300 THE NATIVE MANUSCRIPTS IV. d 3.
("Having completed the pleasurable task of relating the virtues of the notables of the south, we transfer our attention to the notables of the north
whose names begin with M.")
All the M's, excepting the numbers quoted, above fall into the northern group. The dividing line between the two is, roughly speaking, the latitude of the junction of the White and Blue Niles.
157. "Born on the White [Nile]" {,^jA.f^'^Lj ojj^. See note to para, v, supra, for remarks upon this, and " period of probation " (" 'idda "), and ''Rdgil."
Practically the whole of this biography is here translated, but Mahmud lived too early for the author to know much about him: he is mentioned in Jackson, p. 22.
For el Batiufari see No. 17 and for el Ag'huri No. 22. ''Studied under" is jjs. \^.„Xju\ ''was a follower of" is ,j* Ji».l. " Sheikh Khogali said. . . " is
For el Is cp. 153 (note); and for " Urn Lahm" No. 84. We may infer from this passage that there was a successful raid made by the Shilluk from the upper reaches of the White Nile between about 940 a.h. (Mahmud's approximate date: see paras, iv to vi, supra) and 1095 a.h. {i.e. 1533 to 1684 A.D.).
158. For Zora see BA, clix and A 11, xx. The Ghubush are the Awlad el Aghbash (Tree 2).
159. Cp. Nos. Ill and 3.
161. "The former father of. . .": the Arabic is jJtj j^^-j_lx.5 juJ^ j^\jj\ A_*>i_iJI, and this would make Kutbi grandfather of Ibrahim. The
addition of 0 to the first word makes the sense more correct.
" ElRayda " is presumably the name of Muhammad's mother. The pro-
nouns in this passage are characteristically vague, but the meaning is clear.
El Koz is the " Goos " of Bruce's map, lying some miles east-north-east of the junction of the Atbara with the Nile.
162. This Sheikh ibn Medani is son of No. 164, called, apparently,
after his father's half-brother (No. 236): cp. Nos. 164 and 15.
" The MedanIYYUN are. . . " is as follows: (>a*Jj w-Aj^JI ^J^J^\ <LqAJI. The Medani YYUN are the descendants of Medani el Natik {i.e.
Nos. 194, 162, etc.), and "we" denotes the descendants of Um Gadayn, i.e. of a different mother.
163. He was no doubt called "el Tiar" because of his supposed power of transporting himself through the air from place to place. For his death see No. 164.
164. Um Gadayn was evidently the mother's name. "Now Medani el Natik died. . . " : for the Arabic see Appendix 37.
165. Ounsa ibn Ndsir reigned from 1689 to 1701 a.d., according to
Bruce; and as "el Medowi" died in 1684 Cailliaud's date (1675-1687) is probably nearer the truth.