between the parallels of Mount Kilimanjaro and Muunt Chilwharagnani (3' S.— T N.) Typo quite diatinct from the sui rounding Uuntu and Negro, and apparently allied to the Ilamitic Gallas. Language also apptan* to b« remotely connected with the Hamitic family. Twelve main divnijous, of which the chief are Ngaje, Mulilian, Lyseri, and Lcteyo. *• These have the finest physical developmout and— but for a prominence of the cheek-btites, a tendency to a Mongolian shape and upward slant of the eyes, the chocolate-coloured skin, and the hair with a tendency to become frizzy— they might {ass muster an veiy re«pectaJ.le and commonplace Europeans. The Ngaje- Masai are the puiest breed, and are to be found chiefly around Kilimanjaro." ("llirough Masai Land," p. 413.) A sub-branch of the Masai, who sct-m to have suffered degradntion by mixture with the Negro population. Their otiginal home was Mbumvui Land, betwo< n Kilimnnjaro and U-Sambaia, west and east. Since 1830 have been scattered in all directions by the Misai, with whom, however, they now live peaceably in many districts. Some have been evangolised. Large and poweiful nation, north of Masai Land, in the highlands some thirty miles beyond Lake Baringc, and in the northern parts of Lykipia, whence they have expelled the Masai. "They are stxoi'g-bt ned, ugly looking fellows, though their heads are not markedly Negroid." ('Through ^lasai Land," p. 629.) Joseph lliomson tells us that their language is distineily allied to the Masai, a> d this exploier considers that " they doubtless form a connecting link between the latter race and the Nile tiibes" (lA. p. 631). A huutir.g tnbe scattered in very small communities over Masai Land, especially in the dense forests of Kcnia, Kikuyu, the Mau range, Chibcharagnani, and other pluces where the elephant abounds. In appearance they resemble the lower class of Masai, to whoso language their speech is also allied. By the Mssai themselves " they are on the whole looked upon aa a species of 8«^rf, and tieated accoidingly." (" Through Masai Laud," p. 448.) SotTH Ethiopian' Bbanch. Oromo OB Galla. The word Omri may serve in a way to connect the Tibu Ilamites with the Galla, a chief branch of the Eastern Hamites, who also call themselves Oromo, Orma, Ormu = men. To these Eastern Hamites, who skirt the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea from the Equator to Egj'pt. and of whom the ancitnt Egyptians themselves were a branch, the vagwe terms Cushite and Ethiopian are frequently applied. By tlie intervening Abyssinian highlands they are divided into a southern and a northern group, the chief branches of the former being the Afars (Dankali), the Somali, Galla, Kaffa,* and outlying Wa-Huma ; of the latter, the Saho, Bogos, or Bilin (?), Beja, or Bishari ; the old Egy])tian8, modern Kopta, and Fellahin, besides the Agau and some other scattered communities in Abyssinia.
Kaffa langtmge from three slaves to determine its connection with the Usmitic family. To the same c mncction he refers the Ag^umeder and Khamant of Gondar, and some otheta on the north frontier of Abyssinia, about whose true affinities some doubt still prevail* (** Oe<lerr>ich iache Monatschr. f. den Oiient," March 16, 1881, p. 94). ​470 APPENDIX n. The Wa-huma, to whom the attention of ethnologists has scarcely yet been seriously directed, present some points of great anthropological interest, probably affording a solution of the difficulties connected with the constituent elements of the Bantu races in East Central Africa. Speke had already observed that the chiefs of the Bantu nations about the great lakes were always Wa-Huma, a pastoral people evidently of Galla stock, and originally immigrants from the Galla country. Since then it has been ascer- tained that several Wa-Huma communities live interspersed amongst the mixed Bantu nations of the lacustrine plateau, and J. M. Schuver was recently informed that the Negro inhabitants of tlio Afilo country were governed by a Galla aristocracy.* From tliese and other indications it seems highly probable that in point of fact the Bantu peoples are fundamentally Negroes in diverse proportions atfected by Wa-Huma or Galla, that is Hamitic, elements. The Wa-Huma, who under the name of Wa-Tusi,t are found as far south as the U-nyamezi country, are by recent observers unanimously described as a very fine race, with oval face, straight nose, small mouth, and generally speaking regular Caucasic features. Such a type is found everywhere cropping out araid the surrounding Negroid populations throughout the southern half of the con- tinent, and the conclusion seems irresistible that it should be referred to these Wa- Huma or Hamitic Gallas, probably for ages advancing ^s conquerors from the north- east into the heart of the continent. No distinct mention is made of the Wa-Huma speech. It is known, however, to differ from that of the Bantus i>roper ; and when we hear that the late King M'Tesa of U-Ganda spoke Galla as his mother-tongue, and was proud of his Galla ancestors, little doubt can remain on this point. The Wa-Huma are also distinguished by their intense love both of personal freedom and political autonomy, sentiments which are but feebly developed amongst the true Negro populations. Such is their horror of captivity and a foreign yoke, that those who have failed to maintain their independence are no longer regarded as true Wa-Huma. The very women who have the misfortune to fall into the hands of the Arab slave-dealers are looked upon as degraded for ever, and should they escape from bondage, are burnt alive by their own people. Traits of this sort would almost alone suffice to suspect at least a very large infusion of non-Negro blood in the AVa-Huma race. This element we may now trace with some confidence to the Hamites of North- East Africa as its true source. Ittu Mountains, 41°— 42' E., 9°— 10° N. South-east of Ankober. West from Tajutra Bay. West of Lake Ardibbo. East of Lakes Ardibbo and Haic. Largo nation east side Upper Nile, east of the Bari, south of the Shuli ; about 4° N. lat., 39° E. long. Speech akin to the Ihn-Orma (Galla) dialect. South of Gojam. West of Zebul. Ittu . Carayu . Dauari . Wolo Worro-Babbo . Latuka . .Vtcha liaya Asabo Lango Wa-Huma Wa-Tusi. Sidama . Somerset Nile between Foweira and Magungo. Intermingled with the Bantu populations of the Kafialand, south-west of Shoa, hitherto wrongly grouped with the Nubas.J I Intermingled with the Bantu populations of the eastern equatorial regions.
kratie beherrscht wird" (Petermann's Mittheilungen, 1883, v. p. 194). t And arc no doubt also known by other names. Thus the Wa-Taturu shepherds of U-Kerew6 li^Iand in Lake Victoria Nyanza appear to belong to the same connection. They are described by Stanley as "light-coloured, straight, thin-nosed, and thin-lipped," in contrast to their Wa-Kerew6 neighbours, "a mixture of the Ethiopic and Negro type." ("Through the Dark Continent," vol. i. p. 261.) X The natives of Kaffa, whose affinity to the Gal'as has now been determined by Leo Reinisch. are collectively called Sidama by G. Chiarini in " Memorie della Societa Geografica Italiana," i. Part 2, 1878. ​APPENDIX U. 471 Imhbhmmi-Modoii Oudahirn GadoAtirti jMlbakantu MijjertkaiH Dtbtut AmU Aua-Jmara Sidi-Uabura GaleUu . Khimir . Ajfau Agaumedtr t'alaaha . BomaLI. Between Zeilah, Horrar, and Bcrbora. Uplands Mulh of Ucrbera. East of Borben to tho Indiau Ocean. CiNTiuL Ethiopian BaAMCR. ArAH (AoAL oa Danaxil). ' C«>astlaods but ween Abyssinia and the Bed Sea, from Zola Bay to Strait of r ol-Mandeb.» Bab* Lasta district Uuara uistrict Gondar district Abyssinia. &aho, or Shoho . Collective name of numerous communities scattered over Abyss'nia; claim Jewish descent, and are often callc-d the " Jews of Abyssinia," but are probably of Aguu stock. The Kura, Kudra, or Huaraza, as their languige is diversely called, also resembles the A^tu. The term FalathOy which in Suuth Abyrsinia take:) the form of Fetija, in explained to metn " Exd'-u," and lends a colouring to the national tradition th it they dc8Condi.-d from a certain Meuelt-k, son of Solomon and the Queen of SLeba. North-east frontier, Ab) ssiuiu. NoHTHEKN EtHIMPIN BoAXCH (BeJA Di VISION'). Of the northern group of Ethiopian Ilamites by far the most important are the Beja, or Bishari, who have all the greater claim to the consideration of the ethnologist, that their ethnical status has hitlierto been pereistently ignored alike by British Cabinet Ministers, officials, and newspaper corresjwndenta. They are the unfortunate people, many of whoso tribes have recently come into collision with the British forces in the Suakin district, but who continue to be spoken of as '* Arabs" by those states- men who are unable to recognise more than two races in Egj-ptian Sudan, that is, the Negro and Arab. Thus, on February 27th of the year 1884, the Marquis of Hartington telegraphs to General Graham: "Toll them we are not at war with the Arab$, but must disperse force threatening Suakin." And General Graham himself sends a letter " written in Arabic" to tho chiefs of the tribes about Trinkitat and Tokar, in which they are again assumed to be ** Arabs," We all remember the ignominious fate of that now historical document, which was set up as a target and riddled by bullets, as some dangerous fetish, by those Ilamitic followers of Muhammad Osman Dakanah, whose own languag*^, the To-Bedawieh, differs almost as much from Arabic as does that of the British troops itself. All this imrae<liately preoetled the sanguinary engagement of El Teb, and it may be assorted with Sir Stafford Northcote, though for reasons different from those implied by him, that " if the position of England had been such as it ought to have been, wo should have had none of the slaughter which then took place." In fact, hud a mo<lorate amount of attention been paid by our Foreign Office to the true ethnical cf>nditi«)ns in Egyptian Su lin, most of the complications might probably have been avoided that have since arisen in that distracted region. But the necessity for a systematic study of ethnology has not yet made itself apparent to the rulers of the
(plural Da'ikali and Danakli) ia tho name by which t 'cy are known to their Arab and Ilamite neigh- bours. Chiarini [loc. eit ) recognises the close relationship uf Somali and Qalla, but asserts that the Afar Lmguage " ha ben poco di commune coUa galla." ​472 APPENDIX U. most multifarious complexity of tribes and peoples ever entrusted to the charge of a siugle Adininistrntion. The Bejas are the true autochthonous element in East Nubia, where they occupy the whole of the arid steppe-lands stretching from the Nile to the Red Sea, and from the Abyssinian frontier northwards as far as the parallel of Keneh and Kosseir in Upper Egypt.* Their main divisions are the Ababdeh, to be identified with Pliny's Gabadei, about the Egyptian frontier, the Hadendoah, Hassanab, and Demilab, along the coast - lands, and as far inland as the El-Matre wells on the Suakin-Berber route ; the Bishari proper, thence westwards to the Nile ; the Amarar and Ashraf north from the Suakin- Berber route, and here and there overlapping the Bishari ; the Kamlab, Halenga, and Beni-Amer along the Abyssinian frontier from the Nile to the Ked Sea in the order here given. By Linant Bey (Linant de Bellefonds), one of the most intelligent observers of these peoples, they are described as of European (Caucasic) type, often very handsome, of a bronze, swarthy, or light chocolate complexion, with long, crisp, but not woolly hair, generally falling in ringlets over the shoulders.f So also the Macrobes, of the same region, were long ago described by Herodotus (Book III.) as " the tallest and finest of men," to whom Cambyses sent envoys from their kindred of Elephantine Island, but failed to reduce. Nevertheless, through long contact with the surrounding African populations the present Bejas show here and there evident traces of Negro blood, conspicuous especially in the thick lips and broad nose of some of their tribes. On the other hand, the northern or Ababdeh branch have been largely assimilated even in speech to their Arab neighbours and hereditary foes, the Atuni (Ma'azeh) of Upper Egypt. J All are now more or less zealous Mohammedans, occupied chiefiy with camel- breeding and as caravan leaders, governed by hereditary sheikhs, and like their Haniitie kindred elsewliere, distinguished by their personal bravery and love of freedom. Jieja, the most collective national name, may be traced through the harder Arabic form Bega^ of the tenth century to the Bi'iffa {^ovyafirai) of the Greek and Axumite (Geez) inscriptions, and thence perhaps to the Buka of the hieroglyphic records. These fiovyatnai appear to be identical with the ftKefi/xvis (Kopt. Balnemmoui) who are already mentioned by Strabo, || and who, from the third to the sixth century of the new era, infested the southern frontiers of Egypt. Often defeated by Aurelian and Probus, they nevertheless so continued to harass these outljdng provinces of the empire, that Diocletian was at last induced to withdraw the Roman garrisons from the regions of the Cataracts, replacing them by the warlike Nobatae tribes from the great oasis of Kargey in Upper Egypt. Hadendoa . • ) -o j o i • £^f^a,i ^^t^^®" Siiakin and the Nile, thence sou hwanls to t^e AbysRiniiin frontier.
account of this ptople in his " History of E ypt " (end of fourteenth century) is drawn from the Ibthnkhri (tenth century) and other older records. "Le pays qu'haldte ce peuple commence au bourg nomm6 Kharbah, pr^s duquel est la mine d'emfraude. Le pays des Bedjas se tt-rmine aux premieres frontieies de I'AbysBinie. Ce peuple habite I'iiiterieur de la prpsqu'ilc dEpypte jusqu'nnx bords de la mer, du c6t4 qui regardb les iles de Souaken, de Baza (Mass&wah), et de Uthlak." (Quatrem^re's translation, in "Memoires sur I'Egj-pte," 1811, ii. p. 135.) t *' I/Etbaye, pays habite par les Bichaiieh " (PhHs 1868). X 'Ihese Ab.ibdeh are very widespread, stretching from K n h s uthwurils to the Second Cataract at Wady- Haifa, where they m«et the Kensi Nubians on the west, and the Bishari on the east. Th»ir chief tiibes, some of which also appear to speak Nubian, are the Nemriib, Gawalich, Shaw&hir (Kha- w&hi), Abudcin, Meleikab, Tok^ira, and Oshabab. Rus8eger(" Reise," ii. Pari 3, p. 193) estimates their number at about 40,000, nearly equally distributed between E.!ypt and Nuba. • § The Arabic 9^, now generally pronounced j, was originally hard, like the Hebrew ^, as we see in the geographical term Nejdy by the local tribes still pronounced Xegd. Hence Bega = Beja. II Ao'tird Si rd irpo^ vorov, TpoyKolvrai, fiXifXfivii^, Kai No(//J(U sai Miydfiapoi o'l inip Svijftjc A.'0iojr«c- (Book 17, 63.)
* ↑ Enlarged from A. H. Keane's "Ethnology of Egyptian Sudán." London: 1884.
* ↑ "Grammatica e Vocabolario delle lingua Denka," Rome, 1880, p. 231.
* ↑ In Senaar alone the Arabs reckon as many as six gradations between the pure Negro and the Semite: 1. El-Asriif, or yellow; 2. El-Kat Fatalobin, the Abyssinian; 3. El-Akdar, or red; 4. El-Aziaq, or blue ; 6. El-Ahsdar, or "green " ; 6. Ahbit, the Nubian.
* ↑ Schweinfurth, "Heart of Africa."
* ↑ Rev. T. "Wakefield, in " Proceedings of the Geographical Society," for Dccember, 1882.
* ↑ Lepsius, "Einleitung."
* ↑ Ἐξ άριστερῶν δὲ ρὕσεως τοῦ Νειλου Νοῦβαι κατοικοῦσιν εν τῆ Λιβύη, μἐγα ἔθνος, &c. (Book 17, p. 1117, Oxford ed., 1807.)