IV. D 7.x. OF THE SUDAN 359

between el Is^ and the Hasania, and lies buried there at the present day.

III Previous to this man's time there were certain learned men in the country, such as the Awlad Dayfulla, whose tombs near Abu

Halima, east of the Blue Nile, are well known, and Sheikh Idri's walad el Arbab, who was born in 913^. IV Islam first entered the land of the Nuba in the Khalifate of

Harun el Rashi'd el 'Abbasi, but, as we mentioned, there was no real observance of the law {el sharfa).

V Let us now return to our subject. The commencement of the reign

of 'Omara Dunkas was at the beginning of. . .(a line of the text has been inadvertently omitted here, it appears) . . .the people collected round him and ceased not visiting him where he lay at Gebel Moya, which

is east of Sennar ; and finally there came to him 'Abdulla Gema'a of the Kawasma Arabs, the father of Sheikh 'Agib el Kafuta the ancestor of the Awlad 'Agib; and they determined to make war upon the 'Anag, the kings of Soba and el Kerri.

VI So 'Omara and 'Abdulla Gema'a with their men went and made war upon the kings of Soba and el Kerri and defeated them and slew them.

VII Then their people agreed that 'Omara should be king in place of the king of 'Aloa, that is Soba, because he was the more powerful ["elder" ?], and that 'Abdulla Gema'a should take the place of the king of el Kerri.

VIII So ['Abdulla] went and founded the town of Kerri, which is by Gebel el Royyan on the east bank, and made it the seat of his

kingdom; and likewise 'Omara founded the town of Sennar, [so called because] previously a woman called Sennar lived there, and made it his capital. This was in 910^,

IX Now 'Omara and 'Abdulla lived like brethren, but 'Omara's rank had precedence over that of 'Abdulla if they were together in the same place ; but if 'Omara were absent 'Abdulla had exactly the same powers as were vested in 'Omara; and this system remained in force among their respective descendants until the end of their rule.

X After the victory of the Fung over the Nuba, the latter scattered and fled to Fazoghli and Kordofan, with the exception of a few of them who were converted to Islam and mixed with the Arabs settled

in their country. These at present are few in number and live in the neighbourhood of Shendi and Gerayf Kumr; and not many people

1 reading ^^_i\ for ,^M. ^ 1507 A. D. ^ 1504 A.D.