402 



THE LIVING RACES OF MANKIND 



short, broad and blunt, than long. The neck is long and thin; the ears small and roundish; 

 the hair naturally straight or curled, but not woolly it is artificially twisted into cork-screw 

 ringlets and worn long and uncovered." Their dress in general resembles that of the Egyptian 

 peasant, consisting of a long coat or shirt and a loin-cloth. The women wear a long white 

 cotton robe, fastened under the armpits and reaching to the feet, while one fold of it covers 

 the head like a veil. They wear necklaces of glass beads, brass earrings and nose-rings, and 

 buckles on feet and hands. 



Their houses are tents of skins placed over poles. They live on milk and d hurra. They 

 keep herds of camels, goats, and sheep, in tending which most of their time is spent. Some 

 have settled on the shore and live largely on fish, and others have settled in the Nile 

 Valley, where they have become agriculturists. The number of the tribe is estimated at 

 about 30,000. They are Mohammedans and speak Arabic. 



Among' other members of the Beja group are the Hadendowa, who live around Suakin, 



and the Bishari, who live along the Abys- 

 sinian frontier. 



THE NUBA AND DONGOLAWI. 



In the Nile Valley the Beja are replaced 

 by members of the Nuba race, who probably 

 are a mixture of Hamite and Negro; the 

 main Nile tribe of the Nuba is known as 

 the " Barabra," which includes the Dongolawi 

 of Dongola, the people of the great Korosko 

 Desert, and the inhabitants of the Nile Valley 

 from Wadi Haifa to Assuan. 



In structure they have more of the Negro 

 than either the Ilarnrans or the Beja: the 

 average Dongolawi, for instance, have very 

 wavy hair, a thin beard, and widely open 

 nostrils. But in many of them the Hamitic 

 type prevails, so that the nose is straight 

 and thin, the hair long, and the lips are 

 thinner than in the Negro. But the Negro 

 characters become increasingly stronger as 

 the Nile is ascended. 



These Nile Valley Barabra are a race 

 of peasants, who grow crops of rice and 

 dhurra in the narrow belt of cultivable land 

 between the river and the desert. They 

 water their fields by the shaduf, which 

 consists of a long lever having arms very 

 unequal in length; at the end of the longer 

 arm is a bucket, which can be lowered and 

 dipped into the river, and then swung up 

 over the bank. The Nile peasants are a 

 peaceful, gentle people; but they are more 

 intelligent and active than the Egyptian 

 Fellahin. That they are capable of great 

 achievements is shown by the fact that the 

 Mahdi who in 1884-85 replaced Egyptian 

 A KABVLE WOMAN. misrule in the Soudan by a worse tyranny 



