266 NORTH-EAST AFRICA. 



received, tlie result of tlie war was still uncertain. In any case Islam, whilst 

 spreading from Kordofân towards the surrounding countries, is far from having 

 accomplished its mission in Kordofân itself, where numerous practices forbidden 

 by the Prophet are still observed. For the natives the principal difference 

 between paganism and Mohammedanism is that, in the former case, the amulet is 

 a morsel of horn or rag, whilst in the latter it consists of a pouch enclosing a 

 verse from the Koran or a prayer written by a fakih. 



Social Usages. 



Temporary marriages are practised throughout Kordofân ; even at El-Obeïd 

 the custom of the " fourth free," which is specially attributed to the Hassanieh, is 

 said to exist amongst several families of other tribes. Polyandry, regulated for 

 each of the husbands by a partial purchase of the women, would appear to be an 

 extremely common institution. 



Amongst the Ghodiats of the plains and the Joama Arabs, no young girl has 

 the right to marry till she has presented her brother or uncle with a child, the son 

 of an unknown father, destined to serve as a slave to the head of the family. 

 Amongst other tribes, the women belong only to the strongest or to the one who 

 can endure the most. A day is fixed for the young men who dispute for the 

 possession of the girl to assemble before the old men and the women armed iviih 

 kurbashes, and those who bear the greatest number of blows without flinching are 

 judged worthy to obtain the prize. At other times two of the rivals lie prostrate 

 on the ground, one to the right the other to the left of the young girl, who, 

 her elbows armed with knives, rests with all the weight of her body on the naked 

 thighs of the young men. He who submits the most gallantly to these fearful 

 wounds becomes the fortunate husband, and the wife's first care is to staunch the 

 fearful gash that she has made. 



Several other customs bear witness to the barbarous energy of these "Arabs" 

 of Kordofân and Dar-Fôr. Often when an old man feels his end approaching he 

 quits the dwelling-place without telling his friends, makes his religious ablutions 

 in the desert sand, excavates a pit, and wrapping himself in his shroud, lies down 

 with his feet turned towards Mecca. He looks to the sun and then, veiling his 

 face, waits till the evening breeze shall blow the sand over his grave. Perhaps 

 the hyaenas commence to gnaw his limbs before he has breathed his last ; but he 

 will die without complaining, for the object of his existence is accomplished. 



Topography — El-Obeïd. 



Bl- Ohe'id, or Lobeit as it is called by all the natives, capital of the province of 

 Kordofân, and the first Mahdi's residence till the beginning of 1885, occupies 

 precisely a situation which presents all the conditions necessary for the establish- 

 ment of a large city. Should it be again destroyed, as it was in 1821 at the 

 period of the arrival of the Turks, it would spring up on the same site or in the 



