204 



PHYSICAL HISTORY OF MAN. 



NUBIANS. 



a. Barahra of the Nile. 



The Barabra found in Lower Egypt, are principally adventurers 

 from the banks of the Nile in Nubia ; who seek employment for hire, 

 and after a series of years return to their own country. They are 

 favoured in certain particulars by the government; being "exempted 

 from military duty ; and being sometimes employed as task-masters, 

 an occupation in which they particularly excel." They are ex- 

 tremely clannish ; and strong antipathies exist between them and the 

 common Egyptian Arabs. Old residents have assured me, that they 

 have never known in Lower Egypt of an instance of mixed offspring 

 between these two classes. My own servant and interpreter, was 

 from Dongola ; and he was considered by eye-witnesses, as a fair ex- 

 ample of the people of his native country. 



Some of the boats on the Nile, are manned and commanded by Ba- 

 rabra; who, however, hardly form mixed crews, or serve under Arab 

 commanders. These Barabra boatmen, appeared to belong princi- 

 pally to the immediate vicinity of the Cataract; where a fondness for 

 the water is acquired in early life ; and they perhaps correspond to 

 the " Icthyophagi of Elephantine," mentioned by Herodotus. 



A third class of Barabra, are the ' Jellab;' who procure slaves on 

 the upper parts of the Nile, and conduct them in slave-caravans to 

 Cairo and Alexandria. One individual of this class, had the face un- 

 usually compressed ; a peculiarity noticed by Ledyard ; but I did not 

 meet with a second instance. 



A fourth class, consists of a large portion of the slaves; those who 

 in PJgypt, are termed ' Abyssinians.' Such as I saw offered for sale, 

 were nearly all children and half-grown persons; having their hair 

 dressed with much pains, according apparently to their respective 

 national fashions. Some of the children proved to be 'Galla;' but 

 through the diversity of dialects, their place of origin could rarely be 

 ascertained ; and they perhaps, had not all been derived from the 

 southern border of Abyssinia. 



On ascending the Nile, I met with the first instances of mixed de- 

 scent at Kenneh ; the modern capital of the Thebaid, about thirty 

 miles below the site of ancient Thebes. Market-women of the Ethio- 



