ETHNOGRAPHICAL ACCOUNT OF WA'DA'Y. 541 
that the present momo, or queen mother, who in Waday 
exercises a certain influence, belongs to this tribe. 
As for that tribe from which the kings of Waday were 
originally derived, at least with regard to the male issue, 
these are neither the Kelingen, nor any other of those tribes 
constituting the group of Dar Maba, but one of an entirely 
different nationality, namely, the above-mentioned Gemir, to 
whom, from this reason, and not on account of their power, 
which is greatly diminished, I assign the second place as dis- 
tinguished by a peculiar language. 
I now enumerate the different clans of the A'bu Sharib, or 
A'byi, who, taken collectively, are stated to exceed the 
whole group of Dar Maba in numbers ; but they seem to 
have so many different dialects amongst themselves, that one 
clan is said scarcely to understand the other, and can only 
make themselves intelligible by means of the Bora Mabang, 
known to all the respectable persons of the country, to what- 
ever particular tribe they may belong. I first mention the 
A'bu Sharib Menagon and Mararit, who have one and the 
same language, of which I have been able to make a select 
vocabulary, comprising about two hundred words, together 
with a translation of the Lord's Prayer ; and I must rank 
with them the Tama, who are positively stated to be nearly 
related to the former, though the seats of these two tribes 
are widely separated, the Menagon and Mararit being settled 
about six days south from Wara, while the Tama, as has been 
stated above, inhabit a mountainous district four days to the 
N.E. of the capital. 
This warlike tribe, distinguished principally by their ability 
in using the spear, seem at present to have lost, in some 
degree at least, their independence, for which they had 
been fighting for more than two centuries with success; for 
I'brahim, the chief imposed on them by the present king 
after they had driven back another person called BilMJdek, 
whom he had invested, instead of their former independent 
chief E' Nur, who was executed by him, seems to be really 
