464 APPENDIX II. 



and in various other pursuits. They are a strong, muscular people, essentially agricul- 

 tural, more warlike and energetic than the Egyptians, whom they also excel in moral 

 qualities. Their Mohammedanism is not of a fanatical type ; and although the present 

 Mahdi is a Nubian of Dongola, he has found his chief support not amongst his oountry- 

 men, but amongst the more recently converted Negroes, and especially the Arab and 

 Hamite communities of Kordofan and other parts of Eastern Sudan. 



There is a marked difference between the physical appearance of the two great 

 branches of the Nuba race. The Nubian (Barabra) type is obviously Negroid, very 

 dark, often almost black, with tumid lips, large black dreamy eyes, dolichocephalic 

 head (73-72 as compared with the normal Negro 73-40, and the old Egyptian 75-58), 

 wooUy or strongly frizzled hair. The scant beard is still worn under the chin, like the 

 figures of the Negro fugitives in the battle-pieces sculptured on the walls of the 

 Egyptian temples. But, as amongst all mixed peoples, there are considerable devia- 

 tions from the normal Nubian standard, some showing affinities to the old Egyptian, as 

 already remarked by Blumenbach, some noted for their fine oval face and regular 

 features, others for their long or slightly crisp hair, and bronze,* reddish brown, or 

 deep mahogany complexions. In general it may be said with Burkhardt that the nose 

 is less flat, the lips less thick, the cheekbones less prominent, the colour less dark ("of 

 a coppery tinge "), than amongst the true Negroes. The Nile Nubians must therefore 

 be regarded as essentially a mixed race, presenting every shade of transition between 

 the original Nuba type and the various Hamitic and Semitic elements with which they 

 have intermingled in the Nile Valley. 



The original Nuba type itseK must be studied in the Kordofan highlands, where it 

 persists in its greatest purity. The Kordofan Nuba? are unanimously described by 

 Eusseger, Petherick, Lepsius, and other intelligent observers as emj)hatically a Negro 

 race. " Negerstamme," "Negerfolk," "Negroes," "Niggers," are the unqualified 

 terms applied to them in all books of travel, so that there can be no doubt at all on this 

 point.f Its importance is obvious, for it settles the question of the true affinities of the 

 Nile Nubians, about which so much controversy has prevailed. 



It is remarkable, however, that Lepsius traces the Nile Nubians, not to the Kordofan 

 Nubas, but directly to the Uaua Negroes of the Nile Valley. These Uaua are the oldest 

 people, of whom there is any record, in this region. Their name occurs on a tomb at 

 Memphis dating from the time of Pepi, sixth dynasty, 2500 b.c. They are again men- 

 tioned in the Wady-Halfa inscription amongst the tribes reduced by Usertesen IL, of 

 the twelfth dynasty. Allusion is also made to the JJauat country, and in many subse- 

 quent inscriptions the Uaua figure largely as at the head of all the Negro races beyond 

 the Egyptian frontier. In fact, the word became the conventional or stereotyped name 

 of the Nile Negroes generally down to the time of the Ptolemies, after which it suddenly 

 disappears from historic records. 



This disappearance has not been explained. But it was probably due to the already 

 mentioned irruption of the Bugaitse (Bejas), by whom the Uaua were reduced, if not 

 exterminated. There is consequenth^ no necessary connection between them and the 

 Nubians, whose more recent migration from Kordofan to the Nile Valley may be regarded 

 as clearly established. 



Whatever doubt might remain on this point is removed by a consideration of the 

 linguistic argument. In his masterly treatise on the Nubian language quoted farther 

 back, Lepsius himself has shown that the speech of both branches of the Nuba race is 

 identical, presenting merely some slight dialectic varieties, easily explained by the 

 length of time that has elapsed since the migration. The structure is the same, and the 



* The bronze shade is also noticed by Lepsius, op. cit. p. 74 : " Bei den Nubiern herrscht eine 

 dunkle Broncefarbe vor, dunkler als die der Habessinier." He adds : " Der alte Negertypus bricht nieht 

 selten wieder ziemlich deutlich durch ; namentlicti ist das Wollhar ziemlich haiifig." 



t All have woolly liair, says Riippel (" Reisen in Nubien"), pouting thick lips, short flat nose, com- 

 plexinn quite black. Further comment is needless. 



