iv.Di.Lxiii. OF THE SUDAN 205

Liii oL»^.~.a>^l ^l^lj ,^l-.^'N)l ^^^ dL--oj is "and it is founded

upon. . .etc."

Liv oL»3....a>^n (j~^ i5»-U AJl dUj-oj is "and it is founded upon

. . .etc." LV From the account of the descendants of Noah and the ancient lost

tribes of the Arabs, which begins here, to the mention of the conquest

of Syria, is quoted, generally verbatim, from Ibn el Athir's Kdmil. Several omissions, which sometimes do not affect the sense, but at other times

completely alter it, have been made. The words inserted in square brackets in the translation do not occur in D i, but as they are essential to the

general meaning I have added them from the text of Ibn el Athi'r. Copies of Ibn el Athir are fairly common in the Sudan. The originals of the passages borrowed by the author of D i are to be found on the thirty- fourth and following pages of the first volume of Ibn el Athir (ed. Cairo,

1301 A.H., el Azhar Press). Various other Arab authors give widely diver-

gent accounts of this subject: cp. Sale {Prel. Disc, section i).

LVI I.e. Shem, Ham, and Japheth. "Yagug and Magug" are "Gog and Magog." See Kuran, Chap. 18. After "Magug" Ibn el Athir mentions the origin of the Copts, and gives an anecdote, omitted by D i, about Ham.

Lvii Cp. Genesis x. 22 : " The children of Shem ; Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram." After "Aram" some comments are omitted by D i.

Lviii "Who were" {^ O-tiJ^I) should be "among whom were"

" Them " is the AMALfK {i.e. Amalekites). El Athir gives j»ci<,j *ucKaJ|« : D I gives j.-«a-« Ais, tji ^ov**S •

The children of Omaym should not have been omitted as they are referred to in the next line as though previously mentioned. Two lines of Ibn el Athir, about the Beni Omaym and their tragic fate as unbelievers, are omitted, possibly owing to a superstitious fear: cp. note to Lxvi.

Lix Yathreb is the old name of Medina. D i appears to have omitted these words merely because Abil had not been mentioned before : in con-

sequence the sense has become nil.

LX Sana'a was originally called Ozal (see Sale, Prel. Disc. p. 2). Some remarks by Ibn el Athir about the Amalik are here omitted by D I.

Lxii The handiest reference to these lost tribes of the Arabs is Sale's Prel. Disc, section i.

There were two of the ancient tribes called Gurhum : see Sale, Prel. Disc. pp. 6, 7, 9. Cp. para. cxci.

El 'Ariba are the pure original Arabs: el Muta'ariba the insititious Arabs: see Sale, Prel. Disc. p. 7. Some remarks of Ibn el Athir are here omitted.

Lxiii By ja.,rw.)l (" the rocky country ") is meant Arabia Petraea (see Abu el Fida, p. 16).

The author of D i by omitting the words inserted in brackets has completely altered the sense.