200 THE NATIVE MANUSCRIPTS iv.Di.cciii.

CCIIT NiHD are the sons of Nihd son of Zayd son of Lith son of

Aslam son of el Haf son of Kuda'a.

CCIV Tanukh are a tribe from el Yemen. They and the Beni Nimr and the Beni Kelb are brethren.

CCV Takrur is the name of a famous city in the Sudan : it lies south and west of the Nile, and its inhabitants are naked blacks. The rule

of it is in the hands of the Muslims; and the nobles among these

Muslims wear a long shirt, the train [lit. "tail"] of which is carried by their servants. Arab merchants travel thither to them with wool and brass and beads, and fetch thence pure gold.

CCVI Abyssinia is an enormous country. There was a city under

the rule of the Abyssinians called Akhshum^, also known as Dhur Tahna, where the Negus [Negdshi] lived ; and a number of countries

were subject thereto, including the country of Amhara^ (which is still so subject) and the country of Sawa and the country of Damut and the country of Laman and the country of el Sinhu and the

country of the Zing and the country of 'Adel el Amrai and the country of Hamasa and the country of Badimya and the country

of Abu Haraz el Islami and the country of Zila'a. Each one of these countries has a king [who is] under the Khati (which means

Sultan), under whom there is a total of 99 kings, he himself being the hundredth.

CCVII Now all the Sudan used to be in fear of the king of Abyssinia and court him with flattery, in some cases obeying him and in some

[merely] flattering him.

Finally they broke away from their allegiance to him, and each mountain became independent, and his rule was restricted to the mountains of the Abyssinians.

CCVI 1 1 Subsequently the Hamag conquered the banks of the White Nile, and the nations of the Zing were divided into numerous sections, of whom some found leaders among their own number, and others were subjected by the tribes of the Arabs who conquered their land.

CCIX Lastly the dominion of Kordofan fell to the Fung^ for seven years, then to the Ghodiat (who are Hamag by descent) for thirteen

years. After the Ghodiat, the Musaba'at ruled it for seventeen years :

then [the] Kungara (who are the rulers of Darfur) ruled it for thirty- six years.

CCX The Turks took Kordofan from the Kungara in the year 1233*, having one year previously taken the dominion of the White Nile

from the Meks of the Ga'aliyyun and the remnants of the Hamag.

^ reading vo^-i^t for jij«Li^\. ^ reading Sj,a,.^\ for Zj,a^^].

2 reading ^^iJJ for T».^. * i8i8a.d.