THE KABABISH AND BAGGAEA TRIBES. 265 



pursuits. The goat and the camel flourish iu the generally arid northern plains, 

 while horned cattle can obtain sufficient water only in the southern steppes. 



All the " Bedouins " of Kordofân- claim to be of Arab origin, and do in fact 

 speak the language of the Prophet ; but, as Munzinger remarks, " speech is merely 

 of secondary importance in ethnology, it is the manner in which it is spoken 

 which makes it characteristic." Now of all the " Arabs " of the Nilotic regions, 

 the Baggâra, and after them the Kababish, are those whose pronunciation differs 

 the most from that of the true Arabs. A large number of the usual sounds in the 

 classical tongue are unknown and replaced by other sounds, possibly inherited from 

 a now extinct language. 



The Kababish, who are more civilised, thanks to their geographical position, 

 have other occupations besides goat and camel-breeding ; they also cultivate the 

 soil in the lowlands which fringe the Nile, and found permanent villages there, 

 and as they are careful purveyors, they accompany the caravans from El-Obeïd to 

 the stations on the Nile. Some of the Kababish tribes wear enormous hats, similar 

 to those worn by the Kabyles of Tunis and Algeria. The employments of the 

 Baggâra consist of grazing their cattle, hunting the elephant, the buffalo, and 

 other large game, and even occasionally man. Directly the pasturages no longer 

 offer sufficient nourishment for their herds, or when the gadfly attacks the cattle, 

 they strike their fcrgan or tents, load the oxen with the mats which form them, 

 and, followed by a band of their ferocious little dogs, they migrate to another part 

 of the steppe. Carlo Piaggia met one of these caravans of Baggâra nomads 

 which extended for a distance of two miles ; including men and animals, it com- 

 prised at least fifty thousand individuals, whilst birds, as if drawn there by the 

 column of air displaced by the caravan, wheeled in thousands round the animals, 

 destroying the parasites with which they were infested. 



Most of the Baggâra have a red skin like that of the American Indians, and 

 in bodily beauty, athletic form of the chest and shoidders, elegance of their hands 

 and feet, they have but few rivals in the world. Their costume is similar to that 

 of the Kordofân villagers, their garment consisting of a kind of white shirt 

 striped with red, which leaves the right arm uncovered ; they adorn them- 

 selves with glass trinkets, rings, and articles of ivory and horn. The women 

 still dress their hair in the ancient fashion represented on the Egyptian monu- 

 ments, and their tresses, which fall half-way down the forehead and on both sides 

 down to the shoulders, are plastered with butter and aromatic pomades. The 

 gilded ring which many women pass through the nostrils is often connected with 

 a chain hung behind their hair. The men carry the lance, in the use of which 

 they are very skilful, and the European weapons, Solingen swords and Liège 

 rifles, have already become generally adopted by them. Few Arabs are so warlike, 

 or so scrupulous in observing the duties of the vendetta, as the Baggâra. 



The Baggâra are amongst the most fervent of the faithful, and, under the 

 direction of the Mahdi, they have eagerly thrown themselves into the holy war ; 

 they have many times crossed the Bahr-el-Arab to attack the Negro populations 

 of the zeriba region, and towards the end of 1884, the date of the last news 



