THE BEJAS. 235 



clans banded together at tte time of the Turkish invasion ; but their confederation 

 did not last long, and under the Egyptian rule the tribes have again become 

 scattered into a multitude of communities without common concert. The Bejas, 

 rather than the Abyssinians, are probably the " Ethiopians " of Herodotus, the 

 civilised people who built the city of Meroë and its pyramids. In the Middle 

 Ages the Bejas also constituted a powerful state, whose capital was Aloa, on the 

 Blue Nile, about 12 miles above Khartum. At this period the Bejas were 

 Christians, at least in the vicinity of the confluence. When their city was over- 

 thrown by the Funj and they returned to the steppes they also embraced the 

 religion of the nomad pastors. All the Bejas are Mohammedans, although most 

 of them, like the Bedouins of Syria and the Arabian peninsula, are only so in name, 

 in spite of the ardour with which they have enrolled themselves amongst the 

 followers of the Mahdi, under whose guidance they have regained a certain national 

 unity. 



Of all the southern Beja tribes, the most powerful is that of the Hadendoas, 

 who roam over the Taka steppes, between the Gash and the Atbara to the west, 

 and the Barka to the east, although in their migrating and pillaging expeditions 

 they often pass beyond these limits. According to Munzinger, they number 

 about one million persons. Another numerous people are the Shukurieh or Shuk- 

 rieh, a nation of pastors herding their flocks between the Nile and the Atbara, and 

 cultivating the irrigable valleys in the neighbourhood of Kassala. The Hallengas 

 occupy the narrow zone comprised between the Atbara and the Crash, while the 

 Hamran dwell on the plains where the Atbara effects its junction with the 

 Bahr-Settit, Farther to the west and south-west, some Dabeïna hordes roam 

 over the steppes watered by the Bahad. In the " Mesopotamia " of the two Nil es 

 the soil is disputed between the Abu-Bof, or Bufah, the Jalins, and the Hassanieh, 

 that is to say the " Cavaliers " or " Horsemen." Lastly, to the east of the 

 Hadendoas, the circumference of the advanced plateau of Abyssinia between the 

 Barka and the Bed Sea, nearly as far as the gates of Suakin, is occupied by the 

 Beni- Amers. According to Hartmann the Hamrans, whom he calls Homrans, that 

 is to say the " Beds," are related to the Agau. Nevertheless, all these populations 

 call themselves Arabs, and are generally considered as such on account of the 

 religion they profess, their pastoral and warlike habits, and also on account of the 

 language henceforth adopted by them. Besides, it is certain that the Arab element 

 is strongly represented in these nomad Beja tribes, as is proved by numerous 

 families whose type is absolutely identical with that of the Arabs of the Asiatic 

 peninsula. According to tradition they are descended from the tribe of the Uled- 

 Abbas, in Hejaz. In the greatest part of the Beja countries, the original dialects 

 are giving way before the language of the Koran ; but they still survive, at least 

 in a state of patois, in the vicinity of the Abyssinian mountains. Almqvist, who has 

 composed a general grammar of the Beja idioms, recognises four princijsal dialects, 

 without counting the jargons which the hunters love to speak, probably because 

 they are under the influence of the superstition, so common in many countries, 

 that certain local words have the power of fascinating animals. The original 



