i

22 THE NATIVE MANUSCRIPTS iv. ba. xlix.

XLIX The tribes of the Arabs are seven, and whosoever is not included in them may lawfully be enslaved : these are

^ Kenana MUZAYNA GUHAYNA

Ashga'a j HiMYAR

Ghafar KURAYSH

and the noblest of these is Kenana, because he upon whom be the

blessing of God said "God chose Kenana from among the sons of Isma'il, and Kuraysh from Kenana, and Beni Hashim from Ku- R.\YSH, and from Beni Hashim he chose me, who am thus the noblest of

the noblest " ; and this is no [vain] boast : this account is the true one.

L Now Himyar and Tai and Tha'aleb and Nigm and Hamdan and Ma'afir and Bisar and Hukna and Kelab el Azd^ and Muzayna and GuHAYNA all trace their descent to one ancestor: viz. el Mahassi ibn Kahtan el Mahassi son of Ibrahim: God knows the truth.

LI Most of GuHAYNA are in the Nile-land and the west, and Mu-

zayna are mixed ^ with [the inhabitants of] those parts, and Himyar are in the land of el Basra, and Ashga'a in the land of Tunis and Tripoli [" Terdbulus"], and Ghafar in the land of Andalusia ["el Andalus"] and Persia [''Fans"] and Mesopotamia ["el 'Irak''], and Kenana are in the land of Mekka the noble and el Medina the glorious and Egypt and el Rum.

LII Now when Noah, upon whom be the blessings of God, landed from the ark to inhabit the earth, one day it happened that his privy parts were exposed, and his son Ham looked at them and laughed and did not cover him up : then his son Sam saw him and turned his face aside and did not cover [his father] : then his son Yafith saw him

and turned his face aside and covered his father's privy parts. And when [Xoah] awoke he learnt of this and he called his son Ham

[saying] "may God change the seed of your loins and blacken your face: you shall oeget none but blacks."

LI 1 1 And Ham begot el Hind and el Sind and the Nuba and Kuran and all the blacks ; and Yafith begot the Turks and the Chinese

["el Stn"] and Berber and the Slavonians [" el Sakdliba"] and Gog and Magog [" Ydgug zva Mdgug"] and Parish and Darish and Khalabka and GabirsA; and Sam begot the Arabs and the

Romans [" el Rum"] and Persians [" Fdris"].

' reading ^j'\)\ ^*^)J=> for J|;j^)l ^^},==> .

'^ reading i^-^o-o (as AB) for 4».jj-o-«.