THE PEOPLES OF EGYPT AND NUBIA 



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then left to bleed to death. Hunting on horseback is the more common method. Four men 

 usually hunt together. They follow a herd of elephants, and attract the attention of the animal 

 with the largest tusks. It is irritated into a series of charges, by which it is gradually detached 

 from the herd. One hunter then rides close up to the head of the elephant, which, enraged 

 at such impudence, makes a desperate charge. The hunter allows the elephant to keep almost 

 within reach of his horse's tail. While the whole attention of the elephant is thus absorbed 

 two other hunters gallop close up to it; one of them springs to the ground, and with one blow of 

 his heavy sword, held in both hands, severs the sinew of one of the hind legs. The elephant 

 is disabled by the first pressure of its foot upon the ground, for the enormous weight of its 

 body dislocates the joint, and the limb is useless. The hunter who has led the chase then 

 irritates the animal into attempting another charge, during which it is comparatively easy for 

 the other hunters to cut the sinew of the other hind leg. The animal then cannot move, and 

 slowly bleeds to death. 



The rhinoceros is killed in much the same way, though the chase is even more difficult 



Photo by Legrand] 



(Algiers 



ARAB CHILDREN AT PLAY. 



and dangerous; for the rhinoceros is swifter than the elephant, and can run well on three 

 legs; so it is not disabled by a single blow. 



THE BEJA AND THE ABABDEH. 



The Semitic race is also represented by the Hassanieh and the Jalin of Khartum. The 

 Arab tribes, however, are clearly intruders, and the main element in the Nubian population 

 belongs to the race of the Beja. 



As an example of the Beja we may take the Ababdeh, who dwell in the hilly 

 district about the frontiers of Upper Egypt and Nubia, between the Red Sea and the Nile. 

 They are Hamites, and differ physically from the Arabs of Sinai and Northern Egypt, 

 but they show many Semitic traces. Klunzinger describes the Ababdeh as varying in colour 

 from deep brown to black: "The face is a fine oval, not so long as among the Arabs; the 

 eyes large and fiery; the mouth and lips neither large nor small; the nose straight, and rather 



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