140 Early History of Senndr.

capital, Meroe, a cifcy of some importance. In later times it became independent, but was reconquered by the Ptolemies. The Romans, however, during their occupation of Eg} r pt, fixed the Nubian Desert as their southern limit.

a.d. 700. It is said that between the first and second century after the Mohamedan era the Arabs of the tribe of Beni Omr, being hard pressed by the Beni Abbas tribe, began to emigrate from Arabia in small numbers to the opposite shores of the Red Sea, and to settle in the districts about Sennar, on the Blue Nile. Whether the Beni Omr led the van of the great Arab invasion it is impossible to say, nor is it known whether all the tribes chose the Red Sea road. Some authorities appear to think that several came into the Sudan from Egypt and Marocco.

Be this as it may, the fact remains that the Beni Omr settled gradually in the districts round Sennar, the inhabitants of which were negroes belonging to the tribes of Fung, Hameg, &c. (y. p. 95). The Beni Omr, becoming gradually stronger, by degrees succeeded in becoming the masters of the whole of the Sennar districts, and converted the negroes to Islamism. By degrees the distinction between Arab and negro 1493. diminished, and in 1493 the name of Beni Omr is no longer heard of, and the old tribal names of Fung, Hameg, and others reappear.

In that year Amara Dunkas, the Sheikh of a subsection of the Fung, either through the fortune of war or his superior capacity, succeeded in getting himself declared king of all the Fung tribes. He then allied himself with Abdulla Gemaa el Kerinani, the powerful chief of the Keri district (east of the Blue Nile), and conquered all the country on both sides of the river between Fazokl and Khartum.

These districts were inhabited by negroes belonging to the Nuba tribes, some of whom, after the conquest, remained in the country, while others emigrated intothe mountains of Fazokl and Kordofan. Those who remained embraced Islamism, intermarried with their conquerors, and, losing their language and nationality, were soon lost in the tribes known collectively under the name of Fung. Of these tiibes some settled in towns, while others-