وو incidents of the Súdan rebellion. When the Egyptians invaded the country in 1820 the Shagíah were under two "meliks or "kinglets," Chaues and Zubeir, whose modern representatives are Saleh Bey Wad el Mek, and Khashm el Mús. At that period they were distinguished for their love of liberty, their courage, their skill as horsemen, their hospitality, their schools, in which all Moslem science was taught, and their great wealth in corn and cattle; their cavalry mounted on horses of the renowned Dongola breed were known and dreaded throughout the Súdan; their arms were the lance and sword; and the chiefs wore coats of mail and had shields of hippopotamus or crocodile skin, whilst the horsemen carried javelins which they threw. They offered a stubborn resistance to the Egyptians, but, once subdued, they joined the Egyptian army, fand rendered important services in the further conquest of the country. For these services, and others connected with the suppression of the Ja'alin revolt in 1822, they were granted lands on the right bank of the Nile, between Shendi and Khartúm, from which the Já'alin had been expelled. As the Egyptian power became consolidated these settlements increased in importance, and supplied recruits to the Shagíah battalions of Bashi Bazúks, of which the Egyptians maintained several; these battalions were commanded by Shagíah officers, many of whom grew wealthy and had country houses at Halfaya, near Khartúm. The military relationship was followed by a more intimate one, for the Turks took Shagíah wives, and the sons all entered the Bashi Bazúk force, and became the best fighting material in the Súdan from a Bashi Bazúk point of view. The tribe is divided into twelve clans, and of these the Sowarab and a portion of the Aüniah remained nomad, whilst the others became agricultural as they intermarried with the Núba. Their country, which is the ancient kingdom of Ethiopia, is the most fertile south of the Fayúm, and many of their villages are well built, with a proportion of fortified houses not unlike in shape the pylon of an Egyptian temple. The Shagíah speak Arabic, and, as a rule, preserve the Semitic type, but the large admixture of alien blood is very evident, and the Núba families amongst them, though thoroughly Arabicised, retain their Núba features. The nomads have to a great extent preserved their purity of blood, and observe many Arab customs lost to the riverain population. The latter section has sadly deteriorated through close intercourse with the Turk and Albanian Bashi Bazúks in the Egyptian service; of all people in the Súdan they are the most fickle, one day loyal, the next openly disloyal; one day as brave as lions, the next as timid as sheep; capable of acts of great self-sacrifice, and also of the foulest treachery. Their actions seem to be governed by impulse, and it is impossible to say what a Shagíah will do under any given circumstances. General Gordon's first fight was to rescue a few Shagíah, shut up in a fort at Halfaya, who, to everyone's astonishment, remained loyal while their comrades went over to the enemy. Saleh Bey, the head of the whole tribe, surrendered at Fadassi, on the Blue Nile, with a steamer, boats, guns, and ample provisions, when he knew he was to be relieved in two or three days by Gordon; yet no sooner did he join the Mahdi than he refused to obey him, and was kept in chains throughout the siege. Khashm el Mús, on the other hand, remained loyal to the end under most trying circumstances. General Gordon says he "will back them to try a man's patience more sorely than any other people in the wide world, yea, and in the universe." The Shagíah are religious, and in no tribe has the teaching of Sidi Osman, of Kassala, which represents progress and civilisation as opposed to the stagnation and barbarism of Mahdiism, so many followers. The Shagíah clans are :— 1. B'aúdab, at Birti. 2. Omarab, at Amri. 3. Wad Umm Salim. Wad et Tayib. Melik, Muhammad Wad el Sadyk. Sub-clan Hamdab, at Hamdab. Melik, 4. Kadangab, at Barkal and Karimah. 5. Nafiab, or Walad Amir, at Dúaim. Melik, Omar Soleyman. 6. Howeyshab, at Abu Dom Sanam. Melik, Saleh Samarít. Sub-clan Salahab. 7. Sowarab, the settled portion at Goreir and Hattáni, Sheikh, Muhammad Saleh ; and at Wady Bishára, Sheikh Wad el Uzeirik. The nomad portion is divided into two principal sections, the Deisarab, Sheikh Muhammad Wad el Kheir, and the Fufunja, Sheikh Ali Baghít. The nomads number about 1,000 men, and stretch across the desert from Abdúm to Bir Gamr and Wady Bishára; they own large numbers of camels, cattle, and sheep, and before the war had charge, with the Hauwawír, of the Debbeh-Khartúm road. 8. Aúniah, partly settled at Korti and Wady Bishâra; partly nomad in the desert between those places. 9. Hannikab. Melik, Khashm el Mús. 10. Adlanab. Melik, Saleh Bey. 11. Rakabiyah. 12. Hakemab, at Belal and Núri. At Belal and Núri are several Núba families of nearly pure blood, which, though now speaking Arabic, and Arab in habit, appear to have been later immigrants from the south-west at the time of the Funniyeh supremacy. At Korti are the Bedayriah, a Núba people with an admixture of Arab blood, who still speak Rotana amongst themselves. They are generally classed with the Shagíah, and were until lately under Shagíah chiefs, but their name, derived from Bedayr, the diminutive of Bedr, “the full moon," is Arab; possibly at an early period some numbers of the Bedayriah tribe, now north-north-west of Kordofan, may have established an over-lordship, which was afterwards wrested from them by the Shagíah. The next in interest and importance is the Ja'alin tribe, which formerly occupied the country on both banks of the Nile from Khartúm to Abu Ahmed. The Ja'alin claim descent from Abbas, the uncle of Muhammad, of the Koreish tribe, and they are undoubtedly of Arab origin, though the type has been much modified in those clans which took to agricultural pursuits and intermarried with the Núba population. The name Ja'alin (sing. Já'ali) does not seem to be derived from any founder of the tribe, but from the root Ja'al, "to put," "to stay," and hence it means, in this sense, those who abide or settle. The term Ja'allah (root, Já'al) is still used in the Lebanon for the temporary abodes of the people in spring-time; and Ja'alin are therefore what we should call "squatters" on the banks of the Nile. According to their own tradition the Ja'alin emigrated to Egypt in the 12th century, and thence worked their way up the Nile, but they appear to have settled in the Súdan before the Shagíah, and probably reached the country at a much earlier date than the 12th century. They were tributary to the Funniyeh kings of Sennár, and must then have been of great importance, for they had a prince of their own race called Wad Agíb, whose family intermarried with the reigning family, and who, under the kings of Sennár, exercised authority as chief of all the Arabs eastward to the Red Sea, and northward to Korti and Mahass. At the date of the Egyptian invasion they were independent, and the strongest of the Arab tribes; at first they submitted, but in 1822 the Saâdab clan rose, under Mek Nimr, who was of the Wad Agíb family, and massacred the Egyptian garrison at Shendi and burned Muhammad Ali's son alive. The rebellion was suppressed in the most ruthless manner; the Saâdab were almost exterminated and their lands given to the Shagíah; and the whole Ja'alin tribe was afterwards looked upon with distrust. The Ja'alin were practically debarred from Government employment, and from service in the Bashi Bazúk force which was recruited from the more favoured Shagíah; they never became completely reconciled to Egyptian rule, and this may explain the fact that they were the first tribe near Khartúm to rise, and that almost to a man, they went against the government. The noted Zubeir Pasha belongs to the Jamiah clan of the tribe; he is descended from one of the oldest families, and there is little doubt that, had he been so disposed, he could have kept them loyal and the country north of Khartúm open. It was the existence of this hostile tribe north of Khartúm which made communication with General Gordon so difficult. The Ja'alinm now partly agricultural, partly nomad, and they are divided, as far as could be ascertained into the following clans: are Gereiyat.-Sheikh Wad el Jahúri; nomads between the Nile near Khartúm and Bir Gabra umm Gammal, there are three sections: the Wahalab, Sanitab, and Mukatab; and they number about 1,000 men. Futahab.-Nomad and riverain on left bank a little below Khartúm. Sururáb.-Sh. Muhammad Wad es Seyd, agricultural, between Omdurman and Kereri; on left bank. Jamiab.-Partly nomad partly agricultural; between Jebel Garri and Kerreri, and thence to Bir Gabra in the desert. They were formerly on both banks of the Nile, but now on left bank only. Zubeir Pasha and Feki Mustapha, who blockaded the north side of Khartúm on the left bank, belong to this clan. Gereishab.-Agricultural; Sh.Wad el Habashi at Wad Habashi north of the Sixth Cataract. Sáádab.-Agricultural; at Salawa on left bank, and round Shendi on right bank. The Sheikh Wad Hamza of the family of Mek Nimr was the Mahdi's Emir of Shendi. Suleiab. Sh. Fayit; nomad and agricultural, Wady el Ahmar, on left bank. Muhammadab.-Sh. El Khidr, agricultural; near Matammeh. Kitayab.-Sh. Feki Khalaf Allah, left bank below Matammeh, said by some to be the parent Já'ali clan, and the Sheikh is looked upon as the head of the whole tribe. Arâmelah.-Melik Beshir; agricultural, left bank below Matammeh; they are called the people of Wad Agíd. The Jebelab, Mukniyeh, Aliab, Zeidab, Temarab, and Nafiab are also Já'ali clans below Matammeh, partly nomad and partly agricultural. The Ja'alin differ so much from the Shagíah in feature that they can readily be distinguished at a glance. Burckhardt says that the true Já'alin from the eastern desert have exactly the same countenance and expression of feature as the Bedawin of Eastern Arabia, and he remarks that their beards are even shorter and thinner. Mr. Van Dyck, son of the well-known Dr. Van Dyck of Beirut, who was with me in the Súdan, compared the difference to that between the Druses (Shagíah) and д VOL. XVII. า 1917 fint, or Maronites (Ja'alin). The typical Ja'ali has a nearly perpendicular forehead, a sharp nose, and a rather pointed chin which sometimes projects in a marked manner. The Shagíah has a sloping forehead, a more aquiline nose, and a slightly receding chin. The Shagíah face is long, with a contemplative expression; the Já'ali face is short with a quick, sharp expression as of a smart man of business. The Shagíah have the character of being overbearing as Bashi Bazúks, and hard as masters or landowners; the Ja'alin of being unscrupulous merchants and cruel slave dealers. Both tribes have adopted the African custom of gashing the cheeks of their children; the Shagíah gashes are vertical, the Já'ali horizontal, and the latter say they adopted the custom from the former. The Monassir occupy the cataract country from Birti upwards to the Robatabs; they are partly nomad, partly agricultural, but have no great extent of cultivated ground; the riverain population lives in houses and villages, and the whole tribe numbers about 2,500 men. They claim kinship with the Ababdeh through a common ancester, Mansúr, brother of Abad, the reputed grandfather of Ababdeh; they are also connected with the Shagíah. Their language is Arabic, and they appear to be, like their neighbours, the Shagíah, of mixed Arab and Núba descent; their connexion with the Ababdeh may be through the Arab blood in that tribe. The Sheikh Suleiman Wad Náman Wad Gamr acquired an evil reputation through the murder of Colonel Stewart and the English and French consuls. The clans are :— Hamámíd, at Bir Sáni. Kahúlah, at Ab Kharít. Kajabáb, at Bir Jawrah or Jórá. The Robatab are partly nomad, partly agricultural; they occupy the great bend of the Nile at Abu Ahmed, and the island of Mograt. They speak Arabic and claim descent from a certain Robat, or Rabat, of the Beni Abbas; but they are very frequently spoken of as one of the Ja'alin clans. They are of mixed Arab and Núba blood, and number about 3,000 men. The heads of the two divisions of the tribe are Melik Muhammad Nabíh who lives at Kuddek, and Sheikh Bishír of Mograt Island. The Hassaniyeh are pure nomads, and apparently of Arab descent. They occupy the desert between Abu Dom (Merawi) and the Nile opposite Shendi; the range of Jebel Garri at the Sixth Cataract; and the left bank of the Nile south of Khartúm. They are thus much scattered, and everywhere they have the same reputation as robbers; they have blood feuds with the |