410 THE NATIVE MANUSCRIPTS iv.dt.xlvih

on different grounds, namely that the Fung were racially an offshoot of

the Shilluk. " Shelukh" are the cuts on the face used by most Sudanese Arabs: "mushellakh" is the usual adjective to describe one so marked. The Sheikhs of the Hamag, it will be seen, only usurped the royal functions in fact, but were very careful not to attempt to do so in name.

They acted as "kingmakers," but in deference to public opinion never failed to insist upon the existence of a king of the royal house. Their position in some respects resembled that of the hereditary viziers under the fifth dynasty in ancient Egypt {q.v. Breasted, Hist., pp. 113, 114).

XLix Contrast D i, clxxx, and compare D 2, viii and xxx.

"AnwAb" is a curious plural formed from "NtJBA." L For this war with Abyssinia see Jackson, Chap, iii, and Budge (Vol. ii,

p. 203). The latter says: " 'lyasu I, 'Adyam Sagad I, king of Abyssinia, invaded Sennaar because Badi had stopped certain presents which 'lyasu had sent to the king of France. A battle was fought on the Binder river,

and the Abyssinian army was defeated with great slaughter." As Budge says later that 'lyasu I was murdered in October 1706, and that Badi Abu

Shelukh reigned from 1724 to 1762, "'lyasu I" must be an error for "'lyasu II."

Jackson (p. 48) gives a variant translation of paras, l-lvi — not differing^

to any extent from D 7. We note, however, that the "el Ami'n" of para. L was el Amin Mismar, the 'AbduUabi, of Kerri. The only MSS. I have seen

give simply "el Amin." The Abyssinian account of the war, as gathered from the Portuguese records, admits the defeat but shows that Sennar was actually abandoned by Badi and that but for a brilliant manoeuvre carried out by Khamis, the Fur, the Abyssinians would probably have been completely victorious.

It may be as well to give here a brief historical resume of the previous relations between Sennar and Abyssinia. The first detailed record of these relations will be found in the Historia Aethiopiae of P. Petri Paez, who was a Jesuit father, born about 1564. (See Beccari, Rerum Aethiop...., Vol. ill,

pp. 327-354, 370 ff. ; and cp. Bruce, loc. cit.) 'Abd el Kadir II had been on good terms with the great Abyssinian conqueror Susneos ("Socinios") but had been deposed by his brother 'Adlan I. He fled to Tchelga, a frontier district of Abyssinia leased to Wad 'Agib by a special arrangement

(see Bruce, Vol. ill, p. 300) and under the joint protection of the two, but was subsequently killed in a local rebellion. Aboiit 161 3 we have Badi Sid

el Kum, who had succeeded 'Adlan I and was son of 'Abd el Kadir, sending a present of two indifferent horses to Susneos : he appears not to have been satisfied with the treatment meted out to his father. About a year later, el Rubat having succeeded his father Badi, Susneos, irritated by a number of

incidents that had occurred, entered into a league with "Nael filho de Agub" (Nail wad 'Agib, an 'Abdullabi ?) and sent his generals to make a series of raids into the provinces of Sennar (including Suakin), and con-

siderable loot was captured yearly. In 161 9, as the marginal summary

puts it, " Melca Christos, lonael et Oald Haureat regnum Funye invadunt, pluribus praeliis hostes profligant, regem capiunt et, universa regione de- populata, a Suaquem usque ad Fazcolo {i.e. Fazoghli), ingenti praedi