INHABITANTS. 293 



whole region, even in the mud of the Nile and on the rocky slopes of the moun- 

 tains. But they cannot stand a change of climate ; they die out of Nubia, and 

 even in the country itself have been greatly diminished since thev have been so 

 much sought after by the Egyptian officers. The camels of the Bisharins and 

 Ababdehs are no less famous for their speed than the horses of Dongola. 



Inhabitants. 



Often conquered, and consisting of little more than the double riverain zone of 

 the Nile, Nubia is peopled with tribes of very mixed origin, such as Hamites, 

 Arabs, Nigritians, and Turks. Nevertheless the basis of the Nubian population 

 may be said to consist of Barâbras, who call themselves " the people of the soil." 

 Some authors have considered this term Barâbra synonymous with that of Ber- 

 beri, applied to the Tuaregs and to the Kabyles of the Sahara and Mauritania, 

 who are related by their speech to the people of Siwah, an oasis bordering on 

 Egypt. But so great is the difference of colour, type, and mental qualities of 

 these populations, that it would be difficult to believe them related, without going 

 back to times far anterior to recorded history. According to a general but 

 probably groundless opinion, the term Berberi, Barâbra, corrupted to Berberins or 

 Barbarins in the language of the Franks living at Cairo, is merely the Greek or 

 Latin word "barbarian" applied to the black populations who live above the 

 cataracts beyond civilised Egypt. 



The principal Nigritian tribes, mentioned over forty centuries ago on the 

 pillars of the temples as having dwelt on the spot where the present Barâbras now 

 live, are designated by the name of Uaua, a term which seems to convey a species 

 of contempt. It is just such a word as would be applied to a nation of " yelpers," 

 a name differing little from that of " stammerers," which for the Greeks had the 

 primitive meaning of the term " barbarians." But since the name of Beraberata 

 has been discovered on the Theban lists of tribes, it is hardly to be doubted that the 

 term "Barâbra " is derived from it. 



But however this may be, the TJaua Negroes, as well as the Beraberata, have 

 become the Barâbras of our days, but not without diverse crossings with different 

 populations. From the twelfth to the twentieth dynasty the whole of the Nile 

 Valley, colonised by the Egyptians, had become a Betu land in language and race. 

 The reactionary movement scarcely commenced before the Persian epoch, but it 

 was not till the Eoman period that the native elements again took the upper hand. 

 During the government of Diocletian the Blemmyes, the present Bejas, and more 

 especially the Bisharins, invaded the region of Nubia and settled there in a 

 compact body. It was found necessary to withdraw the Boman garrisons, and in 

 order to replace them an appeal had to be made to the warlike tribes called the 

 Nubotse, who were very probably of the same stock as the Nubas of Kordofân. 

 From these people the Uauas and Blemmyes have received the dialects which still 

 exist, though greatly corrupted by Arab terms. 



