IV. D 3. OF THE SUDAN 289
For the whole subject of the importance of the afterbirth and the rites connected with the disposal of it see Seligman {Hamitic Problem, pp. 658 et seq.) and cp. Crowfoot, Customs of the Rubdidb (p. 129).
78. For a kubba at the birthplace instead of at the burialplace see note to No. 77.
''He had the prophetic gift" is »^i.t.Ol Jjkl ^^ ^\£s {lit. "he was of the people who revealed, sc. the future").
79. His pupil, No. 4, died in 1767, and his own father (No. 204) in
1696. The fekt Samih is, in No. 10, called "el Tamirabi." 80. He is said to have been a Razki, and if so would be connected by birth with the Ban el Nuka family.
81. A Ga'ali by race {vide No. 212). El Kerrada is said to be near el Hilalia, i.e. south of el Kamlin.
82. ''He had supernatural. . . ": for the Arabic see Appendix 17. " The saints {Awliyd) shall come to you" : sc. "to visit you." ^^...X:»-j may mean, as I have translated it, "they shall make you be seated," i.e. absolve you from standing up as a sign of respect in their presence ; or, possibly, " they shall make you sit [in a position of authority] " : cp. the use of jl*5 in No. 66 (Appendix 11).
For "light the fire of \4bd el Kddir" cp. notes to Nos. 74 and 67. "His tomb. . . ." The site is shown on the maps as " 'Id Burta" because there is now a well close by. The kubba has disappeared, but the tomb exists: it lies a few miles west of Abu Delayk.
83. From No. 33 we know he was an Araki. Cp. No. 8.
84. This is the famous "Dafa'alla el Araki" or "Sheikh Dafa'alla." Um 'Azam is about 15 miles south-west of Rufa'a. Note that he was born at his mother's village: her name has been changed from " Um Husayn" to " Um Hason" because it is known to the family as the latter at present. The DuBAB are a debased semi-negroid tribe {q.v. Vol. I, p. 207).
Bddi walad Rubdt reigned from 1651-89 (Bruce) or 1642-77 (MS. D 7).
" Um Lahm" ("Mother of meat") by a euphemism denotes a year of famine. See D 7, XLi.
85. "Be of good cheer. . ." is as follows in the Arabic:
SuoLJti] ji^ (^^»- ^t [for oLjU^JIIa] CA*j\JyiA, L \^^^\
I read " Hatunab " for " Hanunab" because Dafa'alla's mother's
grandfather is given above as " Hatuna " and not "Haniina." For the quotation cp. note to No. 74.
86. D I {q.v. ci) says " The 'Arakiyyun are descended from Guhayna, but among them are the children of el Shen'f Ahmad Mukbal, who married a wife from among the 'Arakiyyun and begot Dafa'alla, the ancestor of their pious Khalifas\ and the latter's sons were Bukr Abu 'Ayesha and 'Abdulla and Hammad el Nil."
"The west country" {" Ddr el Gharb") is Kordofan: the phrase is often used on the Blue Nile in this sense.
Bir Serrdr is about 30 miles north-north-east of Bara. Muhammad walad Fakrun was father of No. 238 {q.v.).
The Gimi'ab country is a little north of Khartoum.
M.S. II 19