262 



NOETH-EAST AFEICA. 



who were charged by the Egyptian Government with, collecting the taxes. 

 Christian and Mussulman Syrians, Albanians and Greeks, are the non- African 

 elements which are met with in Kordofan, and which contribute to the inter- 

 mingling of the races. But the modification of the type is more especially due to 

 the people of the neighbouring tribes brought in by the dealers, such as the 

 Nubas, Denkas, and Bongos. The Takruris, Fellatas, and other western immi- 

 grants, travelling with the double object of selling their merchandise and 

 propagating the doctrines of the Koran throughout the towns along their route, 



Fig. 86. — Central Kordofan. 

 Scale 1 : 650,000. 



,Sha§ts 



elobeJd 



El Karra 

 > I Salamah 



50°45 



E . of" Greenwich 



5\°\b' 



6 Miles. 



have also settled down in the country, and constitute new tribes by intermarrying 

 with the daughters of the Arabs. A great number of Takruri come to Kordofan 

 to offer their services temporarily at the sowing or harvesting seasons, and when 

 they are well received they settle down in the country. The islands of the White 

 Nile, which however, are not considered as belonging to Kordofan, are nearly all 

 inhabited by Arabs. One of them, the largest and best cultivated, is that of Abba, 

 in which the Mahdi, Mohammed- Ahmed, revealed his mission to his first disciples, 

 and gained his first victory over the Egyptians in 1881. 



