348 THE NATIVE MANUSCRIPTS iv. d6. xxxvm.

XXXVIII The Yerabi'a are also Arabs and descended from Himyar. They originally lived at Sana'a in el Yemen. They settled in the Sudan in the time of 'Abd el Malik ibn Marwan.

XXXIX The 'Abbasiyyun are descended from el FadI ibn 'Abbas. In the Sudan they include the family of el Saffah. They are a mighty tribe and more of them are in the Sudan than elsewhere. The reason

of their emigration thither was the rise to power of the Fatimite dynasty in Egypt, and they decHned with it and dispersed into the Sudan.

XL The Gabarta are originally Arabs, it is said KuRAYSH, but I do

not vouch for this and know only that people are under this impression.

I have enquired from some of their learned men saying " I hear from the people of el Taka that you are descended from Kuraysh," and they replied " We also say so " ; and I think it is [true], but God knows best, and we assume that pedigrees are [properly] kept.

XLI The 'Adiliyyun are the family of 'Adil ibn 'Aziz the Sa'adi. They fall into two divisions: some live in the district of Ousa near the Gabarta, and the others live in the strongholds known as el Taka,

west of the hills of the Baza. And it is said that beyond these strong-

holds, and between them and Abyssinia, is a great mountain called

el Los, where they suppose the Companions of the Cave are, and they

live in these strongholds and are known as the Halanka. It is there-

fore possible that they are the family of Halayk el Sa'adi son of Dhulayma son of Bardhal son of Amal son of 'Amir son of Hawazin son of Mas'ud son of Sa'ad son of Bukr, or that they are descended from Halak el Mundabi (?) ; and the former is more correct.

They contain numerous tribes that cannot be enumerated. They have intermarried with the Bega so much that they have become assimilated to them. It is said that their language resembles that of the Bega [and is] a branch of it.

XLII The 'Alamiyyun are the descendants of 'Alam ibn Sa'ad el Ziati and are known as the "House of 'Alam." Most of them live near the Tungur in the districts of el Takrur.

XLIII Fellata settled in the land of el Takrur. They are the family

of Fellat son of 'Abdulla son of 'Ukba son of Yasir.

XLIV The Bekriyyun are numerous in the land of el Takrur, and

in Egypt they form the well-known House of el Bekri. And the genealogists make mention of the Sheikh who was descended from the said Sheikh [el Bekri], and who lived in Upper Egypt {ard el said), and who was a very great man and one of the saints famous for piety; and it is a remarkable thing that his descendants remember nothing important about him: yet by the grace that is