196 Shilhiks Relations with the Dinkaa.

Arab and other immigrants.

Admiuistratiun.

Roada.

khoTs all dry up by April. From November to April the climate, though certainly not perfect, has little effect on a healthy constitution, provided good food, water, clothing, and a house are available. October is perhaps the worst month of the year.

The Shilluks do not, as a rule, agree well with the Dinkas, and there are big contrasts between the two races. The Dinka possesses many cattle and prepares his food with milk, whilst the Shilluk has only a few cattle and sprinkles his food with the dust obtained from drying and grinding dura stalks ; for this he is despised by the Dinka.

Taken on the whole, the Dinkas are much more intelligent than the Shilluks. When Shilluk boys are unable to find a reply to the pointed remarks of a Dinka boy, they raise their sticks threateningly and say " The Dinka boy has a sharp tongue and must be flogged till he is quiet," which generally stops the rather vulgar expressions used by Dinka boys.

The Dinkas are said to have formerly lived on the right bank of the low?r Sobat, but were driven inland by the Shilluks.

Incited by a few Arabs, the Shilluks in former times used to raid the Dinkas and carry away their women and cattle. They however live peaceably now, thanks to the fear they have of the new Government. The two races now and then pay mutual visits, and also intermarry occasionally ; a certain amount of trade is carried on between them.

There are a few Selim Baggara in the neighbourhood of Kaka, but these people appear to visit the district only after the harvest to purchase dura from the Shilluks, which they are too indolent to cultivate themselves.

The Kenana Arabs, under Sheikh Faki Hamed, occupy, though they are not allowed to monopolise, the wells at Atara. They are disliked by the Shilluks on account of their dirty habits.

Another branch of the Kenana Arabs occupy a village close to Fadiang. This branch of the tribe dwells in 60 domiciles. Fama (Sheikh Yogagieb Wad Awell), a sub-district of Nyagir, contains a mixed population of Nubawis and Shilluks ; the former cultivate dura largely. They were originally driven into this district by the Khalifa's people when the latter were at Fungor, and under the Sheikh Nail they inhabit five villages, consisting of 104 domiciles, and are subject to the Shilluk Sheikh Yogagieb Wad Awel. In Fama there is also a Gowama Arab village of 40 dwellings, under Sheikh Abu El Gasim, who collected these people at Taiara on the approach of the Khalifa, and permanently settled them in his present village. The list of immigrants to Fama district is completed by the mention of the Hawaznia Arabs, under Sheikh Abu El Wahab Walad Handigai. From their own account they are fearless hunters of the elephant.

A sprinkling of Kenana Arabs is to be found temporarily living in villages as far south as Dusim, and a family or two of Felata hail from Jebel Eliri, but these are not permanent residents.

Since time immemorial the Shilluk nation has been governed by a Mek or King, and the list of reigning monarchs since the beginning is known to every well-educated Shilluk {vide p. 1!)9). For administrative purposes the country has been divided for a long time into two provinces, that of Gerr (sub-divided into Kaka, or Moama, and Kodok). which extends to Bol (inclusive), and that of Loak, which extends from Fadiet (south of Bol) to Tonga and Lake No. Each of the three districts is under a head sheikh, residing in Oriang, Debalo, and Nyabanjo respectively, and the whole is subject to a mek or king, elected in a ceremonious manner by all the headmen of the sub-districts.

Up till the last representative, Kur Wad Nedok, the meks had supreme power, which appears to have been wielded in a somewhat arbitrary manner. Wad Nedok was deposed in the spring of 1903 for numerous malpractices, and his successor, Fadiet Wad Kwad Keir, is now limited in power, and is subservient in most things to the Governor of the Upper Nile Province, a British officer resident in the town of Kodok. (Vide Chap. I, p. 2).

For administration the country is still further divided into two provinces, the northern and southern, containing 29 districts altogether ; the principal ones are : Northern Province.

Nanir- of District. Name (if He id Slieikli.

Ashargo Golo . .

Name of District.

Southern Province.

Kudyit Wad Edor. Deng Wad Aiwol.

Name of Head Sheikh.

Awarajok Dusim Fennikang Tonga . .

Lual Wad Agok. Amailek Wad Amosh. Akurwat. Yang Jok.

A good track exists on either bank from Delal, south of Kaka, to Fennikang, south of Taufikia. South of this again many villages can be reached only by crossing deep khors which are filled with water all the year round. The