298 NOETH-EAST Ai^RICA. 



seek fresh pastures. The Ababdeh likewise dwell in grottoes, similar to those of 

 their ancestors the Troglodytes. If the clay of these caverns were explored, it would 

 undoubtedly yield a rich harvest of prehistoric objects. 



Gums, a few other simple products, and fish, in the vicinity of the Eed Sea, are 

 the only means of exchange by which the Ababdeh procure the durrah required for 

 their frugal diet. Most travellers speak highly of their honesty, gentleness, and 

 frankness, and however miserable they may be, they never beg like the fellahin. 



Other Ethnical Elements in Nubia. 



The powerful Kababish and Hassanieh tribes, who extend beyond their own 

 domains, where they are too much crowded together, into Kordofân and into the 

 peninsula lying between, and formed by the two Niles ; the Shukrieh, encroaching 

 on the steppes to the north of the Atbara ; the Sawrat, the Hawins, and the Jeraiad of 

 the Bayuda ; lastly, the Robabat, and Shaikieh, who occupy the two banks of the Nile 

 between Berber and Dongola, and now speak the Danagla language, complete the 

 population of Nubia. These Arabs or peoples assimilated to the " Arabs " possibly 

 amount to 200,000 or 300,000 persons. Immigrants from other regions have been 

 amalgamated with the body of the Barâbra nation, and the memory of their origin 

 has been retained only by the aristocratic families who have taken interest in pre- 

 serving their genealogies. 



Such is the case with the Bosniaks, who are descendants of the soldiers sent in 

 1520, on a mission to re-establish peace in the country. They caused fortresses to be 

 built on the escarpments overlooking the river, settled there as sovereigns of the 

 country, and allied themselves by marriage to the ancient chiefs. At the present 

 time these " Kalaj " of Bosnia are still the most important people of Lower Nubia, 

 more especially between Assuan and Korosko, and to them it is that the Egyptian 

 Government has intrusted the local administration. 



Topography. 



Below Berber, Abû-Hamed, the principal starting-point of the caravans, 

 occupies one of those positions which in time become market-towns. A large city 

 might even spring up in this place were both banks of the Nile not bounded by a 

 vast desert. Here it is that the river, ceasing to flow north-westwards, trends 

 abruptly round to the south-west, commencing the great curve which it completes 

 at a distance of 240 miles farther north. To avoid this enormous détour the 

 merchants are compelled to leave the Nile, and journey for seven or eight days 

 amid the rocks and sands of the desert. 



South of Abû-Hamed the valley of the Nile is broadened by the large island of 

 Mograt, which leaves to this mart fertile lands more extensive than those of most 

 other Nubian villages. But the port where the merchants of Korosko embark and 

 disembark is merely a group of cabins, inhabited by camel-drivers and fishermen. 

 Doubtless the caravan traders in this country have no need of warehouses to protect 



