204 AFRICAN WANDERINGS.

Faki Hamsa of Hannak, in the country of Barabra, who boasted of his Arabian origin,) are of Arab families, and are to be looked on as the proselyte-makers of the Nubian Christians, to whom they, along with Islam, have also brought the Arabic (tlie only language well pleasing to God), as well as to the Schaigie. Such pious fathers also fancy, although they may be of a totally different origin, that they are able, by means of Arabian descent, to claim a kind of relationship with the Prophet. Here starts up the interesting historical question, are these Schaigies, who perhaps really do owe their present name to some Arabian saint, a part of the emigrated warrior caste of Egypt, or the descendants of those discontented warriors who were hospitably received by the kings of Ethiopia ? Their country, their proximity to old Meroe, which they perhaps protected against the barbarous south, and their own warlike spirit, agree with this tradition ; as does also the fact, that amongst them has never existed any common superior chief, but all have ever lived free under their moluks ; the present ruling families are perhaps the old Egyptian leader-race, who, holding the Ethiopian kings as their only lords, became, on the overthrow of that kingdom, independent princes, as the Macedonian generals did on the death of Alexander the Great. Their hair too is thinned, or kept cut short to the head, as cleanliness, so necessary in Egypt, may have demanded ; and such a custom is contrary to Arab habits, and those of Nubia and Barabra also, altliougli they have, in common with those races, incisions on the cheeks as marks of caste ; among the Schaigies these are horizontal.

After a longer halt, we at last quitted our camp at Dabab. The Hakim (Kadi), whom we visited in that village, said that the Hallenga were indeed an Arab tribe, but not Ai-abs or Nomades, but " Naas betal bellad " (people of the land), as they from centuries had had fixed dwellings therein, as the tokul and mud huts of his own village might testify. However, he also asserted that neither the Schaigies nor Djalin were of Arab descent, as I also learnt from the latter, on making more particular inquiries. From all this, it seems more than probable that these two races are to to be looked on as the ancient people of IMeroe, and as different tribes of the same race, as the Ujalin have the incisions on the cheeks from above downwards, while those of the Schaigies are