Chap. LXXVI. THE KE'l E' SU^K. 
181 
at Zamgoy. Park had passed this place in the morn- 
ing, while he (Kara) was encamped with his people 
on the sandy downs of A'ribi'nda. This chief himself, 
although he was not at all hospitable, had really 
something in his demeanour which might indicate a 
descent from a nobler stock, but the rest of the inha- 
bitants of the island had much the same appearance 
as the less noble tribes of the Tawarek in general. 
However, there is no doubt that the name of the 
w^hole district, Tin-sherifen, is taken from the supposed 
origin of these people — from sherifs. And here in this 
district, as well as in the neighbouring one of Burrum, 
where the great river, after having made this remark- 
able bend into the heart of the desert, changes its 
easterly course into a south-easterly one, we must 
evidently look for the earliest Mohammedan settlers 
along the Niger. 
I here also first came into more intimate relation 
with that remarkable tribe the Kel e' Suk, who seem 
to deserve a great deal of attention among these 
nomadic tribes, although I am not yet able to eluci- 
date all the points connected with their history, for 
they themselves take very little interest in historical 
facts, and if there exist written records they are not 
generally known. But this much is certain, that these 
Kel e' Siik have been so called from a place, Suk, or 
at least generally called Siik*, situated at the distance 
* The reader need not be under the impression that the name 
" suk " indicates Arabic influence, for the word is of the most ex- 
tensive Semitic range. 
N 3 
