IV. D 3. OF THE SUDAN 305

who were notorious freebooters. See Vol. i, p. 216. 'Othman is mentioned

again in No. 243 (q.v.).

The account given by Nicholls varies from that of D 3 as to the name

of the Fung king and of the 'Abdullah sheikh : D 3 is much more hkely to be right.

'AH walad 'Othman, who occurs again in No. 58, was one of the 'Ab- DULLAB of Kerri. The Arabic is very vague and confused, but it may be the

ShAikia defeated the army of the 'Abdullab and that the leader of the latter then sent word of the defeat to his Fung suzerain at Sennar and (possibly) seized the opportunity to join forces with the Shaikia against the Fung.

''He came out of his retreat": "he" must refer to Sheikh although the Arabic hardly admits of it as it stands: cp. note to No. 12. The whole story is somewhat confused.

Kagabi is in the SHAfKiA country.

''Small-pox" : cp. No. 243. 238. AMashaykhi. A section of Mashai'kha called themselves Sheraf- ELDINAB after him. For his father see No. 84.

239. A Halaiiki, see No. 196. 240. For Hammad el Samih see No. 226. 241 . This biography is given in its entirety in Appendix 49 (in Arabic). For the Awlad Gabir and their sister Fatima see Nos. 17 and 222 and notes.

" The lover of el Sheikh Idris": see note to No. 154. "Four sdkias": i.e. the land of 4 sdkias, i.e. about 40 acres of riverain land. An 'iid is a variable measure. The word for a spear here is " saldtja," i.e. the long broad-bladed spear used by horsemen and not the smaller, generally barbed, throwing spear. Grants of land merely mention a given breadth parallel to the river, and the grantee can push his cultivation as far inland, within this limit, as the levels of the ground and the nature of its

soil and the water-raising capacity of his water-wheel permit. An average water-wheel cultivates perhaps seven acres, but under favourable conditions ten acres can be watered.

Karkog: see note to No. 126.

For "el Sayyid el Khidr" see Hughes, p. 272. He is a mysterious prophet. " Some say he lived in the time of Abraham and that he is still alive in the flesh, and most of the religious and Sufi mystics are agreed

upon this point, and some have declared that they have seen him." He is sometimes confounded with Elias, sometimes with Phineas, sometimes with St George of England ! He is generally supposed to have drunk of the fountain of life. See also Sell (pp. 106, 107) : he is said to be the inter-

mediary between God and the founder of a reHgious order, and to exercise great influence with holy-men and to unveil the future to them and give them supernatural powers.

El Berkdni: i.e. of the Berakna section.

"Five daughters" : only three are mentioned by name. "sealings" : see note to No. 17. " the rainfall. . . " : see note to No. 2. 242. " Taught by": ^JLp aSJu ; "was a follower of" ^^^ J^j-^^ «iU~».