227 CHAPTER II.

I PROM THE ARAB INVASION TO THE TIME OF MOHAMMED ALL After the Arab invasion and conquest of Egypt, Abdalla ibn Said was sent by 'Amr, at the command of Omar, a.d. 6-40. with 20,000 men (?) into Nubia. The natives, however, offered a most stubborn defence and fought to the death. Their '•"- •*'* bowmen showed particular skill, and although the Moslems were eventually victorious, they judged it expedient to retreat across the frontier. The Nubians now exhausted themselves in objectless raids northwards, and irritated the Arabs to such a pitch, that ten years afterwards, the same general marched again into the country with the resolute A.r. 6.53. purpose of subduing it.

The result was that Abdalla penetrated as far as (old) Dongola, bombarded the great church there and laid it in ruins. King Kalidurat thereupon concluded a friendly treaty with him, the chief clauses of which were that he shoidd supply 400 slaves a year, and allow the Mohammedans to build a mosque at Dongola.

As regards the rest of the Sudan, it is said that between the first and second century after the Mohammedan a.d. 700. Era the Arabs of the tribe of Beni Ommia, being hard pressed by the Beni Abbas tribe, began to emigrate from Arabia in small numbers to the opposite shores of the Red Sea, and to settle in the districts about Sennar, on the Blue Nile. Whether the Beni Ommia led the van of the great Arab invasion it is impossible to say, nor is it known whether all the tribes chose the Red Sea road. Some authorities appear to think that several came into the Sudan from Egypt and Marocco.

Be this as it may, the fact remains that the Beni Ommia settled gradually in the districts round Sennar, the inhabitants of which were negroes belonging to the tribes of Fung, Hameg, etc. The Beni Ommia, becoming gradually stronger, by degrees succeeded in becoming the masters of the whole of the Sennar districts, and converted the negroes to Islamism.

During the next two centuries the ever-increasing demands of the Arabs for slaves began to press on the country, and the Christian kingdoms, which had meanwhile been increasing in population, refused to pay tribute in this commodity.

Many Arabs began now to settle in the Sudan, and purchased lands from the inhabitants. In order to put a stop to this, Zacharias, King of Nubia, despatched his son, George, through Egypt to Baghdad, to see how the land lay. He a.u. 831. was graciously received by the Khalif Mutassim, who loaded him with presents, and gave him a house in Cairo. Eventually he returned after most successful negotiations, and all idea of open rebellion was dropped by the Nubians. Nearly 50 years later Nubia was the scene of a filibustering expedition on a large scale. One Abu Abdelrahman a-d. 878.

" el Omari," hearing of the ancient gold mines in the Eastern Desert, equipped a party to work them. He found a great deal of gold, but being obstructed by the local Arabs, he gradually pushed his way to Shankir, south of Dongola, and with his increased following attacked the Nubians under King George and beat them. His subsequent adventures read like a romance, but he was eventually driven out and murdered. -d- 880.

In the following century the Christian kingdoms gradually became strong enough to resist the Arabs, and on occasions a.d. 950. they even invaded Upper Egypt. In a.d. 95G the Nubians seized Aswan, but were cut off by a flanking movement a.d. 95(5. instituted from the Red Sea, by the Moslem General Kafur, and lost Deir Ibrahim, a stronghold 136 miles south of Aswan.

Eleven years later, however, they again invaded Egjrpt and recovered their country as far as Akhmim. a.d. 967. Two years afterwards Johar, a Greek renegade general of the Khalif Moiz, seeing the necessity of guarding his a.d. 969. southern frontier, sent an embassy to the then King of Nubia (another George), inviting him to embrace Islam and pay his tribute as of old. The chief ambassador was one Ahmed ibn Solaim, and the account he writes of the Sudan in those days is exceedingly interesting.

He describes the province which extended from 6 miles south of Aswan to Haifa as well-watered, carefully cultivated and abounding in vineyards. Beyond this no Moslems were allowed inside Nubia on pain of death. Between the 2nd and 3rd Cataract was a terrible desert, from which, however, precious jewel-polishing stones were obtained (?). Beyond this lay the kingdom of Makorra, with capital at Dongola, and south of this was the Kingdom of Aiwa, which was stronger and more fertile, but did not produce so many vines and palms as Makorra. Both kingdoms he describes as being amazingly fertile in herds and crows, far more so than Egypt (!). 2 H