262 WHERE LIVES PRIMITIVE MAN progenitor of the Nuer tribe, and the other of the Dinka. To the Dinka he presented a cow, and to the Nuer a cow-calf, or heifer. Not satisfied with his own portion, the Dinka coveted the property of the Nuer, even as Esau coveted that of Jacob. He stole his brother's cow-calf, and it was never restored. Therefore, pronounced Deng Dit, after persuasion and threat had failed, shall the Dinka henceforth and forever live by robbery, while the Nuer shall live by honourable war. And to this moment does this hold good, for even to-day the Government is occupied in arranging disputes between them, and in restoring to the Nuers cattle taken by stealth by the predatory Dinkas of the Khor Filus or of the south.

They also bear in awe more than in reverence a somewhat vague deity who is debited rather with maleficent powers than kindly intentions, this being a very common belief amongst all pagan races.

Doubtless he is synonymous with the spirit of evil who took the form of the serpent in the Garden of Eden, and it is to be remarked that among various Sudanese tribes an evil spirit is beheved to do ill to humanity by assuming the guise of a hyaena or other noxious beast harmful to man. In some cases it would appear that this spirit can be invoked for the service of some enemy of the victim, which belief is accountable for many subsequent imbroglios.

According to Belal, the Nuer country is divided into five provinces, namely, Jekang on the Sobat, Lau, Lak, Tiang, and Gaweir.