128 THE NATIVE MANUSCRIPTS iv.aii.iv.

should [do so by studying] the books of el Samarkandi the Great and

of el Bahrani el Sheikh^ 'Abd el Rahman.

V Ga'al are the ruling race in the Sudan, and they owe their might to the fact of their [descent] from Hashim, and with them is a refuge in times of trouble, and this [has always been] the glory of [the tribes descended from] Kuraysh, [even] before the mission of the Prophet. Their poet says :

VI " O thou that travellest from place to place, hast thou not stayed with the family of 'Abd Menaf? Hast thou not visited them and desired their hospitality ? They [would] have saved thee from penury and ill. Kuraysh was as an egg that is broken and scattered; and as

the very essence of the yolk are [the sons of] 'Abd Menaf, that give drink to the thirsty, the protectors of the people, and their guides, that move their encampments in concord and peace, that smite the

chieftains [of their foes] in the midst of the pate, that cry ' welcome ! '

to the guest. 'Amr the mighty apportioned the pottage to his people, what time the men of Mekka suffered from the dearth of food. Happy indeed art thou if thou campedst near to them : verily thou

wilt experience generosity and justice."

VII Now the reason of their migration to the Sudan was the out-

break of war between the Beni Ommayya and the Beni Hashim. In

consequence they migrated to the West, i.e. to the Oases, and then returned eastwards, i.e. to Dongola, and conquered its people and subdued Guhayna, and subsequently Dongola and Berber; and

Guhayna became subject to Ga'al.

VIII The reason of their being so named was, it is said, that their

ancestor Ibrahim ibn Idris was a generous king, and the feeble tribes-

men used to come to him complaining of want of food, and he used

to say to them "ga'alndkum min ahl nafakdtnd" ["we have made you a part of our household"]; and for this reason he was surnamed "Ga'al." There are also other versions; and God best knows the truth.

IX And his descendants have been famous by this name, viz. Ga'al, until the present.

X We will now take up the thread of our discourse. XI Serrar had three sons, Samra and Samayra and Mismar.

XII Samra had four sons, Bedayr (ancestor of the Bedayria^) and 'Abd el Rahman Abu Shayh (ancestor of the Shuwayhat), and Turuk (ancestor of the Terayfia), and Riash (ancestor of the Riashia).

^ reading ^jiSJI for ^jLXi. 2 i-ea4ing ijjjj,) for a.jjj,j.